Over the past three days, we had the opportunity to share LoginEKO’s experiences in sustainable organic food production with colleagues from a leading global agricultural university. The Dutch team included Mariana Debernardini, Dr. Merel A. J. Hofmeijer, Geert-Jan, Derk van Balen, Dr. Lennart Fucks, and our intern Maria Francina Smit.
Mariana is the coordinator of the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms project, whose members are farms that have made significant strides towards increasing sustainability in food production. The experiences of Lighthouse Farms will be implementable by most farmers worldwide in their regular practices in the next 30–50 years. Mariana expressed her gratitude to all the LoginEKO collaborators for “inspiring other farmers and researchers in the field of sustainable production.”
We held a series of meetings where we presented ongoing LoginEKO projects and the results we have achieved so far. On Monday, we visited experimental and production fields at LoginEKO’s northern location, and on Tuesday, at our southern location. The guests had many questions and were absolutely delighted with LoginEKO practices, especially regarding organic production, the objectives of our research, and the interpersonal relationships within our team.
We enjoyed exchanging ideas and making plans for future collaborations. Having students from the Netherlands doing an internship at LoginEKO was a particular pleasure.