Anyone who decides to set up an agricultural business today still faces enormous challenges. In the battle for the best places in the market, more and more giant agricultural companies are dominating. Only those who have a lot of land are competitive. Particularly for young farmers, it is often no longer possible to set up a business due to high prices for land. The BioBoden Genossenschaft has been addressing this issue since 2015. It secures areas for organic farming and leases these to farmers under reasonable conditions.

BioBoden Genossenschaft - And what is that?

Under the motto "Farmland in the hands of citizens", the cooperative sells soil certificates to citizens of Germany. With the resulting capital it acquires agricultural land and farms and secures them for the future of organic farming. For years, the organic food market has been growing more than the size of the cultivated areas. Over 50 percent of the products are imported. To counter this trend and at the same time to protect the valuable resource soil from exploitative agriculture and speculation is the goal of the BioBoden Genossenschaft.

And who benefits from this?

Start-ups can lease or buy land from the BioBoden Genossenschaft if they commit themselves to cultivating the land in accordance with certain ecological standards. Fair conditions for humans and the environment as well as species-appropriate animal husbandry are the main focus and must be part of the concept of the business founders. They can choose whether they want to lease the land from the cooperative or acquire a heritable building right.

Sounds good, and how does it work exactly?

It is conceivable, for example, that a young farmer already has a farm and land in mind, but cannot afford it. As a first step, he can now turn to the BioBoden Genossenschaft and obtain a loan for the purchase. In the second step the ownership is then transferred to BioBoden and offset against the loan. The cooperative is now the owner and can lease the land and farm to the young farmer.

In another scenario BioBoden buys a farm and land directly and grants the farmer a heritable building right. In this way, the farmer is also given the greatest possible freedom of design.

How the process is structured in detail depends largely on the individual conditions of purchase and sale and must be negotiated and decided on a case-by-case basis. BioBoden offers comprehensive advice for all interested parties.

Anyone interested in becoming a member of the BioBoden cooperative as a partner company will find detailed information and contact details on the website.

Good soil from all for all - A model to spread

Since BioBoden is still young, the project has so far concentrated exclusively on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, an extension of the idea to the EU level is entirely conceivable and desirable for the prevention or containment of famine, disease and displacement worldwide.

What are your strategies to save the family business going into the next generation? Or do you want to start a farm? What experiences have you had and what hurdles could you face?