Förderkreis Team

The team © Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e. V.

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Germany’s Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture Association Celebrates 5 Years of Promoting Animal-Free Farming Practices

The German Association for the Promotion of Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture, Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e.V., recently celebrated its 5th anniversary, raising awareness of the advantages of organic vegan farming.  Founded and based in Berlin, the “Förderkreis” collaborates with international partner organizations in the Biocyclic Vegan International network. Its goal is to provide education in German-speaking countries on farming without the use of commercial livestock, animal slaughter, chemical fertilizers, or animal inputs. Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture aims to establish a new human-animal relationship in the agricultural sector. The German non-profit also advises gardeners and farmers on the practices that must be followed to obtain the IFOAM-accredited Biocyclic Vegan Standard. This label identifies the products as ‘vegan from the field’.   Over the past five years, the “Förderkreis” has made significant progress in raising awareness and …

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Biocyclic and vegan German farm

Image: The Gottschallerhof

Agriculture / Agribusiness

600-Year-Old Traditional German Farm Becomes Biocyclic and Vegan

The Gottschallerhof, a family-owned German farm that has been operating since 1435, has switched to biocyclic and vegan management methods. The farm stopped rearing livestock in 2000, when farmer Nikodemus Gottschaller became uncomfortable with slaughtering animals. Five years ago, he stopped eating meat altogether and now has a mostly vegan diet. The farm currently produces mainly pumpkin products and grains. The Gottschallerhof has been managed organically since 1986, and last year it joined the German Biocyclic Vegan Association. The farm’s pumpkin seed oil is now certified by the organisation. In 1995, Gottschaller opened an organic bakery, making bread with spelt and rye from the farm along with grains from other local producers. Almost all the bread is free of animal products, and Gottschaller hopes to …

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International Biocyclic Vegan Network

©International Biocyclic Vegan Network

Fairs & Events

“Organic and Vegan from the Field” – Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture at BIOFACH

With biocyclic vegan farming gaining momentum, representatives from the International Biocyclic Vegan Network will be present at this year’s edition of BIOFACH. Taking place between 26-29 July 2022, BIOFACH claims to be the world’s leading trade fair for organic food and is based in Nuremberg, Germany.  The International Biocyclic Vegan Network explains that more and more producers are deciding to follow the Biocyclic Vegan Standard and become certified. Biocyclic vegan foods come from farms that do not keep livestock, and only use purely plant-based fertilizers, i.e. without any animal excrements, slaughterhouse waste or other inputs of animal origin. At BIOFACH, visitors will have the opportunity to discover the growing range of certified organic and vegan products. With environmentally and ethically motivated consumers increasingly switching to plant-based …

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Mark van Hobe Foodmaker

Image supplied

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture Arrives in Belgium

In October 2021, the organic farm Bioboer Mark, managed by Mark Van Hove in Bekkevoort, was the first organic farm in Belgium to be awarded the international Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal for his herb and vegetable cultivation. This means that growers work according to an organic, plant-based farming method that does not use production animals or any animal inputs. The Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal covers organic farmers in many countries such as Germany, Greece, France, Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and recently Canada. Although the movement in Belgium is currently small, Mark Van Hove has been working with plant-based fertilization for many years. Working purely plant-based seemed logical to him and the needs for his farm. The extraction of goods each season impoverishes the …

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2021 Lieutenant Governor's Award for Excellence in Nova Scotia Wines - L'Acadie Vineyards - 2014 Prestige Brut Estate

2014 Prestige Brut Estate ©L'Acadie Vineyards

Agriculture / Agribusiness

Canada’s L’Acadie Vineyards Becomes First Biocyclic Vegan Winery in North America

L’Acadie Vineyards in Gaspereau Nova Scotia, Canada is the first farm and winery in North America to adopt the stringent European Biocyclic Vegan Standard of avoiding all animal inputs in the vineyard and winery, making it the first farm and winery in North America to be qualified to use the Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal. Biocyclic Vegan agriculture means purely plant-based organic farming. This form of cultivation excludes all commercial livestock farming of animals and does not use any inputs of animal origin in viticulture and winemaking. Special emphasis is placed on the promotion of biodiversity, healthy soil life, the closure of organic cycles and systematic humus build-up. L’Acadie Vineyards is the first organic winery in Nova Scotia since its inception in 2004 and their operations …

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noshit-in-field

©No Shit Foods

Agriculture / Agribusiness

No Shit Food Movement is Founded in the Netherlands to Make Vegatables Vegan

This week, vegan farmer Joost van Strien will complete the very first certified vegan onion harvest at his arable farm in the Netherlands. The harvest marks the start of No Shit Food, a new sustainable standard that works exclusively with vegetable fertilizers. At his arable farm Zonnegoed in Ens, the Flevopolder region, Joost is among the first few farmers whose work is both organic and entirely plant-based. His No Shit Food Movement was launched this Monday, 2nd of August, with the goal of making vegan veg a new standard in sustainable food. The new vegan farmers Consumers can already buy certified vegan vegetables in In Germany, Switzerland and Greece, under the BioCyclicVegan label. But ask for vegan vegetables in the Netherlands, and all you will …

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Grow Green

© The Vegan Society

Fairs & Events

Grow Green Conference Taking Place 1st & 2nd June

Following the success of the first Grow Green Conference 2019 in the UK, an international Grow Green Conference will be held for the first time this year on 1 and 2 June, from 10:00 to 13:15 each day (corona-conditioned as video conference; in English). The overarching theme of the conference “Grow Green -Food and Farming Systems for a Climate-friendly Future” is the role of plant-based and organic agriculture in building a sustainable future. The two-day conference will provide insights into experiences from agricultural practice and scientific research, demonstrate the contribution that innovative, purely plant-based approaches to agriculture can make in combating climate change and other environmental problems, and discuss policy measures to promote such farming systems, especially also at the EU level. In the face …

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Anja Bonzheim

Anja Bonzheim (Photo: Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e.V.)

Interviews

Association for the Promotion of Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture: “Biocyclic Vegan Farming Has the Potential to be Applied Worldwide”

The German “Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e. V.”, Berlin (Association for the Promotion of Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture), is a charity that represents concrete, practical solutions for a future-oriented agriculture. The association promotes the biocyclic vegan idea of farming in German-speaking countries.

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Biocyclic logo
Business Insiders

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture – A Background

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture is arriving in Austria and Hungary – beans, cereals, and oleic seeds are now available from plant-based, stock-free organic farming. In September 2019, a group of farms on both sides of the Austro-Hungarian border, right between the vineyards of the Pannonian Plain in Burgenland, the Rosalia Mountains and Sopron (formerly Ödenburg), was certified according to the international Biocyclic Vegan Standard. Guest  post: Axel Anders, BNS Biocyclic Network Services).  A few years ago, Harald Strassner, the owner and a longtime pioneer of organic farming, came to the conclusion that organic was no longer enough. He decided to transition towards an even more sustainable and future-oriented form of agriculture: Biocyclic Vegan. Biocyclic Vegan is a purely plant-based organic farming method that excludes all commercial …

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Biocyclic Vegan Standard

Biocyclic Vegan Standard

Fairs & Events

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture at the 6th Future Dialogue for Agriculture & Food in Berlin

This year, the German Association for the Promotion of Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture (Förderkreis Biozyklisch-Veganer Anbau e.V.), in cooperation with the Albert Schweitzer Foundation (Albert Schweitzer Stiftung fü r unsere Mitwelt), presented its debut workshop and information desk at the 6th Future Dialogue for Agriculture & Food on 3-4 June 2019 in Berlin.

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Biocyclic Vegan audit at the French vineyard Château La Rayre near Bergerac

Biocyclic Vegan audit at the French vineyard Château La Rayre near Bergerac

Society

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture – Organic Farming the Vegan Way

Are fruits and vegetables really vegan?

This question seems superfluous at first glance, since it is generally assumed that these staple foods are vegan per se because they do not contain any animal ingredients. However, if one looks at the common production of fruits and vegetables, it can be seen that, especially in organic farming, organic inputs of animal origin such as manure and slaughterhouse waste (blood meal, bristle meal, feather meal and horn chips) are often used for fertilisation. The production of fruits and vegetables is therefore often associated with the various harmful effects of animal husbandry including animal suffering, which a growing number of consumers actually wants to avoid.

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