A high-ranking delegation from Ukraine with representatives from the dairy and pig sectors, the Ukrainian Food Safety Agency and the Ukrainian parliament visited Germany and the federal state of Lower Saxony last week. The theme of the study tour was “Eurointegration of the livestock sector – German experiences for Ukraine”.

As part of this study tour, the organic dairy farm “Nordbruch” in Stuhr in northern Lower Saxony, was also visited. The farm successfully converted all of its land and its entire cattle herd to organic farming in 2017. The cows are milked by milking robots. The “Nordbruch” farm is a member of the “Ammerländer Molkerei” cooperative, to which 2,000 dairy farmers from north-west Lower Saxony belong and to which all of the organic milk is delivered. The Ammerländer Molkerei is the third largest dairy in Germany.

During their 2.5-hour stay, the participants of the study tour were able to gain a good impression of the professionalism of the family business and the very successful marketing of milk by the Ammerländer Molkerei. All participants were able to take home important impulses for their work in Ukraine from their visit to the organic farm.

The visit to this farm was organized by the project “German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Farming” under the direction of Dr. Stefan Dreesmann. The entire study tour was planned and implemented by the “German-Ukrainian Agricultural Policy Dialogue” under the direction of Mariya Yaroshko. Both projects are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

On the morning of the same day, the group also visited the headquarters of the big Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety in Oldenburg. From here, too, the group took home important ideas for their work in organizing consumer protection and animal welfare.