Sebastian Kretschmer

One of the highlights was, of course, the "Witzenhausen Conference" in 2002 on the topic of agrarian change, which I organized together with a student team supervised by Holger Mittelstraß. For me, the attraction and also the lasting effect of the study of ecological agricultural sciences consisted in the Gesamtkunstwerk Witzenhausen - the whole was somehow greater than the sum of its parts. A kind of sense of coherence emerged from the mixture of science, landscape and the "mindset of the community". With a little initiative, everyone was able to get involved in the university context. At that time, I myself was involved in the LöLa association in order to set up many an extra-curricular module - from the orchard course to the seminar in cosmological botany. I also wrote my Bachelor's thesis on a topic that was right up my alley: business start-ups in agriculture. The diploma II thesis then provided a contribution to the establishment of a holistic methodology for the determination of food quality, together with Prof. Johannes Kahl, who unfortunately passed away much too early in 2020.

Then it was back to practical farming with my family . The feet had to move on, but the hearts stayed here! Back in the U.S. I then built up various farm projects for the next ten years and at the same time tried my hand as a "privy councilor" for various institutes and NGOs. There we then developed, among other things, the official biodynamic apprenticeship program for North America.

From 2011 on, my path then led me increasingly to the global South to participate in international so-called development projects. As a consultant in the "Corporate Social Responsibility" departments of two cosmetics corporations, I had the opportunity to build sustainable supply chains for botanical ingredients. Meanwhile, I met the stakeholders' desire to diversify the livelihoods of indigenous and agrarian communities through organic agriculture. During my later years in the U.S., I taught "urban farming" at two universities and accepted an offer from the Philadelphia city government to develop and manage a training farm for fruit and vegetable production on the campus of a major prison.

From 2018 on, I came full circle, connecting with Johannes Kahl and becoming part of his team in the department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture . Here I would like to advance the research on "Organic Food Systems". Since 2020, I also received the privilege to fill a high deputate teaching organic vegetable production at the site. A Indian proverb says, "you cannot step into the same river twice." This stream, however, which I have entered here again, feeds unbroken from an eco-spirit that is quite ingenious, and "made in Witzenhausen".