Germany
Hofgrunder

Hofgründer (“farm founder” in German) is an organisation that deals with farm succession in Germany. A son of farmers himself, Christian Vieth started this platform realising that two third of German farms have no successor yet.

Largely ignored by policy makers, this situation will become an ever growing issue. The website hofgründer.de enables retiring farmers without successor and newly trained farmers without land to find each other. Beside on-line match-making, the activities of Hofgründer also include advisory services for transferors and successors, seminars about farm start-ups and farm succession, education for advisors and publicity for the subject of extra-familial farm succession.

In the past decade, Hofgründer has created acceptance and understanding for this topic, it has provided information and -above all- it has resulted in enabling a future for many farms and farmers - old and new.

Main activities: Land stewardship ; Support for farmers ; Policy/ advocacy ; Ethical finance ; Land acquisition/ ownership ; Public education ; Farming ; Awareness raising ; New entrants

Geographical scope: National

Types of agriculture: CSA, AMAP, consumers co-operative ; Local supply chains ; Organic ; Peasant ; Biodynamic