Ekke­hard Spie­gel is in char­ge of cul­ti­va­ti­on and har­ve­s­t­ing on the World Field in Ber­lin-Pan­kow, a pro­ject of the Future Foun­da­ti­on for Agri­cul­tu­re. The World Field is a reflec­tion of the glo­bal ara­ble land: the world’s ara­ble crops are grown the­re in the same pro­por­ti­on as they grow in fields around the world — the who­le world in one field.

If we divi­de the glo­bal ara­ble land by the num­ber of peo­p­le on earth, each per­son recei­ves 2000 m². That is the share of ara­ble land that we are all entit­led to. We need to grow ever­y­thing that feeds and sup­pli­es us: wheat for bread, pota­toes, cab­ba­ge, car­rots, as well as mai­ze and soy­be­ans for ani­mal feed, but also sugar beet for the sugar in tea or cof­fee, cot­ton for T‑shirts, sun­flowers for coo­king oil and rape­seed for bio­die­sel. The future fer­ti­li­ty and bio­di­ver­si­ty of our soil depends on how we tre­at it. This means how we cul­ti­va­te the soil, tre­at the plants and pro­cess the har­ve­st. And if we divi­de up the glo­bal ara­ble land fair­ly, the­re will be enough for ever­yo­ne.

Con­tents:

Ekke­hard talks about the cul­ti­va­ti­on of legu­mes, which are extre­me­ly important for our health and as a source of nitro­gen, which they absorb from the air and store in the soil/substrate. Legu­mes are an alter­na­ti­ve to arti­fi­ci­al fer­ti­li­zers and meat con­sump­ti­on, and they have only just begun their care­er as cli­ma­te and bio­di­ver­si­ty savers. The cul­ti­va­ti­on of fire beans in pots and tubs, which are also a won­derful pri­va­cy screen for bal­co­nies, is very prac­ti­cal.