Farmers' Choice
06 July 2008

Discussing the films

The jury's barbecue

Thomas Rosinsky and Ulrich Lücke

For the exhibition Village People at Kunstverein Wolfsburg a jury of farmers from Heiligendorf chose one out of eight movies from last year’s part of I like being a farmer and I would like to stay one.

From the statement of the jury:
All of the eight films appear to be interesting as a representation of the difficulties of farming seen from the point of view of a family. The Jury finally chose the film made by the Redder family from Balkbrug in the Netherlands. It shows a dairy farm of a common size in which production follows contemporary standards; a farm that will probably be operated by the next generation of the family.

Members of the jury that met on May 1st were Ulrich Lücke, Edith Lücke, Johannes Schulte-Eickhoff and Thomas Rosinsky, all from Heiligendorf.

The film and the painting of the Redder farm can be seen in an installation at the exhibition Village People at Wolfsburg Kunstverein from July 11th until September 7th (www.kunstverein-wolfsburg.de). On July 15th and July 17th the Bibliobox will be shown in the villages of Hehlingen and Wendschott.

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"I like being a farmer and I would like to stay one" goes international
15 May 2007

Kronlechner, Oppenberg, Austria

In 2007 we started the 3 year project I like being a farmer and I would like to stay one. In the end it will include bartering with farmers in Austria, Holland, England, Switzerland, Germany, Romania, Italy. We already worked in Austria and Holland in spring and summer of 2007. The outcome of the Austrian travel was shown in the Vienna Secession, the dutch part could be seen in KNSTSPR in Hardenberg.

A connection to the beginning of the project was made by my uncle Ulrich Lücke, one of the farmers from Heiligendorf, who came to the opening in the Vienna Secession, being abroad for the second time in his life. He seemed to like it and became friends with Josef Kreitmayer from Lower Austria complimenting him for his film about potato cultivation.

More information:
ichbingernebauer.eu and within this website.

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Launch of myvillages.org and presentation of the farmers’ videos
15 May 2003

Once it was clear that myvillages would take part in Heiligendorf’s birthday celebrations my duties began. The farmers wanted to announce this special event all year long with big straw puppets on the country road as it is a fashion in parts of Germany. I was asked to come to Heiligendorf to paint the puppets’ eyes which were meant to be remarkably better than ever seen. I painted them with the varnish used for tractors, the only available paint. I must say they were a success. From then on all signs needed by the farmers and hunters to present themselves at the celebration had to be made by me.

The launch of myvillages.org was a big party for us. Wapke was cutting cheese without ever getting tired. What remained most in everybody’s head was the friendship of Wapke and Kathrin coming from abroad to Heiligendorf for this occasion.

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Ulrich Lücke, Heiligendorf - from the video
21 June 2000

Today is the 21st of June and we are already starting to harvest the grain. It was never this early. The winter barley is already ripe for reaping. We normally start harvesting the winter barley around the beginning or middle of July. We're doing it two weeks earlier this year.

The bitter truth is this: never before in the 25 years that I’ve been in the business have I received such a low price for grain as this year - an average of less than 20 DM per centner of grain. I think back nostalgically to the first years, when I took over the farm from my father in 1977. In those days we still got about 50 DM per centner of grain.
Also, the quality standards for bread grain are much higher than in the past. The moisture levels were reduced from 16.5% in those days to 14,5 % today. With those kinds of stipulations, the cost per hectare on many of the minor locations just isn’t covered any more by the yield.

I guess I’ll be able to keep running the farm over the next few years until I reach retirement age. My health permitting, of course. Even if the government is forcing us to tighten our belts even further. But many of my fellow farmers are already on the last notch. They are, as the saying goes, practically on the bread line. My question is how much longer can this go on?
I find my work rewarding and my life fulfilling, despite all the stress and the upsets that go along with it. But my work gives me many happy and contented hours and I can look back with a certain sense of pride at almost 40 years of work in farming.

I like being a farmer and would like to stay one.

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Beginning of “I like being a farmer and I would like to stay one” then still called “Landleben”
07 February 2000

Invited by Barbara Steiner and Doris Berger as part of the project “Unhomely Home”, Kunstverein Wolfsburg (Wolfsburg Art Association).

That’s what I wrote when I started the project in 2000:
Small farms are no longer profitable. Many farmers have started running them as a second income source or they convert their stables and barns into appartments. Often it doesn´t seem reasonable to them to pass on the farm to the next generation as they traditionally would have done. The villages are changing, they turn into mere housing estates. Many people who work in the cities enjoy living in the countryside. People try to preserve the rural appearance of the villages: they want the half-timbering to be seen or lattice windows to be installed. Less and less tractors go through these villages. They have lost their importance as places of production.

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