We are Marco, Tjorben and Tim from Bio Hof Marco Jostmeier from beautiful Delbrück. Together we are managing about 44 hectares, provide more than 75 cows with our own feed, shear our three sheep and two alpacas and want to practice modern and sustainable biological agriculture. We got to agriculture in various ways. We love what we are doing! Our farm is an idyllic place – the former generations (Marco’s great uncle’s family and their ancestors) already loved living on the farm and farm the fields. Beautiful Delbrück is not only our home, but also to our cattle. They are held and fed on the pasture for at least 180 days a year. They are the secret stars next to our alpacas and sheep on the farm. Cyclists and cars are stopping every day to take photos or simply observe how they are hiding in the shades and doze. We do what we do with passion! We are practicing sustainable and modern agriculture by fullest conviction. We only want to take from nature what we’re giving it back at another point. Therefore we are farming in closed circuits and promoting biodiversity. We are farming all of our fields in a sustainable way and are working with nature. Our soil contains many treasures for us, if only we deal with it properly. This is why we are pursuing the target of doing something good for our soil every day. We attach great importance to crop rotation. Crop rotation means something like a farming-plan or an allocation plan: This plan defines what is cultivated on each field – and what is coming the year after! Nutrient supply, disease and pest pressure, weed abundance, soil structure and humus content are impacted by crop rotation. Special significance is attached to preventing crop rotational deficiency symptoms and diseases. Therefore you have to respect classical, old crop rotation patterns, which partly fell into oblivion due to traditional management and simpler crop rotation patterns. Crop rotation makes reacting to market fluctuations, weather conditions or current issues, just as weed abundance, in a suitable and ecological way possible. This is why we only use mechanical weed control methods and regulate it via crop rotation. Therefore we save on expensive sprays and obtain a healthy soil structure. Thereby we conserve and preserve natural habitats. Our way of managing agriculture stands for active protection of air, water and soil. At the moment, we don’t need expensive watering, since our potatoes get along with the current, natural rainfalls. Our fields are really diverse. Next to potatoes, grains and peas, we also cultivate various green manures, broad beans and corn. We back diversity and try working mostly like a natural ecosystem. For example like a forest: The trees drop their leaves in autumn. Earthworm, springtails and microorganisms process these to valuable continuous humus and subsequently into nutrients that are available for plants. Therefore there are enough nutrients for the trees to build new leaves the next spring. Just as in the forest, we also need to fertilise our soil. This is where our cattle’s manure comes into play. We bring this to our fields, to restore the nutrient supplies of our soil. Another aspect is regenerative farming. This contains measures to activate and strengthen the soil consistency and humus enrichment. An important point is greening of the fields throughout the whole of the year, which is guaranteed by the nurse crop of main fruits like grains or corn. Also catch crop cultivation serves as an important tool in extending land covering. All of our animals benefit from our cultivated fruits. About 2/3 of our feed is from our own production. We receive the rest of the feed from our regional cooperating farm. We keep our animals appropriate and assume responsibility for our farm animals, from earthworms to cattle, from bee to sheep or alpaca. Each and every one of them deserves to be treated with respect. This is why we count on pasture grazing in small groups, so that every animal has enough space. Our cattle even get potatoes. They like the potatoes with pressure marks or the ones already germinating better than we do. We care about a preferably hassle-free slaughtering of our cattle, this is why they are slaughtered in our region so that there is no need for long rides for them. We pursue the target of enhancing transparency of agriculture and a close exchange with our consumers, therefore we gladly answer all questions and like to welcome guests to our farm.