Cows that are allowed to live in peace
If you want to drive to eben, you should first consult google maps. The hamlet, which belongs to the town of burgkunstadt, is hidden behind seven mountains in a wonderful landscape reminiscent of the allgau region. Gentle hills, lush pastures, only a narrow road now and then. Here, at the junction of the districts of lichtenfels, kulmbach and kronach, janine and marcus tzschoppe keep around 70 dairy cows on their bioland-certified farm.
The animals graze on extensive meadows. They stay on the farm for a long time, are kept in a species-appropriate manner and have a longer life than most other slaughter animals. In conventional farming, cattle live to be about four years old. On the tzschoppe family farm they live twice as long. Then they are killed in the nearby kulmbach organic slaughterhouse.
Shorter distances from producer to customer
The organic model region obermain-jura is now taking a new approach to sales. Together with the company edeka-werner, a value chain of short routes is to be established that will bring the organic meat closer to the end consumer, says project manager bianca faber. There is a lot of organic meat in the region, but until now this product has been available almost exclusively directly from farmers.
This is now set to change thanks to the cooperation with edeka. Ambitious goal of the organic model region: "we hope to produce and sell 30 percent organic products soon – that would be about ten times the amount sold so far."
Christian werner will initially offer the organic beef in his edeka supermarkets lichtenfels and burgkunstadt. In the meantime, extensive certifications have been made, even the sausage counter had to be approved by a specialist institute for this purpose. "We follow the idea of sustainability in order to utilize meat produced in the region here as well", says christian werner. "It is the task of retailers to look for ways to offer customers something: according to the motto "from the region for the region"."
Consumers are looking for organic products
The new cooperation with the organic model region and the organic farmers has the advantage of short distances and high quality, adds master butcher anja hofmann, head of the eleven-headed butcher team at edeka-werner. Especially in times of pandemic, regional products are sought after by customers.
Demand has risen sharply in recent months, they say. The growing interest in regional products that can be enjoyed with a clear conscience is noticeable in all age groups.
"We are very happy that edeka is going along with this", explains michael stromer, project manager of the oko-model region. He also emphasizes that the idea of sustainability is paramount. What is produced and used in the region should be offered to consumers for their daily needs. "We want to make organic meat generally available in smaller quantities – it doesn’t get more regional than that", he says.
Christian werner is convinced that this model will be well received by customers: "we are trying to show consumers how meat was produced in the past." roast joints, goulash, roulades, steaks and minced meat are on offer. She also tries out whether the customer buys shrink-wrapped meat pieces that are suitable for the steam oven. "The older the animals", adds christian werner "the longer the meat has to be ripened and cooked – but this also increases the quality, the meat gets a more intensive taste."
Janine and marcus tzschoppe are looking forward to working with him. They have already delivered two cattle. Up to twelve a year you can put at the disposal of your yard, you estimate. They will do anything for the welfare of their animals. Consumers were allowed to see this for themselves. Janine tzschoppe: "the customer wants to see where the meat comes from."