In June 39 students from an agricultural college in Scotland travelled to Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg for six days. They have visited different agricultural farms and institutions, including livestock farming, arable farming, organic farming and renewable energies. Direct discussions between the farm hosts and students allowed them to convince of the high quality of the products. Also the economic analysis was part of their discussions. Cultural highlights were e.g. the old town of Rothenburg and Schwäbisch Hall, as well the visit of a traditional vinery festival.

Comment from the professor:
“Overall I think the programme was excellent and very well balanced between livestock and arable.  On the livestock end one minor comment was the absence of any sheep visits.  However the students fully understood that not everything can be made available on a short tour where time in the coach is to be kept to minimum.  They did enjoy the visit to harvesting company as it showed them something else which they hadn’t actually seen before. The trips to the agriculture educational center, the dairy farm and the turkey farm were particularly noteworthy.  The food provided at all venues was excellent and very filling with the lunch at the farms particularly good.  The trip to the vinery was especially good and a nice way to round off the Wednesday.  We thought our guide Hans and our driver were both excellent and really helped made the tour the success it was!  Hans was amazing and really engaged with our students and helped them converse with our hosts whereas Holger was great and his relaxed and humours approach to the students really helped the tour progress comfortably.  The last minute arrangement of the visit to the vinery festival went down very well and I think for most of our students it will have been a once in a lifetime experience and I thank you for organizing that for them!”