Community Supported Agriculture in Berlin
Kiez & Land is a Berlin initiative in cooperation with cultivator Grete Peschken. Our goals are to bring tasty fresh vegetables to our neighborhoods, allow Grete’s farm to plan long-term and sustainably, and much much more. From around April to November, each week we get a share of Grete’s harvest in Schöneberg, Treptow and Pankow. This is an example of what we get:
If your mouth is already starting to water and you’re curious to find out what we do, why we do it and how we do it – then we look forward to hearing from you!
About us
We, Kiez & Land, are…
a group of people in Berlin who care about what they eat. We want to know where our vegetables come from and how they are cultivated.
So we’re lucky to have organic farmer Grete Peschken. On her farm in the Mecklenburg region of Stierow, she plants not only common but also rare types of vegetables and fruit. Grete preserves old varieties and cultivates and also sells their seeds.
Since 2012, Kiez & Land has been receiving shares of Grete’s harvest and has grown every year since then. As reliable consumers, we want to directly support Grete’s small farm. When she travels to farmer’s markets in Berlin, we receive our vegetable delivery fresh off her farm.
We formulated our self-concept at a “values workshop” in 2016:
We want to move away from an exploitative model of industrial agriculture toward independent farmer-based model. By this we mean the sustainable, diverse cultivation of non-hybrid varieties which takes into consideration humans, animals, the soil and nature all at once. By doing so, we also want to make a contribution to environmental conservation. Products that are planted according to these principals should be available to all of us. Producer and consumer are mutually responsible and thus build a community of solidarity with independent structures.
We pay based on the costs of production and in doing so decouple the commodity value of our shares from the prevailing market price. With this independent financing, the farm can run with confidence – free as far as possible from practical constraints and market pressure. This has the effect that a form of agriculture based on conservation, biodiversity and building up the topsoil can develop with fair labor conditions for all of the workers on the farm. Lastly, direct delivery makes our community independent from other channels of distribution.
Membership
Membership in Kiez und Land costs €60 a month. The first two months (8 weeks) function as a trial period, after that you can decide whether you want to become a member or not. If you have any questions about Kiez & Land, feel free to write us an email at info[at]kiezundland.de. If you are interested in becoming a member, please write to us at mitglieder[at]kiezundland.de.
KIEZ & LAND 