30 September to 2 October 2024:
PeaceBread across generations: ready for the next start. Promoting European dialogue for peace and agriculture
Report in 7 parts
Part 1/7
Welcome evening „Welcome in the Heimvolkshochschule at Seddiner See“ at September, 30, 2024, 06:00 PM
We are meeting again in Germany at the very same place where it all began 10 years and one day ago, on 29 September 2014: the beautiful conference hall of the Heimvolkshochschule at Seddiner See. This time for the 10th annual conference of the international network ‘Peace and Agriculture’. Guests from civil society and politics have come from almost all partner countries. Two permanent guest countries, Finland and Ukraine, have been added.
The hall is decorated: as it was ten years ago, with the now 14 flags of the partner countries, the logo and the symbols of the PeaceBread project. A new addition is a gallery of paintings of the Peace Loaves from all previous annual conferences: 2014 in Berlin (Germany), 2015 in Poznan (Poland), 2016 in Szarvas (Hungary), 2017 in Varna (Bulgaria), 2018 in Sangaste (Estonia) and Koni (Latvia), 2019 in Vilnius (Lithuania), 2021 digitally in Romania, 2022 in Novo mesto (Slovenia) and 2023 in Modra (Slovak Republic). These unique works of art were painted by the artist Sabine Frank, who was born in Nuremberg and now lives in Berlin, as a reminder of the history of the PeaceBread project.
The bread loaves, baked by the Berlin bakery and pastry shop Zimmermann using rye from all partner countries, symbolise historically significant places in the partner countries. The paintings and the brochure ´10 years of PeaceBread – 2014 to 2024`, which is given to all guests, create an important retrospective of the joint annual meetings, discussions, excursions and, above all, the trust that has been built up among the partners. In times of a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine, listening and learning from each other is more important than ever in Europe.
Anton Blöth, chair of the PeaceBread Association in Germany, gave a warm welcome to the guests and emphasised that there can be no functioning agriculture without peace and stability. He proudly summarised the work of the PeaceBread network over the last decade: ‘In these ten years, we have shown how Europe works: by listening, reaching out to each other and recognising differences. We have baked the European PeaceBread from twelve batches of rye – a symbol of cooperation that extends far beyond the ingredients. It is a living example of European integration that means a lot to all of us’.
The Berlin-based journalist Catarina Zanner will moderate the programme. She also did this in 2014 and has been accompanying PeaceBread Association over the years, in particular by moderating the annual Berlin FORUM PeaceBread.
In her welcoming address, Esther Winterhoff, head of the Sub-section for EU Affairs and Common Agricultural Policy at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, expressed her thanks for the many years of trusting cooperation between the PeaceBread Association and the Federal Ministry, and then covered a range of topics from peacekeeping and the climate crisis to EU enlargement and the role of young farmers in overcoming the many challenges facing European agriculture. As an employee of the Federal Ministry, she fondly remembers her work in EU and twinning projects to prepare Central and Southeastern European countries for the EU’s eastern enlargement 20 years ago. She emphasises that the accession process did not happen automatically, but was supported by the active engagement of forward-thinking individuals. All of this was only made possible by the fall of the so-called Iron Curtain in Europe, carried by courageous representatives of civil society. Ms Winterhoff addresses a special greeting to the representative of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, Anatoliy Tsyrkun, who represents his country, which is at war, in the PeaceBread network. She is pleased that with Ukraine and Finland, the first permanent guest countries belong to the civil society network.
Esther Winterhoff
Henrik Wendorff
In his welcoming address, the President of the Brandenburg Regional Farmers’ Association, Henrik Wendorff, builds on the thoughts of the previous speakers and emphasises, ’Agriculture is not just an industry that ensures the population is supplied with food; it is also a symbol of stability, future and community. Where there is peace, crops are sown, crops are harvested and produce is sold. But where there is war, these basic activities disappear, leaving hunger, destruction and despair in their wake´. He emphasised that, on the one hand, sustainable, regional agriculture creates resilience and independence, but that agriculture also offers the opportunity to build bridges – both at the local and global level. It can and should be an important engine for peace and stability, Wendorff continued.
Gibfried Schenk
Dr Gibfried Schenk also dedicated his short keynote speech to the topic that is on the minds of all participants: ‘War in Europe – but agriculture needs peace’. After the European PeaceBread Network discussed ‘Agriculture IN Peace’ in the first seven annual meetings since 2014, ‘War IN Europe’ was the topic of the last two conferences in Slovenia in 2022 and the Slovak Republic in 2023 as well as of the 10th annual conference now in Seddiner See and Berlin.
Schenk asks the question. ‘Were our efforts too little?’ ‘Yes, maybe´, he replies. ‘I can’t speak for our partners in Central and Southeastern Europe. But I know that the people there have a very clear attitude. This has to do with the history they have experienced and with their geographical proximity to the aggressor. They know who wants to destroy the European peace order and cooperation in democracy and freedom. And they know who is defending their and our common freedom and peaceful future in the European Union!’ ´We Germans can learn a lot from our eastern partners´, he adds, ´especially from their strategic perspective!´ In this context, one thing is already making him optimistic: ’Germany has taken a clear position in support of Ukraine, which is in line with its economic power and, above all, its own difficult history. Germany is supporting Ukraine both financially and by effectively supplying weapons.’
The European Union will expand, concluded Schenk. Eight countries from Central and South-eastern Europe, including Ukraine, are official candidates for accession. Their accession will require major efforts. Agriculture will be the most difficult chapter in the accession talks. In what direction is the Common Agricultural Policy developing? What efforts are expected of the accession candidates, in particular Ukraine, in terms of fulfilling the legal framework of the Aquis Communautaire? How should EU members be prepared for Ukraine’s accession? These are questions that are of concern to all participants at the conference.
The guests from civil society and politics are invited to taste ‘bread and wine’ as gifts and many other Brandenburg specialities, and are led to the tables. Many interesting conversations begin.
Part 2/7
Network-Conference in the Heimvolkshochschule at Seddiner See“ at October, 1, 2024, 09:00 AM – 12:30 PM
The discussion on the future direction of the PeaceBread project ties in with previous strategy sessions and is divided into three sessions:
Session 1:
The History, Present, and Future of the PeaceBread Network: The countries’ insights into the history of their rye field and reflections on ten years of the PeaceBread partnership.
The presenters are Natalia Shukadarova (Bulgaria), Anton Blöth (Germany), Vahur Kukk (Estonia), Mihaly Jancso (Hungary), Algis Baravykas (Lithuania), Linda Medne (Latvia), Petru Mirciov (Romania), Marian Glovatak (Slovakia) and Anatoliy Tsyrkun (Ukraine). They talk about interesting encounters with each other, the historical background of the place for rye cultivation in their own country, the effects of the war of aggression against Ukraine on European and local agriculture, and, again and again, the special value of the open and trusting exchange in the civil society international network ‘Peace and Agriculture’.
Natalia Shukadarova
Anton Blöth
Vahur Kukk
Mihaly Jancso
Algis Baravykas
Linda Medne
Petru Mirciov
Marian Glovatak
Anatoliy Tsyrkun
Session 2:
Outlook and future: Citizen and youth dialogue across borders for peace and agriculture in Europe: Sourdough-C(h)amps are up to come.
Anton Blöth presents the jointly developed foundations for a youth exchange in the international network ‘Peace and Agriculture’, which was decided upon in January 2024 on the fringes of the International Green Week in Berlin for 2025. The presentation is a summarising introduction to the idea and possible course of events. The specific course of such events will be jointly developed in preparation for the first such event in Hungary in 2025.
Session 3:
Adaption and confirmation of the new declaration by the social partners on the 2024 annual conference. Perspectives and key topics of the first Sourdough-C(h)amp 2025.
At the conference, a joint declaration prepared and agreed in advance by the participants will be adopted. It will be signed by representatives of the civil society partner organisations of the International Network ‘Peace and Agriculture’.
The joint declaration of the participants of the ‘Peace and Agriculture’ conference on 1 September 2024 in Seddiner See / Berlin:
The conference participants used the time remaining before the joint excursion to develop possible questions for future young participants in the planned sourdough camps who are connected with agriculture. At the suggestion of Gibfried Schenk, they follow the so-called sustainability triangle, which postulates that equal consideration of economic, social and ecological aspects is a crucial basis for sustainable agriculture. Three corresponding working groups are formed and discuss among themselves. Stephan Arens (economic aspects), Linda Medne (ecological aspects) and Dr Andreas Quiring (social aspects) present the first possible questions from the three working groups.
Stephan Arens
Linda Medne
Andreas Quiring
Representatives of the partner countries will further develop the proposals of the three working groups in their planned strategy meeting in January 2025.
Part 3/7
Excursion to the Trebbin Agricultural Cooperative on 1 October 2024, 01 – 06 p.m.
Dr Thomas Gäbert, chairman of the Trebbin Agricultural Cooperative, will receive the conference participants at his farm this afternoon. After lunch, Dr Gäbert will give a talk on the challenges facing his business, which combines modern milk production, sustainable fodder cultivation and nature conservation projects. A bus tour of the large farm will follow, during which various aspects of farming, including cattle housing, large cattle sheds and calf rearing, will be discussed.
Part 4/7
Brandenburg Evening on 1 October 2024, from 7 pm
High-ranking guests are attending the event. The recently appointed Ukrainian Minister for Agricultural Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, is starting his first trip abroad with a visit to the PeaceBread event. His colleagues from Estonia, Minister for Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman, and from Lithuania, Minister for Agriculture Kazys Starkevičius, have also travelled to the event. Parliamentary State Secretary Claudia Müller represents the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. She received the annual PeaceBread from the Slovakian Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Jozef Bireš, at the ‘Gate of Freedom’ in Devin as a symbolic baton in 2023. Marie Josiane Willems represents the European Economic and Social Committee. Since her participation in the annual conference in Lithuania in 2019, she is well acquainted with the PeaceBread project.
The PeaceBread network is particularly pleased about the participation of numerous politicians from the federal state of Brandenburg, after whom the evening was named. The director, Dr Antje Pecher, and staff from the hospitable venue, the Heimvolkshochschule at Seddiner See, are also present.
Anton Blöth, chair of the PeaceBread Association, opens the evening. Welcome addresses are held by Claudia Müller, minister for agriculture, environment and climate protection, Axel Vogel, federal chair of the German Rural Youth Association, Theresa Schmidt, as well as Marie Josiane Willems.
Anton Blöth
Claudia Müller
Axel Vogel
Theresa Schmidt
Josiane Willems
The guests are delighted to hear the welcoming addresses. The topics include the PeaceBread idea in the context of agriculture and politics as a whole, and its significance in these tense times of war in the Middle East and Europe. But the powerful symbolism of bread is not neglected either. State Secretary Müller quotes the words of the Czech writer and poet Jaroslav Seifert, a 1984 Nobel Prize winner: ‘The scent of bread is the original aroma of our earthly existence, the scent of harmony, peace and home.’
A sumptuous Brandenburg buffet is laid on and is very popular. Many good discussions take place between representatives of civil society and politics, which is typical of the “Peace and Agriculture” network.
Part 5/7
Ceremony at the conference centre of the Catholic Academy Berlin
Looking up with anticipation to see if the weather would hold and looking forward to a special day, the delegations made their way to Berlin on 2 October 2024 for the ceremony at the Catholic Academy’s conference centre. This was entitled ‘PeaceBread across generations – ready for the next beginning: promoting European dialogue for peace and agriculture’.
Upon entering the hall, there was a surprise: the gallery of paintings by the PeaceBreads of all previous annual conferences, works by Berlin painter Sabine Frank, which had been presented the day before in the adult education centre at Seddiner See, was presented to a wider public for the first time.
Guests, partners and sponsors from the national network of FriedensBrot e.V. were invited to this public part of the conference. Dr Gibfried Schenk was able to welcome almost 200 participants. They entered a hall in which the PeaceBread Gallery was now open to the Berlin public for the first time. In his welcoming address, Schenk not only referred to the German Remembrance Days in the late autumn of 2024, but also drew a link to important historical events in the partner countries that were connected to the fall of the Wall in Germany, such as the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Jeremiah. anniversary of the assassination of Jerzy Popiełuszko by the Polish secret service on 19 October 1984, the Pan-European Breakfast on 19 August 1989 in Hungary or the human chain that was remembered as the ‘Baltic Way’, which was formed by around two million people through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania four days later. ‘Each of our partner countries has proud anniversaries of freedom,’ summarised Schenk.
The Managing Director of the PeaceBread Association was moved and grateful about the development of the PeaceBread idea over the last ten years up to the anniversary event, at which the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture was present for the first time and Ukrainian rye was baked for the first time in the joint European PeaceBread. This demonstrates the important bridging and dialogue function of the initiative, which should be used even more by political leaders, especially in times of war in Ukraine. In the spirit of the elementary connection ‘No peace without agriculture; no agriculture without peace’, Ukraine must continue to be supported.
Dr Felor Badenberg, the Senator for Justice and Consumer Protection – according to her, also responsible for around 20 agricultural businesses in Berlin – welcomed the participants on behalf of the ‘City of Freedom’ Berlin. Coming from Iran herself, she also included the current conflicts in the Middle East in her welcoming remarks at the PeaceBread conference.
Patron and Federal Minister Cem Özdemir gave the speech to mark the 10th anniversary of PeaceBread. He honoured the initiative as a living symbol of solidarity, cohesion and peace in Europe. However, the patron did not stop at congratulating the initiative on its anniversary, but also congratulated those responsible on their decision to promote youth dialogue on the PeaceBread platform more strongly in future. A direction that he would like to continue to support as patron.
A high-calibre and diverse panel of political, civil society and youth representatives from the International Network’s partner and host countries discussed how young people could be involved in the PeaceBread platform in the future. Under the moderation of Catarina Zanner, the following people discussed, among other things the not-so-easy question of when an upcoming PeaceBread conference should take place in Ukraine: Piret Hartman, Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, Estonia, Kazys Starkevičius, Minister of Agriculture of Lithuania, Vitaly Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Ukraine, Ilia Prodanov, Chairman of the National Association of Grain Producers, Bulgaria, Sandra Eimane, Chairwoman of the Young Farmers’ Club, Latvia and Anton Blöth, Chairman of FriedensBrot e.V., Germany.
The emotional highlight of the two-hour ceremony was the première of the documentary film ‘PeaceBread 2024: Ready for the next beginning’ created by Christian Horn and Christian Görzel. In around 15 minutes and with emotional images, many protagonists and supporters of the PeaceBread idea, the film looks at the development and prospects of the PeaceBread network.
Before the actual highlight of the conference, the PeaceBread ceremony at the Chapel of Reconciliation on the grounds of the Berlin Wall Memorial, the political delegations retired for lunch and an exchange of views with Federal Minister Özdemir. The guests and civil society delegations analysed the speeches, discussions and impressions of the conference over a shared snack at the Catholic Academy.
Part 6/7
PeaceBread ceremony ‘Honouring our European PeaceBread’ at the Chapel of Reconciliation Berlin
A harvest wagon festively decorated by Berlin farmers and countrywomen awaited the participants at the Chapel of Reconciliation on the grounds of the Berlin Wall Memorial in Bernauer Strasse.
The chapel bells announced the ecumenical service to celebrate the PeaceBread punctually at 2 pm. Due to the weather, the service had to be moved to the chapel without further ado, but even so, Pastor Thomas Jeutner, Bishop Dr Christian Stäblein and other church representatives from different denominations managed to create a special and dignified moment. The joint blessing of the PeaceBread was framed by representatives from the PeaceBread network and festive music from the musicians of Zentralblech Berlin, who had already framed the celebrations ten years ago.
Cem Özdemir recognised the moment when the anniversary bread baked by Berlin master baker Wolfgang Zimmermann was blessed as a very moving personal moment. Together with the representatives of PeaceBread, whose voluntary commitment the Federal Minister emphasised once again, he was delighted that next year’s conference would take place in Hungary. The Berlin PeaceBread was therefore symbolically handed over to the State Secretary in the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture, Oszkár Ökrös.
Just in time for the end of the service, the sun came out again and the ceremony ended with a hearty potato soup cooked by Micael Lenz and colleagues and drinks donated by the German Brewers’ Association. The official end of the conference was then – as ten years ago – the communal ‘field framing’ to the sound of the European anthem.
Part 7/7
PeaceBread - topic in the European Agriculture Council
The report on the outcome of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg on 21 and 22 October 2024 states in the follow-up to the PeaceBread Conference
PeaceBread Conference 2024
Germany reported on the PeaceBread Conference. Together with the association FriedensBrot e.V., the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMEL) hosted the 10th PeaceBread Conference ‘Peace and Agriculture’ in Berlin and Brandenburg on 1 and 2 October 2024. The members of the association are the eleven Central and Eastern European countries that joined the EU after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Ukraine and Finland were also part of the conference as guest countries.
The annual conferences, which also have a ministerial component, are a strong symbol of European cohesion. They emphasise the mutual connection between peacekeeping and sustainable agriculture.
SVK and EST thanked DEU for organising the conference and emphasised the need for cooperation and peacekeeping. The participation of Ukraine and Moldova was also positively recognised.
Note: the contribution by Federal Minister Cem Özdemir starts at minute 18:28
Pictures: Kristina Jalova (Nuremberg) for FriedensBrot e.V.