The restaurant trade is increasingly facing delivery bottlenecks as a result of climate change, which may even cause interruptions of the production of food products. Due to reduced yields and at the same time increased resource requirements, cost pressures are rising. In order to face these challenges in a timely manner, the DEHOGA East Friesland & Weser-Ems District Association is developing climate adaptation strategies for the restaurant trade. In the present project, the effects of climate change are analyzed, and specific solution paths for the restaurant trade are developed and communicated within the DEHOGA District Association.
The establishment of a consciousness for climate change processes and the necessary changes for climate-adapted agriculture and a climate-adapted food industry will require communications and interaction at the level of economic clusters, in order to initiate exchange and cooperation alliances by means of targeting network formation. The Oldenburg Münsterland Agriculture and Food Forum (AEF) is an association of 75 businesses in the agriculture and food sector which operates as an interface between the scientific community and everyday practice. In close cooperation with the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, key issues for regional climate adaptation measures have been developed on the basis of scientific ascertainments and practice-oriented needs.
A farmer and turkey raiser in Varrel (Oldenburg, Germany) has set up an absorption cooling plant on his farm which provides the necessary air-conditioning for his stall on hot summer days with the help of the waste heat from a biogas plant. The biogas plant itself is fueled partially by turkey manure, and the waste heat from the cogeneration plant linked to the biogas facility is used to operate an absorption cooling plant. The absorption cooling experts from the companies SolarNext AG and Meyer Kühlanlagen, together with the University of Bremen are working on implementation. The project has been subsidized to the tune of €185,000 by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research. The farmer’s self-payment share amounted to €45,000.
Bakenhus Biofleisch GmbH is an organic meat processor and marketer which obtains its meat from its own and from other organic farms. All products – beef, pork, lamb and poultry – are produced according to the strict guidelines of organic food associations and in the traditions of the trade. Thus, Bakenhus Biofleisch GmbH is certified under the Naturland, Bioland and Demeter guidelines. Climate adaptation possibilities in the butcher’s trade are being developed in the context of the nordwest2050 Research Project.
One of the important parts of the final conference of ‘nordwest2050’ has been the scientific exchange sessions in the House of Science and the Industryclub Bremen. Contributions were based upon a call for papers from October 2013. The scientific committee received almost 100 abstracts where 36 were chosen for oral presentations and 15 for poster presentations (see overview tables below).
Four main topics were discussed in parallel workshops:
• Analysing Impacts and Assessing Vulnerabilities
• Designing and Testing Solutions for Regional Climate Adaptation and Resilience
• Implementing Climate Adaptation and Paths to a Resilient Future
• Resilience for Business: Climate Adaptation Challenge and Strategies of Sectors and Companies
The Freese Organic Farm is testing a number of adaptation options for agriculture, especially in the area of the cultivation of cereals and of high-quality vegetables. Open-field crop farming is becoming ever more difficult due to climate change. In order to better protect vegetable cultures from such extreme weather events as heat waves or heavy rain, the Freese Organic Farm is testing the following innovations: (1) A new greenhouse covering which, due to its particular permittivity, makes open-field-like light conditions possible in a protected structure. At the same time the farm is seeking resilient, climate adapted vegetable strains which are to be examined for their particular properties, both in open-field cultivation and under the protection of this innovative foil. (2) In the area of cereal raising, the organic farm is trying to cultivate an old strain of rye. (3) And by baking and marketing bread from this rye, the farm wants to raise consciousness about the issue of climate change and adaptation.
The farm Moorgut Kartzfehn in Bösel/Kartzfehn is the largest independent turkey-raising operation in Europe, and at the same time has Germany’s largest research site for turkeys. Since turkeys, like all birds, cannot sweat, the predicted long and hot summer days are a risk, especially for the final stage of turkey-farming. In order to avoid heat stress for the animals, various ventilation and feeding concepts have been developed in the context of nordwest2050.
Due to growing animal stocks and increasing numbers of biogas facilities (fermentation residues), as well as the limited possibilities for use as fertilizer, handling liquid manure involves ever greater distances. In the future therefore, important steps will involve both an increase in transport-worthiness and a reduction of transport routes and quantities of organic nutrient-containing materials produced; this is especially true for liquid manure and fermentation residues. New, climate-adapted business models need to be developed. During the course of the nordwest2050 project, The Naturdünger-Verwertungs GmbH (Natural Fertilizer Recycling Company/NDV), functioning as an expert and a multiplier, provided data on background knowledge especially for the presentation series Land-Use in the Context of Climate Change in the Northwest.
The survey of 4.000 companies in the metropolitan area of Bremen-Oldenburg in north-western Germany conducted by the University of Oldenburg as part of the ‚nordwest2050’ project in 2010 and 2012 showed that the economic importance of climate change is growing. The 2012 survey revealed that 38% of the companies polled already saw climate change as an important success factor for their company. In 2010, 31% of the companies surveyed said that they ascribed a “high” to “very high importance” to climate change for corporate success.
DEHOGA East Friesland & Weser-Ems District Association: Identification, Implementation and Rooting of Strategic Approaches to Climate Adaptation in the Restaurant Trade
(2014)
