I’ve just come back from a few days away on a Farmer Study Tour to Mannheim, Germany, with the Liverpool Agricultural Discussion Society (LADS).

Lets get the well deserved credits at the top of the page: Antony Ollerton (LADS), Colin Mountford-Smith (BASF) and Cornthwaites (John Deere) for organising the event and BASF for putting in a sizeable financial contribution which covered the bulk of food, transport and accommodation costs. I am sure all the attending 18 members of the discussion society are very grateful to all those involved directly and behind the scenes. Photos in most of the sites we visited were banned so please excuse the lack of photos.

DAY ONE

First visit of the tour was to John Deere factory and tractor museum at Mannheim. The final assembly line was a sight to see with all the different variants being built to order on one line. The paint process stood out for me and I now much better understand how such a high quality finish is achieved. The museum was a tribute to the heritage of the site with many examples of the Charles Lanz Bulldog tractors which were originally made there.

After lunch in the canteen at Mannheim we went to the John Deere Cab factory at Bruchsal. Making the cabs for all the tractors, combines and forage harvesters. I had no idea so much stuff was packed into the cab roof and would now not recommend anyone ever ‘fitting a bracket’; far too risky with a real chance of a massive bill!

The Bruchsal site also hosts a worldwide spares and distribution store. A massive facility with worryingly few humans employed given the size of the task. Whatever can be automated has been and you get the feel that as technology allows the few remaining workers will be under pressure. A really impressive facility but I felt it was a bit of a dystopian view of the future where just a few humans remain in roles solely to service the robots.

DAY TWO

An early start for the visit to the BASF plant at Ludwigshafen. A site that covered over half the town with facilities on both sides of the river. Absolutely no photos were allowed inside the plant which must be one of the most complicated man made structures on the planet with every square inch a rat’s nest of pipework. From the production site we went to the packing site and saw how the liquids were decanted from railway bulk tanks into the small bottles that we end up with on the farm. BASF put on a very nice lunch in ‘the Casino’ before a tour of the BASF wine shop and a tasting/education session after a tour of the extensive and well stocked (world famous) BASF wine cellar. Who knew?

After an afternoon getting ‘educated’ at the BASF wine shop we transferred to the Barrel House for our evening meal of Potato Soup with fried black pudding, Fass-Teller Saumagen, and Apple Fritters.

DAY THREE

Another early start for a farm visit. The guided tour of Farm Geil at Harthausen couldn’t take place as the land was so wet so we were limited to a talk in the pack house which, at the time of the visit, was repacking Egyptian spring onions after having completed the home grown leek orders. Visit www.gemueseanbau-geil.de for more information.

The coach then took us to the BASF Agriculture Centre at Limburgerhoff for presentations and discussions about a wide range of topics from BASF strategies and communication, future ways of working, product licensing, GM and much more. It was welcoming to see the real passion of the BASF team and their openness to suggestions on opportunities for improving many aspects of the value chain.

Lunch and a guided tour of the BASF farm at Rehutte was followed by a talk on plant biology and a tour of the BASF agriculture centre greenhouses and trial plots.

Dinner was held at the Restaurant Skyline in Mannheim which at 250m high, affords spectacular views over the Rhine and Mannheim as it rotates 360 degrees every hour.

Day Four

A 6 O’Clock start to check out and get the coach to John Deere Zweibrucken where sheet metal goes in one door and completed combines and forage harvesters come out the other end. A really fascinating tour with some real engineering on display rounded off the trip nicely. An overnight stay in Homberg before our return flight gave us a welcome few hours of free time to relax or explore the caves under the Schlossberg Hotel.

Thanks again to Antony, Colin and all those behind the scenes that made this trip possible and I do hope that the new communication channels BASF aspire to establish with the farming community deliver the goods.