Germany: Baking bread to protect endangered lark species

Published Oct 21, 2021

Tridge summary

The Lerchenbrot project, initiated by BASF and four other partners in Germany, aims to balance agricultural production with biodiversity conservation by creating 'skylark windows' in wheat fields. These windows provide free nesting space for skylarks, and the wheat surrounding the nests is used to make special biodiversity bread. Consumers pay a small surcharge for this bread, investing in biodiversity. The project has been successful, with over 1,700 hectares of land and a notable increase in skylark population. However, marketing challenges have been encountered, and the project plans to expand its efforts to include 10% of Germany's arable land by 2030, focusing on various biodiversity measures like skylark windows and flower strips for pollinators.

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Original content

Germany launched the original Lerchenbrot project to find a balance between agricultural production and biodiversity conservation Wheat fields and larks actually have more in common than the average layman might think, writes Eva Piepenbrock in an article on f3.de. Skylarks love to nest in cropland, but birds need free plots for this, so German farmers participating in the Lerchenbrot project create so-called “skylark windows” in their wheat fields, but not for free. The wheat that surrounds the bird nesting site is used to make bread with a surcharge of ten euro cents for the consumer. Thus, the buyer is investing in biodiversity. The project, initiated in the southern Palatinate by the agrochemical company BASF, together with four farmers, a mill and a bakery, aims to show that productive agriculture and the promotion of biodiversity are not mutually exclusive. “We want to find a balance between high yields and species protection,” says Markus Röser, Head of Communications and ...

Source: Agroxxi