Hof Tolle, located in the north of Hesse, Germany, takes a holistic approach to making the farm climate-resilient and as climate-friendly as possible. The farm’s tailor-made climate strategy sets out targets and measures for each of the farm’s activities. This could include sustainable arable farming or extensive cattle farming. The different approaches are extremely diverse and are sure to provide inspiration for many farms.
60ha (45ha arable, 15ha grassland); suckler cow herd with 10 LSU
The farm’s activities range from arable farming, extensive cattle keeping, and bio-intensive vegetable cultivation based on the market gardening principle to horse rearing. Additional income is generated on a smaller scale through farm tours, educational programmes (farm as classroom) and participation in demonstration and research projects.
In ‘normal’ years, arable farming accounts for the largest share of turnover (around 40-50%), but the aim is for the different branches of the business to be able to balance each other out economically, so that, for example, vegetable growing, and livestock farming can cushion bad years in arable farming.
Uncertainty in farm performance is a major challenge. This is due to long-term climate change, but also to increasing variability between years. In addition (and in conjunction with climate change), markets and policy are major sources of uncertainty. Larger, longer-term investments therefore become riskier from a farm perspective.
Drought will be a key challenge for the farm. As the farm is located on the leeward side of the Dörnberg, there is a microclimatic peculiarity that during drought periods (e.g. 2018-2022), the already scarce rainfall may fail to materialise and rain off in the neighbouring villages.
In-depth study of climate change and its impact on agriculture during the degree and practical experience of adaptation management
The central innovation of the farm is a climate strategy that systematically defines areas of action and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the farm more resilient to the consequences of climate change.
The approach of climate-smart agriculture is based on the concepts of (climate) adaptation management in general and “decision making under deep uncertainty” in particular. The focus is not on the challenges of individual potential climate changes and impacts (e.g. drought, heavy rainfall, shifts in phenological phases, etc.), but on how to deal with uncertainty and the risk of maladaptation at farm level. The aim is also to implement very specific adaptation measures, but this should be done in a planned and strategic way.
The approach emerged from intensive work on climate change adaptation, particularly outside agriculture. Here, methods were found to support strategic and dynamic farm development – despite uncertainty. In agriculture, there was and still is a focus on measures that are rather reactive (example: “As a farmer, I have experienced drought this year, so I have to plant drought-tolerant crops”). However, this is dangerous because we cannot extrapolate one year’s climate extremes to the next – the difference between 2022 and 2023/2024 is a good example.
The climate strategy is a product of an individual farm’s adaptation process. It is important to understand that a climate strategy is not a fixed plan, but rather a dynamic and flexible set of possible actions (“adaptation pathways”) for how a farm can develop. It depends on how the climate and the farm change over time. The power of such a strategy is that it allows us to address many different impacts of climate change, promote synergies between actions (and minimise trade-offs), and reduce the risk of path dependency and maladaptation in general.
Today, the farm is no longer run as a family business in the traditional sense. The basic idea is to divide the work among several people. On the one hand, this should allow more freedom to experiment, but it is also a risk management measure to better absorb work peaks and potentially loss-making years.
Implementation is small-scale but diverse. Many measures are tried out simultaneously and their success and economic viability are tested without direct large investments (and therefore risks). Learning, monitoring and evaluation are key elements of implementation and adaptation management in general.
One result is that all operational decisions are assessed and discussed in the context of climate change. In addition, an annual meeting is held with the entire team to discuss the climate strategy and the company’s progress in adapting to climate change.
Concrete measures that have been implemented: Cultivation of drought-tolerant crops (chickpeas, Sudan grass), mob grazing, agroforestry, bio-intensive vegetable cultivation in terms of market gardening (incl. irrigation), use of own electricity (PV system).
Preparation for possible future political emissions; exemplary character of the farm; improvement of certain agronomic factors (e.g., promotion of arable farming by building up humus).
Higher workload without (direct) economic benefit; problem with possible compensation mechanisms – example: due to high initial humus levels, further humus build-up is much slower. This results in a disadvantage e.g. when selling CO2 certificates (principle of additionality).
Nils Tolle has a degree in agriculture and climate change. Most of his colleagues have vocational training in the trades. Their knowledge about climate change, possible consequences and adaptation measures comes from online and literature research, as well as from numerous seminars and webinars on various impacts of climate change. They also exchange ideas directly with colleagues and experts and attended a training course as part of the EU ClimateFarming project.
The aim is to use income diversification and climate adaptation to make the farm resilient and sustainable in the long term. The climate strategy is based on a rather pessimistic scenario (RCP 8.5), which is why there will be a stronger focus on weather-independent income sources (e.g. APV, farm catering) in the future. These should make it possible to cope with more extreme environmental conditions in the future and compensate for income losses in primary agricultural production.
One important finding is that flexibility and risk management play a much more important role in business management and development than in the past. The goal of (short-term) profit maximisation through traditional approaches such as specialisation is becoming increasingly risky under increasingly uncertain production conditions. Interested farms can, for example, gain basic insights into farm-based adaptation management from the documents of the ClimateFarming project. These are due to be published in 2024. Otherwise, Mr Tolle recommends starting with small, low risk change processes.
The diversification of the farm provides a degree of resilience. However, some adaptation measures also reached their limits in the 2018-2022 drought period (e.g. chickpea cultivation, mob grazing). Otherwise, it should be noted that some adaptation measures may lead to lower yields or sales even in normal climate years if they are designed for extremes. An example of this is the Sudan grass trial in 2023 – low temperatures and relatively high rainfall during this adaptation measure led to a total failure in the field. The aim of all the measures is to reduce the range of extreme weather conditions for the farm as a whole and to reduce income losses due to extreme weather. The future will show whether the measures taken are successful in the medium term.
Climate change mitigation and adaptation measures do not depend on funding or subsidies. The actual costs and opportunity costs of the tests and experiments are borne by the company or the participants. In addition to personal contributions, other external income and project funds are also helpful. However, subsidies for regular agricultural activities (as is usually the case) represent a relevant part of the farm’s income.
An important factor in the farm’s own climate strategy is its proximity to an economically well-off, urban clientele (Kassel), as many developments and adaptation options (e.g. vegetable growing) depend on direct marketing. In addition, all members of the farm have a certain willingness to experiment, which allows them to develop new branches of the business and – if necessary – to change or abandon old ones. For example, it is fine for everyone to earn money on the farm outside of primary agricultural production (e.g. educational programmes, energy production, research, etc.).
The concept itself is not easily transferable to other farms. However, it is possible to learn from Tolle Farm’s willingness to experiment and its systemic approach. The methods and approaches of adaptation management can be used universally and are therefore transferable. The prerequisite for this is a sound knowledge of climate change and its challenges, which is not available on most farms. There is a need for advisory services and the reorganisation of agricultural training (and studies).
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