U.S.-German Forum Future Agriculture Cohort 2025
Forum Future Agriculture Meeting – Boulder, Colorado, United States (May 19-23, 2025)
The U.S.-German Forum Future Agriculture group convened in Boulder, Colorado, for a three-day exchange on land use conflicts between renewable energy and agriculture from May 19-May 23. Throughout the visit, the group worked collaboratively on transatlantic policy recommendations aimed at enhancing food and energy security, while gaining insight into regional challenges and innovations in energy, land use, and agriculture.
Participants kicked off the week with the opportunity to meet and discuss these issues with Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg, and other experts at the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Site visits to farms, research centers, and other energy sites gave participants hands-on exposure to various innovations, best practices, and real-world challenges. Highlights included among others a tour of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a corn ethanol plant, and a visit to Jack’s Solar Garden, a national model for agrivoltaics. Throughout the week, the group worked on policy recommendations for the topic that will be released as part of a publication. These ideas were discussed on the final day as the group had an opportunity to visit the Colorado State Capitol to meet with current and former legislators.
About the Project :
The third year of the U.S.-German Forum Future Agriculture focuses on the issue of land use conflicts between renewable energy and agriculture in rural areas. This conflict requires the development of innovative solutions and strategies that support both energy and food production. The project included eleven online workshops and two in-person meetings of 16 U.S. and German farmers and other agricultural stakeholders from March 31 to April 3 in Magdeburg, Germany and May 19 to 23, 2025 in Boulder, United States.
Members of the cohort of 2025 include: Bryan Mayo Jr (Mayo Mills / Independent Farmer / Town of Tarboro); Angela Heinssen (Kanzlei an der Lühe); Breanna Reed (Bee-Ewe-tiful Farms); Arne Guttulsröd (AGN Neunheilingen GmbH); Benjamin Riensche (Blue Diamond Farming Company); Joel Tatum (American Farmland Trust); Jonas Trippner (DLG e.V. – German Agricultural Society); Genevieve Byrne (Vermont Law and Graduate School); Denny Tumlirsch (Landesbauernverband Brandenburg); Sylvia Lauer (Maientalerhof); Cetta Barnhart (Seed Time Harvest Farms); Eden Vardy (The Farm Collaborative); Madhu Khanna (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign); Sophie Charlotte Schumacher (Hazera Seeds Germany GmbH/ Schumacher GbR); Manuela Schneider (Domäne Hofschwicheldt & Erlebnisspeicher); Lukas Mißlbeck.
The project is supported by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany and financed by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).
