November 20, 2024
It was January 2023. In search of an internship, I emailed one of my favourite teachers: "hey, I think you're cool, do you know of any exciting internships coming up?"
Well, she did.
A little while later, I got the chance to join LoginEKO, a young company in Serbia with big fields and bigger dreams. My internship started in March 2023, but connections last longer: just last week (September 2024) I had the opportunity to grab a coffee with Mario and Djura, two agronomists from LoginEKO, as they visited Wageningen to contribute to an MSc course. But more about present (and future?)collaborations later – let’s first tell you about my internship.
As you can see on their website, LoginEKO has a mission to transform the food system, using an organic,ecology-oriented, data-driven approach, including many different aspects of the value chain. While I was there, they experimented with cover crops and green manures, crop rotations, reduced tillage, biodiverse buffer zones, vegetable cultivation, precision farming and controlled traffic farming – while developing farming software, breeding locally adapted crop varieties, and pursuing full product traceability from seed to shop.
A lot of exciting ambitions indeed. But not without challenges. For instance, organic farming is very rare in Serbia, and the number of crops grown in the region was very limited – thus few examples in the region to learn from or compare with. Another challenge: the soils of LoginEKO were difficult to cultivate, due to the very high clay content . In summer, which is typically a long season without rain, the dried clay becomes like stone, with large cracks in-between.
Yet, challenges are also opportunities for a company aiming to transform farming through research –after all, it means you’re doing something revolutionary and exciting! And it probably means that your direct neighbor farmers think you’re a weirdo, which seems to be a common theme for Lighthouse Farms. But above all, in early 2023 it meant that LoginEKO and Wageningen University & Research saw opportunities to send an intern from Wageningen to Serbia. That intern was me.
Alright, you got some context. You may think that you have an impression of LoginEKO now. So did I. After the first month of my internship, which took place online, I knew the company and I knew my task. LoginEKO wanted to implement strip cropping on their farm; my job was to design (a trial for) the strip cropping fields. Strip cropping is an accessible way to increase biodiversity on a farm, by cultivating the crops not on separate fields but on alternating strips of a few meters wide, which can still be managed with the same machinery. Through my BSc thesis and my MSc courses, I had prior experience with strip cropping in the Netherlands. I deepened my knowledge by reading articles and theses about strip cropping, speaking with strip cropping researchers, looking at strip cropping fields and farms in the Netherlands, and learning about strip cropping design tools. The farming context of LoginEKO was added during regular video calls with Mario. And all of this came together in my strip cropping plan for LoginEKO. All I had to do was come to Serbia and present my plans! Right?
Well, no.
You may have heard the quote that "farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field." The same goes for strip cropping, when your fields are excel cells, and you're literally a thousand miles away from Serbia (that’s pretty accurate, actually). And thus, one month into my internship, I truly learned the importance of context for farming. I will spare you the details, but trust me when I tell you that it was wise for me to revise my plans when I came to Serbia. And that’s how my internship really began.
In the next few months, I hopped along with agronomists and tractor drivers as they inspected and managed the fields; I saw fields of grains, legumes, oil crops and vegetables; I saw weeds, pests, diseases, as well as struggles with water and nitrogen; but most importantly, I saw a team of motivated people learning from the challenges they faced, and striving for the best every day. I learned to be at work at 7AM each day, just to spend the next 30 minutes listening to Serbian instruction for the day, and a lot of jokes which I did not understand – but I enjoyed the positive and playful energy. I tried and failed to wear rain clothes on rainy days. I didn’t even try to ignore the kittens that were living right next outside of my office, they were simply too cute, and petting them was worth my time. But in the meantime I kept working on my strip cropping trial design andrecommendations, but this time with a deeper understanding of the farming context, and supported by many meetings with people from all over LoginEKO. In the evenings and weekends, I had time for myself, which I spent reading, doing sports, traveling the region on my bike, drinking rakija with locals, and trying to learn some Serbian.
The end of my internship coincided with a visit from Wageningen researchers who had either advised LoginEKO directly or through supervision of my internship. It was great to walk the fields again,now with a mixed audience of Wageningen and LoginEKO people, with different interests and expertises. I got the chance to present my final strip cropping design to this same mixed audience, with positive responses from both. And there was another exciting development: my internship was the first connection between LoginEKO and the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, and at the end of my internship, the GNLF had seen enough to officially include LoginEKO as one of the Lighthouse Farms. An awesome end of my internship.
My internship was finalized with a presentation and a report – but more importantly, I learned things that I’m sure I will take with me in the rest of my career. Insights about myself, Serbia, farming, sustainability, research, and collaborations. And I’m sure most of my learning came from the open and inspiring atmosphere at LoginEKO,and the trust and responsibility I received from my supervisors. I think suchan atmosphere is exactly what characterizes a Lighthouse Farm, as a place to experiment, learn and grow together. I’m super excited to see how GNLF andLoginEKO will develop, both independently and in collaboration. I’m so proud whenever I see anything happen with LoginEKO in the Network. I’m happy and honored that Mario and Djura keep contacting me whenever they visit Wageningen,and I’m eager to visit the fields of LoginEKO again. I’ve heard that “my” stripcropping trial is still running – I hope it’s doing well! And above all, I hope to stay in contact with both LoginEKO and GNLF and perhaps, somehow, someday,be a part of their future.
So for any student considering doing an internship or thesis at one of the Lighthouse Farms: I highly recommend it! Of course I’ve only seen one, but I’m sure that all of the Farms provide an inspiring and exciting place to explore the future of farming. And for any other reader: I hope you feel as inspired as I did to explore not justLoginEKO, but the rest of the Lighthouse Farms. The more I learn about the practice of farming, the more I admire these farmers who dare to think outside of the box, who dare to leave the known solution spaces.
We need such farmers.
Ps: I have more stories, thoughts and songs (yes, songs) about my times in Serbia, and about sustainable agriculture in general. If you’re curious for more, please contact me personally at marieke.smit@wur.nl!
