On 2nd February 2021, 275 interested participants logged in to listen to and participate in an interactive web seminar on the “Digital Agricultural Office”.
Since 2019, BDL (German Rural Youth Association) has supported the BLE (Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, Germany) in hosting a series of informational web seminars. Previous topics covered a broad range of relevant subjects for young farmers across Germany, for example how to create business plans, considerations for risk analysis and financial planning, and online marketing strategies.
This time, speaker Christine Gehle, consultant on direct marketing and women in agriculture for the chamber of agriculture in Lower Saxony (LWK Niedersachsen: Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen (lwk-niedersachsen.de)) attracted a vast audience of (young) farmers, consultants, associations and many others when she gave detailed insights on the “Digital Agricultural Office” during the 90-minute event.
Digitalisation is becoming common practice in agriculture. This can be challenging especially for older farmers that are used to a paper-based organisation in their offices. But also, Newbies and other young farmers might struggle since they need to align their business practices with modern standards, often without guidance from the older generation. However, in order to remain competitive in the market, digitalisation and office organisation need to run smoothly and efficiently since they are the backbone of each farming business.
This is why the lengthy and practical explanations given by the speaker resulted in many interested and precise questions of the audience. Mrs. Gehle covered a broad range of topics, starting with general aspects of office management and organisation, from the correct set up of one’s desk and office to folder organisation systems. In the following, she elaborated on the importance of digitalisation in the agricultural office. The participants were informed about guiding principles around that topical and especially the legal framework surrounding the obligatory documentation requirement which was followed by details about management systems and online tools.
The feedback and participation rate confirmed the relevance of the topic to the organizers. More web seminars will be carried out in the near future, the next one dealing with conversion to organic agriculture by the end of February 2021.
