By formalizing farming’s traditional neighbourly help into computerized listings of available labour, machinery and special skills, German farmers are providing a service and turning a profit into the bargain
by NORMAN DUNN
Just this year, the German farm machinery ring association received the respected international “Top 100 Innovator” accolade from the Vienna University of Economics. It’s one of many awards that have come the way of this concept, developed since the 1980s when the first few dozen farmers got together to help each other out by swapping spare machinery and labour.