Freiberg-Zug convinces at European Agrochallenge with a strong 2nd place!

Freiberg-Zug convinces at European Agrochallenge with a strong 2nd place!

The youth of agriculture once again showed its vigor and their skills at this year's European Agrochallenge, which recently took place in Grolloo, the Netherlands. The team was Germany, consisting of four talented technical students: inside, particularly successful and secured an impressive second place in a competition that brings together the best European young talents in the agricultural sector every two years. The event, which took place last week, attracted a total of 16 teams from different European countries that had to measure themselves in 18 challenging disciplines.

The competition, which originated in Luxembourg in 2015, is organized by European and aims to promote young farmers and to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities in agriculture. The participants had a maximum of 15 minutes in the tasks that ranged from tractor driving to seed calculation to water pipe construction to demonstrate their skills. Each team consisted of four members, including at least one woman, and this year was made up of students: Inside the Freiberg-Zug technical school center from Saxony and the Academy for Agriculture and Housekeeping Kupferzell from Baden-Württemberg.

team spirit and international cooperation

such as district-mittelsachsen.de, the team was not only praised for its technical skills, but also for teamwork and communication. The special assessment by the jury emphasized how important mutual support and social skills are in a team. The slogan of the competition "It is more important than winning" illustrated the spirit of the event, which is based on cooperation and intercultural learning.

The founders of the Agrochallenge, Georges Krack, has set itself the task of bringing agricultural VET students from all over Europe together in order to give them the opportunity to show their skills and to establish international contacts. As part of this agenda, the preparations for the next edition in 2026 in Great Britain are already underway. An inspiring environment is created for the participating teams - a goal that has already been strengthened by numerous successful events in recent years.

The importance of agriculture for society

The agricultural and food sector is not just a central part of the European economy- in 2022 the added value of this sector was over 900 billion euros and offers around 30 million jobs. Nevertheless, the industry faces major challenges such as climate change, global competition and increasing energy prices. In this context, the vision of the European Commission for Agriculture and Food is becoming increasingly important. This vision not only supports the EU climate goals, but also promotes cooperation within the entire value chain to ensure nutritional safety and sovereignty (agriculture.ec.europa.eu.

in a world in which only 12 % of farmers are younger than 40 years, it is essential to inspire and qualify young people for activities in the agricultural sector. The Agrochallenge has established itself as an excellent platform to fulfill this. In the future, more initiatives will also be necessary to give the next generation farmers the skills and support they need.

District Administrator Sven Krüger emphasized the importance of this training formats and the need to gain and promote young people for agriculture when the participants were honored. As part of the European Agrochallenge, it becomes clear that the future of agriculture lies in the hands of a committed and well -trained youth, which is enthusiastic and innovation to the challenges of the industry.