A small delegation from Lake Constance visited the Huabahof (https://www.bayerischerbauernverband.de/huabahof) in Königsdorf on the 2nd of November. Energy consultant and farmer Franz Demmel gave a guided tour of his dairy farm, which combines animal welfare and renewable energy in the most progressive way.
The animals are free to choose whether they want to spend time outdoors or in the barn. A feeding robot ensures that there is always enough feed available and that even lower-ranking cows are fed sufficiently. A cleaning robot regularly cleans the barn, which is equipped with a claw-friendly slatted floor and a closing device for low ammonia emissions. The cows have access to the milking robot at any time.
The barn is built from regional wood and is fully covered with photovoltaics. Using an energy management system developed by several universities, the electricity from the PV system is used efficiently and stored temporarily in an ice store or a large battery storage unit. As a result, the farm already achieves a high degree of autonomy. What is still missing are agricultural machinery with bidirectional charging options and a hydrogen battery to bridge the winter months. Unfortunately, the necessary political framework conditions are still lacking.
Afterwards, visitors were able to ask further questions in the conference café and discuss the topic of hydrogen in detail. Agriculture in particular is predestined to supply food and energy in the future. Hydrogen will therefore become an important topic for agriculture.
The presentation “Agriculture & Hydrogen” provides an overview of the topic.