ÖMKi Sectoral Day

Every two years, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) organises a Sectoral Day event. During the full day conference, researchers from ÖMKi and invited experts share their thoughts and research results with participants and discuss the most important issues and challenges faced within organic farming.

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This year the event will be hosted by the Georgikon Campus of the Hungarian University of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Keszthely, and will also feature renowned lecturers from the university.

In the plenary session of the Professional Day, László Szabó, owner of Tarkarét Buffalo Farm, will present the benefits of regenerative farming, while during the parallel sessions, Dr. Knut Shmidtke, Professor at the University of Dresden, will talk about the application of regenerative agriculture methods in organic farming. Sessions on arable, horticultural and livestock farming will include a variety of topics, many of which will be presented by regenerative farming practitioners. Regenerative agriculture is one of the key themes of the event and will be the focus of the plenary and individual sessions, the field visit, and the afternoon round table discussion and workshop.

The afternoon round table discussion on Regenerative agriculture will include farmer-participants from the training sessions of previous years.

This event is part of the EIT Food ScaleUp Regenerative Agriculture Programme. 

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AGENDA:

9:00 - 10:00 Arrival, Registration

10:00 - 11:30 Plenary Session 

moderator: Dr. Dóra Drexler

• Dávid Dr. Mezőszentgyörgyi, director of institute at MATE
• László Szabó, Tarkarét Buffalo Farm, HOLD Fund Manager
• Prof. Dr. Knut Schmidtke, Professor University of Dresden

11:30 - 12:00 Coffee break

12:00 - 13:30 Parallel Sectoral meetings

• ARABLE PRODUCTION
  • Application of living lab research methodology in soil conservation research  - Dr. Berényi Üveges Judit ÖMKi
  • On-farm experiments - recent results of winter wheat variety tests - Mihály Földi ÖMKi
  • Small plot wheat experiments - Emese Balog ÖMKi
  • Farm smart: ecological methods and (satellite) remote sensing - Sulyán Péter ÖMKi
  • Experiences in heritage wheat varieties research - Dr. Szilvia Bencze ÖMKi
  • Questions and answers - moderated by: Dr. Éva Borbélyné Dr. Hunyadi ÖMKi
• HORTICULTURE
  • Living lab research methodology in horticultural research - Dr.Ferenc Tóth ÖMKi
  • Possibilities of using agroinformatics tools and methods in horticultural research - Balázs Labus ÖMKi
  • Development of wildflower seed mixtures in orchards, experiences of 3 years of research at ÖMKi - Dr. Tamás Miglécz ÖMKi
  • The role of  intercropping flowering plants in conservation biological control in vineyards - Dr. László Mezőfi ÖMKi
  • Testing of green compost-based, peat-free experimental growing media with volunteers - Emese Gyöngyösi ÖMKi
  • Evaluation of different soil covering methods from the point of view of soil life - Selmeczi Dóra Sára ÖMKi
  • Questions and answers moderated by: Dr. Ferenc Tóth

• LIVESTOCK FARMING

  • The grazing practice of the DEDES project -András Szunyogh DEDES private ecological project
  • Is well-being well-being? - Thoughts on organic pig farming - Zsuzsanna Benedek MATE Georgikon Campus Institute of Animal Sciences
  • Vegetable-fruit-poultry integrated production system in the Sándor-tanya Organic Farm - Éva Stibinger - Sándor Nagy Sándor Tanya Organic Farm
  • TBA- Dr. Mátyás Cserháti, Associate Professor MATE Department of Molecular Ecology
  • The state of our native grasslands - experiences from a national survey - Dr. Szilárd Szentes, research fellow MÁSZ Working Group on Grassland Management University of Veterinary Sciences, Institute of Animal Breeding, Nutrition and Laboratory Animal Sciences
  • Possibilities of processing digital data collected on grazing animal movements - Dániel Boril- Miklós Biszkup ÖMKi
  • Questions and answers moderated by: Dr. Aliz Márton

• REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

  • Opportunities of regenerative farming within the organic arable system - Prof. Dr. Knut Schmidtke Professor, University of Dresden

13:30 - 15:00 Lunch

15:00 - 17:00  Parallel activities

• Regenerating the health of our soils - a roundtable discussion among farmers and experts from the Regenerative Agriculture Revolution programme

moderator: Lili Balogh, president, Hungarian Agroecology Network Association, EIT Food RAR Hungarian programme manager

• • Mátyás Bekecs, farmer, EIT Food RAR programme participant 2022
  • Dr. István Parádi, assistant professor, Institute of Biology, Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Plant Biology, ELTE
  • Dr. Judit Berényi Üveges, researcher, project manager, ÖMKi
  • Zoltán Lengyel, farmer, EIT Food RAR programme trainer 2022-2024
• Field visit: Tarkarét Buffalo Farm László Szabó, György Hajnal, Zsófia Osvald

 hrsz. 65/2, Zalaköveskút

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Lili Balogh is a bioengineer and agronomical engineer, involved in the international Food Sovereignty and Agroecology movement for the past decade. She has worked in several NGOs in order to promote agroecology and regenerative food systems in different parts of the world, and focused in the past 6 years on building the Hungarian Agroecology and Food Sovereignty movement. She became the president of Agroecology Europe Association and the Hungarian Agroecology Network Association in February 2022. She started her own farm in West Nógrád in 2018 where she started applying holistic management, regenerative agriculture, permaculture and agroecological principles.

Mátyás Bekecs, with a degree in economics, manages the Hungarian motley stock on their family farm in Tiszaszentimre, where they grow arable crops as well on about 500 hectares of which half is arable land and the other half is pasture. Although their fields had not been ploughed for a long time and their synthetic fertiliser dosages were minimal compared to their neighbours', since 2022 Mátyás began a well-thought-through, short- and long-term transition into systemic regeneration of the lands he manages. The livestock is gradually getting used to the intensive mob grazing from the previous abraded, stabled way of keeping. They have about 200 Hungarian Simmental cows integrated in their arable crop rotation. Mátyás is following and adapting in the Hungarian context the principles found in the book of Gabe Brown ‘Dirt to Soil’, and hoping to regenerate his soil and soul.

Dr. Parádi István, is an assistant professor at the ELTE TTK Institute of Biology, and the managing director of ExperiPlant Kft. His research area is the borderland of plant physiology and soil biology, mainly mycorrhizal symbiosis. Currently, he mainly researches the agricultural role of soil biology and its effect on improving plant stress protection, including its practical side, e.g. soil biological relevance of agricultural input materials and support for product development.

Dr. Judit Berényi Üveges is a lead researcher at Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) where she works on projects focusing on agricultural practices that help maintain and increase soil health. She also takes part in projects and activities fostering soil health literacy and Living Lab development.

Zoltán Lengyel founded Táncoskert farm in Polgár (Hajdú-Bihar County) in 2013, leaving his job as an IT programmer in Budapest. The farm mostly deals with animal husbandry based on pasture management. Cattle, sheep, pigs, hens and chickens make up the herd. Their main products are meat and eggs.