Field trip experience in Hungary

Pannonia Bio Zrt., Danube river

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the plant

As a part of CEU summer school's theme of ‘Repowering Leadership in European Energy and Food, two field trips were arranged for the participants:

Pannonia bioethanol plant (around 100 km away from Budapest)
Zsamboki eco-farm (around 60 km away from Budapest)

As eco-fancy as these two places sound, they have distinctive differences both in terms of their environmental footprint and scale. Reflecting an Azeri proverb, ‘its better to see once, than to hear one hundred times.’ So, first field trip was organized to Pannonia biofuel plant. One day before the trip, there was a heated classroom discussion about scaling biofuels and industry/civil society criticism dilemma. Thus, with some scepticism we headed to Pannonia. Since its inception in 2012 Pannonia has undergone significant expansion. However there is still no integration of renewable energy sources into their operational process. However they own onshore wind farms outside Hungary, can’t remember exactly where it was and so far couldn’t find any information on the Internet. Notably, civil society organizations are doubtful to the operations of the similar power plants and these are the most mentioned counter-arguments:

Scaling of bio-fuel industry can amplify its environmental footprint, which can lead us to the other side of axis food security. Thus, it raises question of its sustainability.
Secondly, scaling of biofuel production will jeopardize food security, by diverting agricultural resources away from food production toward energy generation.

This multipurpose plant tries to make use of every byproduct, ‘the biorefinery annually processes over a million tons of grain to produce over 500 million litres of bioethanol, hundreds of thousands of tons of protein-rich animal feed and more than 10,000 tons of corn oil each year’

The spokeperson of Pannonia Eric Sievers mentioned the difficulties of establishing effective communication with NGOs, which in his opinion creates communication gap. Personally, I do not know the exact reasons behind the reluctance of NGOs in the EU to communicate with biofuel hegemonies, however initial speculation was that there might be lack of expertise within NGOs. Surely, without talking to them and knowing things definitely, it will be unwise give an answer. However, it was evident that there is feud between the biofuel industry and civil society.

Zsamboki eco-farm

I can certainly point that the visit to the Zsámbok village in Hungary, where we explored an organically certified bio-intensive market garden, was among the most memorable field trips I've experienced. The day commenced with a warm reception from the farm staff and volunteers, followed by a delicious vegetarian food freshly made from farm products, in a cozy place right in front of the farm field. Shortly, our tour started across the farm. Logan Strenchock, farmer, who also appears to be Central European University’s Environmental and Sustainability Officer, introduced us to the technicalities of the farm and also to the challenges that eco-farming faces both in Hungary and worldwide.

One of the highlights of the farm visit was about infamous problem in the industry - greenwashing, in general some businesses despite having green label, their farming practices remain unsustainable. Logan said that in order to avoid this and maintain a genuine presence in the market, more and more studies, learning is being carried out. Surely, trip wasn’t about animal agriculture, but crop farming. One of the intriguing insights from Logan’s speech was that we can’t close resource loops on farms without having animals in farms, for instance in the process of reviving lands one of the best ways to bring it back is by injecting the microbial boost that you get through rotational grazing. I tried to record parts of his speech, which can be found on our YouTube channel for those interested.

Also, adding the link to Zsamboki blog, where one can find bunch of useful blogposts and maybe some inspiration also 😉