BREMEN — Johann Heinrich Tangemann is a young farmer who hails from the countryside south of Bremen, Germany.

“The Tangemann name goes back 280 years,” he explained. “We are the 11th or 12th generation to farm here.”

The family farms approximately 1,800 hectares, or 4,500 acres, and they raise barley, rye, canola, rapeseed, corn and potatoes. Tangemann also plants sugar beets when prices are high.

He said the farm is larger than a typical western German farm, but that he works it and conducts his other business ventures with true German efficiency. A typical German farm, he added, is between 30-50 hectares and includes a hog operation.

Crops are rotated and Tangemann is truly busy year-round, 24/7. After the potatoes are harvested, the family plants wheat, barley or rye and, after corn, either wheat or rapeseed. His oldest brother raises hogs and together, they operate a biogas plant and a potato ethanol operation.

“Before farming, I worked two years for another company just to have a look at other things,” Tangemann said. Always learning, he worked for another farmer and he has even traveled to the United States to visit farms.

Although he is open to new ideas and techniques, Tangemann’s family roots are steeped in German tradition. His parents live in a renovated house that was built in 1657. Tangemann and his future bride hope to build a house on the family farm eventually and settle near his parents, older brother and his wife.

“My girlfriend’s father farms,” Tangemann said, adding he assists that farming operation, as well.

The ground surrounding the Tangemann farm is beautiful countryside. While typical crops grow here, there is also an organic farmer growing grapes and there is a strawberry field and green cabbage – a favorite vegetable used by his mother, Erika, who prepares a hearty meal for those working at the farm.

Tangemann shared some of the history of the area that links back to the Second World War. He said although most everything Adolf Hitler did while in power was so detrimental to the country, one helpful thing he did was to develop a point system called Reichsboden Schatzan, which determines fertility and possibility of harvest.

“It is a fair system to see how to tax ground,” Tangemann said. “It is excellent, and used today.”

Since the Berlin Wall has come down, opportunities to farm the ground in eastern Germany have opened up: “Farms are bigger in East Germany; 500 to 5,000 hectares are typical. Many farmers from the west farm ground there. My brother runs a farm.”

In Germany, Tangemann said all rented ground is on a cash rent basis. The Tangemann family includes, along with his parents, six children, four boys and two girls. Three of the boys farm and one is still in school. Out of his sisters, one teaches and one is a veterinarian.

The area where Tangemann farms is called Heide and is prosperous because he said the people invested in “livestock and research, and economically improved.” While John Deere is making headway in Germany, Klaas, Fendt and Schroder tractors are popular machines often seen working the ground.

Part of the new way of farming and living includes new ways to increase energy efficiency. “During the last four years, many solar panels have been installed,” Tangemann said.

There is a government program with a fixed energy cost with the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and biogas plants that operate from corn silage or manure. The biogas plant heats many of the farm buildings on the Tangemann farm, including the hog barn.

Tangemann father’s and brother’s operation begin with the sows being artificially inseminated, then continue until the feeder pigs are fed out. “We create about 25,000 tons of liquid manure and we need 50,000 for the biogas plant,” he said, noting they acquire liquid manure from other local operations as well to make up the difference.

“Many farmers have more manure and have to get rid of it, so I get more manure. We need 40,000 tons to fertilize the fields,” Tangemann explained.

Besides the potato ethanol plant and the biogas facility, the Tangemann family also operate a wind energy plant. The potato ethanol plant produces about six trucks of ethanol a year. “It is used (by individuals) and is sold to the government,” he added.

Potato harvest had just finished in November, right before the AGRITECHNICA ag show began (in Hanover) and the crop was piled high in the processing building. “Potatoes come in, we wash them down, sort them, then truck them to the factory,” Tangemann said.

Over the years the Tangemanns have built three buildings to house the potato operation; the first was built by Tangemann’s father in 1973, the second in 1975 and the third, in 1978. Not far from the Tangemann farm is an Agra-Frost factory, where Tangemann delivers some of his potatoes. “They deliver worldwide,” he added.

The soil is somewhat sandy, but filled with organic material perfect for growing potatoes and similar crops. Rocks are commonly found in the fields and added to the field road to help support machinery.  Everything has a use; nothing goes to waste or is left to chance. 

The Tangemanns farm their land and run their operation with apparent care and a love for the land that has been in their family longer than the United States has even existed.