BERLIN, Germany — Farm World Assistant Editor Meggie I. Foster will join fellow U.S. and Canadian farm journalists on a fact-finding mission focusing on the role of green energy in German agriculture from Oct. 4-10.

Foster was selected as one of 11 farm journalists by the German Federal Foreign Office through its Embassies in Washington, D.C. and Ottawa as a candidate for this seven-day educational journey to Germany.

Foster plans to share her daily adventures with Farm World readers through a daily blog at www.farmworldonline.com

Look for a link to the blog on the website containing daily photos and stories beginning on Oct. 5. This information will also be included in a series of stories in Farm World throughout the month.

During the trip, Foster will visit three cities in Germany including Berlin, Leipzig and Kassel. The journalist will meet with German climate and energy policy leaders on national and regional levels, visit model projects and a bioenergy village similar to Indiana’s BioTown in Reynolds, Ind.

Also, they will meet with consultants and companies in various bioenergy fields, research institutions specializing in clean energy and exchange with fellow German ag media representatives.
Specific tour stops will include the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering Potsdam-Bornim, a project development firm focusing on biogas and biofuels in Berlin; the University of Göttingen; European (wood) Pellet Company in Torgau; Verbio Biofuel and Technology in Leipzig; a bioethanol production plant in Zörbig; a German Biomass Research Centre in Leipzig; Institute for Wind Energy and Energy Systems Technology in Kassel and a sustainable bioenergy village in Jühnde.

In order to offer objective and independent insight in what Germany is doing in the field of climate and energy policy, the German Federal Foreign Office has contracted with an independent organization known as InWEnt.

InWEnt is a German non-profit organization that for many years has been committed to providing sustainable solutions for climate change and to further renewable energy technology in industrial and developing nations as well as in emerging markets.
This tour is the fourth in a series of fact-finding missions that InWEnt has organized in the last two years as part of its Transatlantic Climate and Clean Energy Initiative (TCC). The TCC Initiative is designed to foster new dialogue on climate and energy issues among transatlantic political, economic, media and educational experts and to initiate and support educational networks through training and exchange programs in emerging clean energy industries.

For questions during the mission, contact Farm World at 1-800-876-5133.

Published on Sept. 30, 2009