Pig Farming in Tran­si­tion: Good Jobs and New Energy

The winter crops have already been drilled. Only a few hectares of sugar beet remain to be harvested, then harvest is complete. Yet for the 15 perma­nent employees, three trainees, and their farm manager Egbert Wissling, the end of October is not the time for winter rest. Even after harvesting the 450ha of arable land on the farm in Beckum, Münster­land, the work­load remains high with over 1,000 sows, 12,000 finishing places, two biogas plants, and wind energy facil­i­ties.

During our conver­sa­tion, Egbert’s phone rings. “Sorry, I have pigs to sell,” the 55-year-old inter­rupts and briefly ducks into the next room. This is a good moment to talk to employee Stefan Hilgensloh.

From appren­tice to employee

Stefan completed his agri­cul­tural appren­tice­ship on the Wissling family’s farm many years ago. After studying agri­cul­tural economics in Soest and gaining expe­ri­ence else­where, he returned to the farm where he trained. Today he’s the link between the office and farm oper­a­tions. He manages the Animal Origin Tracing and Infor­ma­tion System (HIT data­base), processes offi­cial require­ments, handles building-related legal matters, invoices, orders, and various organ­i­sa­tional duties. There is certainly no shortage of variety.

The 40-year-old speaks posi­tively about his job on the farm, which has grown signif­i­cantly over the past two decades. He respects his Egbert, not only for the farm’s success and growth, but also because Stefan runs his own pig fattening busi­ness as a side­line with his father and under­stands the daily chal­lenges in farming. Like Stefan, five other employees also run farms at home on the side. “It’s clear that we have a partic­ular sense of respon­si­bility towards our employer in diffi­cult moments,” he empha­sises.

Modern tech­nology and flex­ible work

While Stefan spends most of his time in front of a screen, Daniel Brockschnieder oper­ates the chop­pers, combines, and trac­tors. On a rainy October day, he is cleaning the drum inserts on the combine. The 41-year-old got the job through word of mouth and appre­ci­ates the short commute from his home, just three kilo­me­tres away. “What I appre­ciate about this farm is the high degree of time flex­i­bility and family friend­li­ness,” explains Daniel. “If some­thing comes up, I can arrive a few hours late and make up for these missed hours else­where.”

Roles involving modern vehi­cles and machines are often more sought-after than those in the pigsties. “But they’re defi­nitely not more impor­tant, because all employees are valu­able,” stresses Daniel. Among those in the sow barns is Florian Lammerding, who works 30 hours a week while also running his own fattening farm with arable land.

Daniel Brockschnieder works at the Wißling farm primarily with modern agri­cul­tural machinery and appre­ci­ates the family-friendly flex­i­bility of the oper­a­tion.

Florian Lammerding works in the sow barn at the Wißling farm and combines this job with running his own pig-fattening oper­a­tion at home.

Along­side flex­ible working hours and direct deci­sion-making struc­tures, he partic­u­larly values the sense of appre­ci­a­tion for his perfor­mance and commit­ment. “This cannot be measured in money but is price­less for the working atmos­phere and personal moti­va­tion,” says Florian. He aims to pass this appre­ci­a­tion on to the appren­tices; there are currently three on the farm, two of whom are tasked with vacci­nating and ear tagging the piglets.

Biogas and wind energy

The pigs have now been sold and Egbert returns. Although the harvest is complete, there is still much to be done. For example, he has to address the future of the farm’s biogas plant. The plant has already been modernised twice, with the gas engines now limited to gener­ating elec­tricity for a maximum of 10 hours a day. The 1,000m3 heat storage tank still manages to provide enough heat for the whole pig housing, several resi­den­tial units, and for drying grain maize, trit­i­cale, and logs.

However, EEG (Renew­able Energy Sources Act Erneuer­bare-Energien-Gesetz – EEG) support ends in late 2026, and whether the busi­ness model will remain prof­itable after­wards is unclear. The plant might receive a contract from the Federal Network Agency for continued oper­a­tion under the EEG – or produc­tion from the combined heat and power unit may be taken down to150kW. Nothing has been decided yet.

Besides the biogas issue, reno­va­tion of the pig housing is planned to meet the increased demands for animal welfare. Commu­ni­ca­tion with the rele­vant building author­i­ties can be slow, but Egbert prefers to focus on solu­tions, results, and conclu­sions, other­wise he wouldn’t make progress with his busi­ness. The same approach applies to his involve­ment in renew­able energy projects; Egbert is managing director of an existing wind farm and a planned wind farm with three wind turbines, each with a capacity of 7.2MW. The project is valued in the mid-double-digit million-euro range and is managed by the project devel­oper BBWind from Münster, with involve­ment from a local citi­zens’ energy co-oper­a­tive.

Beyond the farm, Egbert serves as honorary chairman of the super­vi­sory board of West­fleisch Finanz AG and chairman of the board of Raif­feisen Beckum eG.Undoubtedly, the busi­ness chal­lenges he faces have grown signif­i­cantly in recent years. “I’ve steadily grown into it,” he says, after ener­get­i­cally dismounting from his e-bike and sketching out his busi­ness in brief sentences between the biogas plant, grain store, and piglet rearing unit. He is also thinking about succes­sion. One day, his son Jonas – will take over the busi­ness and Egbert wants to ensure he has enough time to grow into the role.

Team­work and farm culture

Despite the constant produc­tion pres­sure, Egbert tries to offer each of his farm employees enough freedom to organise them­selves so that their skills and incli­na­tions can be posi­tively inte­grated into the work process. “Unfor­tu­nately, I don’t have enough time for each indi­vidual to address their ideas and opin­ions,” he admits. “I think that’s a real shame, but everyday life on the farm often just doesn’t allow for that.” Although commu­ni­ca­tion in the pig units, the tech­nical depart­ment, the biogas plant, and the office is very open and direct, there is still poten­tial for opti­mi­sa­tion. Espe­cially since every new day is full of surprises.

Magdalena Lindner, who manages the day-to-day busi­ness and personnel records in the office, can attest to this. The 44-year-old asserts that without a will­ing­ness to impro­vise, it wouldn’t work.
Her colleague in the office is Stephanie Schu­macher, a tax clerk who handles payroll accounting. “After many years in a tax consul­tancy office, working here is a truly exciting change, and I like it a lot,” says Stephanie, who is pleased with her deci­sion to start a new chapter in her profes­sional life on the farm.

Formal, regular staff meet­ings have not yet been intro­duced, but informal exchange is impor­tant. The team eats lunch together, bringing some­thing from home and in the summer, they occa­sion­ally share a beer after work. There are barbe­cues, Christmas parties, and an annual joint leisure activity, most recently water skiing at a nearby lake. However, none of this should obscure the fact that only those who demon­strate a high level of commit­ment stay on the farm.

“Some­times you arrive here in the morning and have a plan and by the evening you’ve done some­thing completely different,” says Piet Fernkorn, who is respon­sible for tech­nology and main­te­nance. “But that is exciting and makes working on this farm attrac­tive.”
Piet has a special connec­tion to the farm, having been its first appren­tice in 2001. Like Stefan, he studied in Soest, then worked at the local John Deere deal­er­ship. Today he over­sees the farm’s trainees and is on an exam­i­na­tion board.

Pay levels are not publicly discussed, but they are compet­i­tive. However, inno­va­tion, new ideas and tech­niques are omnipresent. It is an atti­tude demon­strated by Egbert himself; prac­tical, metic­u­lously planned, and hands-on. There never seem to be a dull moment at this place of work.