40 years of diversity observed and tasted

"Peter Kunz's cereal breeding stands for variety, for agriculture in harmony with nature," said Susanne Eberhard, Vice-President of the Association for Biodynamic Agriculture, in her welcoming address at the gzpk's anniversary celebrations on 22 June. In addition to these words of welcome and those of Josef Bircher, a member of the Bio Suisse Board of Directors, the gzpk was presented with two trees as a birthday present. Niklaus Bolliger, breeder of Poma Culta, presented a voucher for an apple tree. Amadeus Zschunke, managing director of Sativa Rheinau AG, presented a fig tree together with seed expert Florian Hutter. Well aware of the challenges of financing organic breeding, Zschunke mentioned that the fig symbolises prosperity and fertility, and he wished the gzpk the same for the future.

The gzpk has been researching new varieties of cereals and grain legumes on Lake Zurich for 40 years. These varieties offer particular advantages for organic farming, as they are ideally prepared to produce yield and quality from the nutrients available to them from the farm cycle. In the breeding process on organic soils - i.e. without the use of pesticides - plants are selected that are as robust and disease-tolerant as possible.
The need for varieties bred specifically for organic farming was recognised by Peter Kunz, founder of gzpk, in 1984. To this day, the breeding work takes place where the finished varieties will later be used - integrated into the farming cycles of a farm.

Today, gzpk is not only involved in the development of agronomically adapted crops, but also takes into account climatic challenges, the needs of the farm cycle and the soil, as well as the needs of bread bakers and pea processors. The aim is to increase diversity in the field and on the plate.
"What we have created here on Lake Zurich over 40 years is a jewel of diversity - not only in terms of our crops and varieties, but also in terms of the people at gzpk," says Monika Baumann, Co-Managing Director of gzpk.
The gzpk team has grown steadily since 2001. Today, a total of 21 people work at two gzpk locations. The same number of gzpk organic cereal varieties are now available to farmers in Switzerland and neighbouring countries.

The successful work of the gzpk is based on a large network of partners, supporters and organic consumers. The gzpk celebrated this success at its anniversary party, where around 240 people were present throughout the day.
In the morning, almost 100 people took part in a guided tour of the breeding garden in three groups. In the field, wheat breeder Michael Locher explained how wheat has developed over the last few decades. He showed the differences between wheat varieties from different eras of breeding history and different selection environments - including long and short stem, high and low yielding, disease-susceptible and disease-tolerant varieties.
In addition to wheat, emmer, spelt and breadmaking triticale were also shown in the field. Grain legumes included lentil, chickpea, chickpea, protein pea and lupin. Crops that are attracting increasing interest, especially from food processors who are focusing on plant proteins rather than animal proteins. By listening, observing and touching, the speakers brought organic breeding to life in the field.

The experience continued over lunch. gzpk invited various partners to sample their products at food stands. Bio-Beck Lehmann and the Sundaram bakery presented tasty wheat, spelt and triticale breads. Crêperie Jolimont offered freshly baked savoury and sweet crêpes, including one with a chickpea filling. DasPure, a processor specialising in fermentation, prepared tempeh for tasting. The buffet included pea curry, triticale and corn salad and much more.

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About gzpk

gzpk (Cereal Breeding Peter Kunz) is one of the leading biodynamic breeding organisations in Europe, based in Feldbach/ZH, Switzerland.
As a non-profit organisation, gzpk has been researching and breeding crops for organic agriculture for 40 years. gzpk stands for "organic from the start" and has been working for many years to promote diversity from field to fork. It brings together farmers, processors and consumers. Ten winter wheat, nine spelt, one emmer and one triticale varieties are currently being propagated and grown in Switzerland and several EU countries. The first spring pea varieties are being registered. The gzpk also works with lupin, vetch, chickpea and maize. gzpk was founded in 1984 by Peter Kunz - breeder, farmer and biodynamicist. Monika Baumann and Herbert Völkle have since taken over as co-managers. The organisation employs 21 permanent staff in the fields of plant breeding, food quality, environment and biology. A second gzpk site is located at the Demeter farm Mönchhof in Meissner (Germany).

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Contact for

Cereal Breeding Peter Kunz (gzpk)
Association for Crop Development
Seestrasse 6, 8714 Feldbach, Switzerland
T +41 55 264 17 89, office@gzpk.ch
www.gzpk.ch