On Saturday 19th of February, around 100 brave participants participated at the first POMONA field day to visit the SoildiverAgro case study, the farm, shop, orchard and ‘food-forest’. The word ‘brave’ is especially added because the weather was very bad (rainy and windy) due to the remainders of the strong storm Eunice that passed one day before and caused a lot of damage in Belgium and other European countries. Luckily, the damage to the Pomona area was limited. But, as if Eunice was not enough to cope with, some of the organisers were absent due to a COVID19-infection. In this regard, also a special admiration is at its place for the POMONA-group who decided not to cancel the field day even though they had to resist the bad weather for a full day and they were only with a few.

Most of the participants were families from the surrounding area, however, some farmers and agronomists also were present to learn more about agroecological farming (especially plant selection and rotation), biodiversity and ecosystem services. Also, cooperation with other organisations and projects was mentioned. But of course, the emphasis was on the POMONA organisation itself and its vision in which the research of the SoildiverAgro-project perfectly fits: the production of healthy crops on an ecological, social and economical way by farmers working closely together with local consumers as if they run the farm together.