Autumn 2023 EN

Advancing Sustainable Agriculture
through Intelligent Solutions and
High-Tech Innovations
Hanspeter Lauper is a somewhat different agricultural contractor: His name stands for
conservation tillage, which aims at a form of arable farming and fodder growing that is
in harmony with nature. The Swiss farmer has modified his direct seeding machines and
equipped them with high-tech technology from the USA.
Author: Christian Dany
Wiler lies in the “Sealand”, a relatively
large plain near Bern, Switzerland,
with three lakes, the Alps to the south,
and the Jura mountains to the north.
It is here that you will find the farm
of Hanspeter Lauper – a man with a wide range of responsibilities.
He is a master agricultural machinery
mechanic and also works as a vocational school teacher
in that capacity. In addition, he runs a small farm. However,
the majority of his working hours are devoted to his
contracting business, Landag AG.
“We don’t do any soil cultivation,” he says, summarizing
the conversation with an unusual statement for a
contractor. “We just don’t do mechanical soil cultivation.
The soil organisms cultivate the soil.” Above all,
Lauper is an unwavering advocate of conservation tillage,
with 30 years of experience in direct seeding.
Emulating Permanent Grassland on the Field
Although he normally speaks in the (adapted) Bernese
dialect, he uses the English term “Conservation Agriculture”.
This approach is based on three principles:
soil regeneration, soil cover, and plant diversity through
crop rotations and catch crops. “In conservation arable
farming and fodder growing, we attempt to emulate the
soil conditions found in permanent grassland,” says
58-year-old Lauper.
The principle of soil regeneration requires the application
of no-till direct seeding (no-till, not more than 25
percent soil disturbance according to FAO). Continuous
cultivation reduces soil bearing capacity. “When
roots are in the soil, it’s like reinforcement. Wide tires
or a pneumatic pressure control system can reduce soil
pressure, but they cannot improve the soil structure.”
Pioneer: Dr. Wolfgang Sturny
It all started for Lauper in 1993 when the Soil Protection
Agency of the Canton of Bern planned to implement
no-till farming because of the concentration of
nitrate in drinking water. At the initiative of Dr. Wolfgang
Sturny, a program was launched at that time in
which farmers received financial support for the direct
seeding of cover crops and catch crops. The agricultural
scientist Sturny is regarded as an authority in the
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