German Farm Heidefisch Welcomes Several Thousand Cyclists For Tour

Several thousand cyclists in Germany took advantage of the sunny weather this weekend to visit the family-run trout farm Heidefisch as part of the Tour de Flur event.

The Tour de Flur is a bike tour offering cyclists the opportunity to visit various farms, and see first-hand where their food comes from. It is spread across several weekends, each focusing on different regions, and on Sunday 2 June the route ran from Lüneburger-Heide to Wietzendorf in Lower Saxony, where Heidefisch trout farm welcomed visitors throughout the day.

Interest in the farm surpassed expectations, and the first visitors were already arriving before the event officially started at 11am, with around 2,000 people visiting over the course of the day. Heidefisch is a family-run farm, and father and son team Hermann and Stephan Winkelmann were leading non-stop tours of the farm throughout the day, while Hemann’s wife Ute showed visitors around the primary processing plant.

The Winkelmanns were also happy to answer questions, with guests interested in details of fish farming practices and where Heidefisch products can be bought in stores. “We enjoyed the opportunity to open up the farm doors and explain to visitors how we operate,” said Hermann Winkelmann. “Many consumers do not know a lot about modern aquaculture, but knowledge is key to making informed decisions.”

ASC had an information stand at the farm for visitors curious about the programme, kept busy all day with visitors asking about the ASC standards and how they are implemented and audited.

“Many visitors, even the local ones, did not know the biggest producer of salmon trout in Germany is located just around the corner,” said Barbara Janker, ASC Commercial Marketing Manager for Germany. “The event illustrated once again that consumers do want to know how their food is produced. Third party labels like ASC are there to reassure consumers about the origin of the product, even in cases where they cannot visit the farm themselves.”