Around 30 percent of food in Germany ends up in the trash every year. Why is it that food is so undervalued? »The reasons are a lack of spaces to experience nature and the opportunity to understand nature and food with all our senses«, explains Dr. Christoph Schmitz, founder of the association Acker e.V.. Many people have lost sight of how much work and what resources it takes for food to find its way to the nearest store. Young people in particular often have no connection to the origin and value of natural food.

This is something our new Grantee, Acker e.V., aims to change. The organization plans to create the systemic conditions by 2030 to ensure that every child in Germany has the opportunity to grow their own vegetables, experience nature with all their senses, and playfully understand the value creation of food. Since 2025, we as the Schöpflin Foundation have been supporting Acker e.V. in the program area »Learning & Participation« with €250,000 annually. The funding partnership is initially planned for three years.

As part of Acker e.V.'s »System Change Alliance«, we are working together with other partners to drive a paradigm shift in the education system. The goal is to make sustainability a permanent part of the curriculum – for example, by enabling children to experience food cultivation in the classroom and thereby learn the value of food and how to handle it sustainably

Acker e.V. is not only active in Germany with its educational programs but also in Austria and Switzerland. There are now over 1,800 learning locations across the DACH region that introduce children to food cultivation and provide them with access to nature experiences.

In addition to financially supporting Acker e.V.'s System Change Alliance, we at the Schöpflin Foundation also aim to raise young people's awareness of sustainability through a local project. On our FABRIC campus in Lörrach-Brombach, we are providing a piece of land that students from the local Hellberg School will cultivate themselves starting in March 2025. On the approximately 40-square-meter plot, children from grades three to six will grow vegetables and take care of the field under the guidance of a teacher who is also a trained landscape gardener. We attach great importance to regionality in the project: the seedlings come from a local plant nursery in Hügelheim. Sarah Schwald from the Schöpflin Foundation's FABRIC team will support the group as an »Acker Buddy«. In addition, Acker e.V. will support the project with training, on-site workshops and a permanent contact person from the Acker team. 

You can find out more about our “Learning & Participation” program area and our Grantees here.