We are a medium-sized, cooperative company with 13 branch offices in the Rhine, Ahr and Eifel regions. We set up our laboratory in Ormont - in the Vulkaneifel district near the Belgian border - at the beginning of the 1990s. Compared to other laboratories, we are relatively small, but we are technically very well equipped and attach particular importance to personal expert advice. Small but nice is our motto.
"What is not possible for one, many can do." This sentence comes from Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the social reformer and founder of the Raiffeisen cooperatives.
That is Raiffeisen's outstanding idea: the power of community. Raiffeisen used to be about alleviating social hardship through strong community work. This idea is still highly topical 200 years later. His revolutionary idea can be used to solve not only socio-economic but also ecological problems.
Today, our environment is in distress: climate change and damaged ecosystems mean that our natural resources such as soil, water and air are under threat.
We see our task in providing our customers with meaningful analyses and good expert advice, with the help of which the environment can be protected and costs can still be saved, Or to avoid damage to health and expensive consequential costs, for example in the field of water analysis.
Ecology and economy do not have to be contradictory, as our many years of experience have shown.
If many individuals, for example, fertilize more sparingly and in a more environmentally friendly manner, this will result in something great for the environment. Many of our customers report improvements that became visible by changing fertilization after a soil analysis. Many small individual measures in practical everyday life make a difference. The daily whining and horror scenarios in the media do nothing and motivate no one to do anything.
In accordance with Raiffeisen's idea, we want long-term, good personal contacts with our customers. We care about our customers' problems and are happy when we have been able to help. Short-sighted profit maximization is not our concern, but the maximization of benefits for our customers. Entirely in the spirit of Raiffeisen. We don't just talk about sustainability: our laboratory service has been serving this purpose for over 30 years. In this way, we want to live up to our responsibility for future generations, who also depend on healthy soils and healthy water.
If you divide the world's arable land of 1.4 billion hectares by the number of inhabitants, everyone has around 2,000 m² available. That is about one third of a soccer field.
Everything we need (fruit, vegetables, cereals, animal feed, cotton, bio-energy) must grow on this now small area. At the same time, our organic waste must be recycled there. In the process, the soil serves as a filter and ideally provides us with healthy, clean water. According to the UN, more than 33 percent of the Earth's soils are already degraded. 90 percent could deteriorate by 2050. Phosphate fertilizers are becoming scarce. The planet's nitrogen cycle is out of control. With exponential population growth and dwindling resources, our food and water supplies are on shaky ground. That's why it's becoming more important than ever to preserve soil fertility, conserve fertilizer and recycle. This can only be done with appropriate analyses and clever fertilization concepts, in agriculture as well as in the private sector. If the humus content of a soil can be increased by 1%, its water storage capacity increases by 18 liters per square meter.
Our existence and our health depend on healthy soil: 95% of the food we eat comes from the soil! Fruits, vegetables and grains, like wheat, have only half the micronutrients they used to have. If they are not in the soil, they are not in our food.
With soil and water analyses, we make our contribution to a better and more conscious handling of our environment. Because you only learn to appreciate and protect what you know. Investing money in soil and water analyses is therefore not a luxury, but a necessity. Which brings us back to Raiffeisen's idea, which fits this African proverb: "Many little people, in many little places, doing many little things, can change the face of this world."
Our laboratory team will be happy to assist you: