Hannes Lorenzen was senior adviser to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg from 1985 to 2019. Before starting his career in the European institutions, he carried out research, coordination and evaluation work on rural development projects with the Technical Service of the German Government. On the international level Hannes Lorenzen is co-founder of Genetic Resources Action International (www.grain.org) and co-president of the European Rural Development Network Forum Synergies (www.forum-synergies.eu). He is also co-founder of PREPARE, the "Partnership for Rural Europe" network for Central and Eastern European Member States (www.preparenetwork.org), serving as chairman and president until 2016. He co-founded ARC2020 and is its president since 2016. Closer to home, Hannes chairs a local rural development organization on his home island of Pellworm in North Friesland, Germany, which works o organic farming, renewable energy production, soft tourism and nature protection projects in a local dimension.
Hannes Lorenzen a été conseiller auprès de la Commission de l’Agriculture et du Développement Rural du Parlement Européen à Bruxelles et à Strasbourg de 1985 à 2019. Avant d’entamer sa carrière au sein des institutions européennes, il a effectué des travaux de recherche, de coordination et d’évaluation de projets de développement rural au sein du service coopération du gouvernement allemand. Au niveau international, Hannes LORENZEN est co-fondateur de Forum Synergies, réseau européen de développement rural (www.forum-synergies.eu). Il a cofondé ARC2020 et en est le président depuis 2016. Hannes préside aussi une organisation locale de développement rural sur son île natale de PELLWORM, en Allemagne. Cette organisation travaille sur des projets d’agriculture biologique, de production d’énergie renouvelable, de tourisme doux et de protection de la nature à l’échelle locale. Sur l’île il est aussi engagé avec des jeunes agriculteurs dans le développement et la reproduction des semences paysannes en bio et la biodiversité en agriculture. Hannes a toujours vu l’agriCulture française au cœur de l’intégration européenne. L’amour et le respect des français pour leurs paysans et l’appréciation de la “bonne bouffe” ont aussi été une flammèche pour se lancer dans cette nouvelle aventure du projet “La résilience de nos compagnes” de ARC2020. Même si un petit virus empêche Hannes de voyager pour l’instant, il est déjà en route pour rencontrer plein de monde qui bouge pour une transition juste et attirante…
Ewa Smuk-Stratenwerth is co-founder of ZIARNO Ecological-Cultural Association and the Ecological Folk High School in Grzybów, Poland. As part of our series on mental health and wellbeing in rural areas, Hannes Lorenzen spoke with her about polarisation and conspiracies in rural Poland, but also about her views on “healthy patriotism” and the importance of practicing human virtues. […]
With the signing of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement this weekend, a spectre of the past comes back to haunt Europe’s farmers. But there is still a political window to save their future. Op-ed by ARC2020 President Hannes Lorenzen, published in Le Monde on Saturday 17 January 2026. […]
Minding mental health is an ever increasing challenge for rural communities, and especially farmers. It’s a crisis exacerbated by precarious and political uncertainty, and tied up with questions of generational renewal on farms. To learn more about the situation on the ground, the services available, and what rural communities can do, Hannes Lorenzen spoke to Regina Eichinger-Schönberger, a health counsellor in Germany who specialises in suicide prevention in the green sector. […]
It’s easy to be overwhelmed. As we prepare to ride the wave of multiple crises, going into 2026 we are minding our mental health at ARC2020, and diving into this topic with rural actors and communities. A New Year’s message from ARC2020 president Hannes Lorenzen. […]
The Rural Pact Conference “From vision to action: Empowering rural areas for the future” took place in Kortrijk, Belgium on 16-17 September. Following this event, ARC2020 president Hannes Lorenzen shares his thoughts on the outlook for European rural policy and rural movements. […]
ARC’s Hannes Lorenzen met Vytenis Grigas, a young Lithuanian farmer and psychology lecturer, at a CEJA conference on the future of EU farm policy. Five years ago Vytenis began what he calls a “serious experiment for future farming.” In his village of Kiemeliai near Vilnius, he now combines soil care, community spirit, and new ideas for rural life. […]
A new idea is brewing in Germany, with the first seeds sown of a new alliance along the food value chain for cereals and legumes. ARC2020’s President Hannes Lorenzen reports on how farmers, bakers, seed savers, researchers, and grain breeders are coming together with a shared vision […]
An unusual political creature celebrates twenty years of cooperation between a wide range of committed government officials, rural and agricultural stakeholders and experts and rural communities and activists. Hannes Lorenzen spoke with Boban Ilic, co-initiator and Secretary General of the Standing Working Group on Regional Rural Development in South Eastern Europe, at the 20-year anniversary gathering in Ohrid, North Macedonia. […]
The Polish Rural Parliament launched earlier this month, holding its inaugural gathering at the European Congress on Rural Renewal and Development organised by the Polish EU Presidency on May 8-10 2025. What does this mean for the rural movement in Poland? Below we bring you an interview with its co-initiators, Ryszard Kamiński (Polish Rural Forum) and Szymon Migoń (Polish Rural Youth Union). But first, Hannes Lorenzen reports from the Congress in Poznan. […]
From rural resilience to democratic revival, ARC2025 charts a transformative path for Europe. At first glance it may sound just like a wishful dream. But in fact it is an invitation to take action. Europe will be challenged this year by those who do not want to see it united and strong. But old nationalism and new geopolitical confrontations from East and West will also stimulate our civic courage. We see so many pioneering local initiatives leading the way across Europe setting up new farming and food systems: Farmers, local businesses and leaders of change, including researchers and forward-thinking politicians. Have a dream! It helps against sleepwalking into a nightmare. Taking action with others will make the dream, however big, a reality! […]
A master gardener and co-founder of the SEED association for the preservation and use of the region’s traditional seed varieties, Frank Adams has long been involved in the legislative battle waged by seed savers to gain recognition for the necessity and specific nature of their work. Hannes Lorenzen spoke to Frank during a horticultural walk in the gardens of the Château d’Ansembourg, Luxembourg. […]
Time waits for nobody – but it seems to travel quickly or slowly depending on circumstance. Organic breeding techniques have a different relationship to time and place than genetic engineering methods; other aspects of being in a market economy and of using specialised machinery have their own relationships to time too. Here, Hannes Lorenzen talks with organic plant breeders in Christiansen organic farm, up in Schleswig-Holstein, in the far north of Germany and what they do and why they do it. […]
Is farming for the birds? Like mountain farmers, some lowland farmers have trouble keeping economically afloat due to growing production costs, difficult market access, and the impact of climate change. Jan Gonne Thams is one of them. He lives on Pellworm island, in a remote and disadvantaged region of North Friesland, Germany. There, the increasing numbers of protected wild Geese which arrive on Pellworm island have changed priorities of the young farmer. Now the farm shop is first and farming is secondary. In conversation with Hannes Lorenzen. […]
Cycling through this beauty of soft hills, yellow-green meadows, scattered forests, small lakes, finely carpentered wooden houses, small villages with cows and horses grazing side by side, onion-crowned church-towers and cosy guest houses, you may believe that Upper Bavaria is one of those remaining paradise places where rural culture and small peasantry has survived. Letter from die Ötz farm by Hannes Lorenzen. […]
Welcome to the gardens of St John’s monastery in the village of Anatoli, Thessaly, Greece. We bring you a heartwarming story of sharing and sufficiency, in a letter from a visit to the farm by Hannes Lorenzen. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention
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