Gröner Hof, Loogh

Shaping the future with a wide angle - a visit to Gröner Hof

This month's #GeroRegional feature is about a well-known player in the ranks of our local producers. The Gröner Hof cheese range is probably one of the best-known products from our region and it is impossible to imagine our local stores without it. 

The Gröner family values the "Made in Eifel" label out of conviction and lives it to the full. Thanks to Ursula and Michael Gröner, the farming business has been focusing on direct marketing and closed production cycles since 1988, giving the current concept of sustainability a deeper meaning even back then.
This conviction was based on the desire to "be the master of their own farm" again, independent of subsidies, which only allowed regulations and hardly any individual freedom in the 1980s. This principle of freedom has consistently run through the company's decision-making processes for a good 35 years and not only that. Even back then, the focus was on the sustainable growth of their farm. From the very beginning, Ursula and Michael Gröner focused on maintaining natural and closed cycles in the production chain. This also means keeping transport routes short, treating the people and animals on the farm as fairly as possible and ensuring that the farm grows sensibly and within economic limits. 

This is clearly illustrated by the cattle and dairy farming. "The farm has its natural limits," says Gero Gröner. He belongs to the second generation of the family and has been actively thinking and living the continuity of the farm since 2016. "We only keep as many animals as the farm can feed through its own feed production!" In times when limitless growth and profit optimization are propagated, this attitude proves to be a sustainable counter-trend with economic success.

One of the traditional mainstays of the Gröner Hof is the Eifel young bull breeding. The cattle are reared, slaughtered and further processed exclusively on site. The buyers of these slow food products are usually long-standing regular customers who appreciate the quality meat. It is pre-ordered in ready-made portion sizes and delivered to customers, which makes reliable planning and cost-effective direct sales possible in the first place.

Since 1999, the cow's milk has been processed in the farm's own cheese dairy. "Another idea that some people used to view with a certain amount of skepticism," reports Ursula Gröner. In the beginning, Eifel mountain cheese was produced with and without herbs, right through to spicy volcano cheese. The idea turned out to be a success and was expanded in 2016 by the family's youngest idea generator to include soft cheese production. Since then, Eifeler Camembert & Co under the Gröner brand have become a firm fixture in the product range of local and national retailers. 

In order to keep the farm's cycles consistently closed, the farm store and its own restaurant with a show dairy complement the farm's production branches. The products are thus passed on directly to the customers, supply chains are extremely short and a significant proportion of the added value is kept in the region. 
In addition to this, visitors to the farm can experience first-hand in the show dairy and on the farm tours where the food comes from, how it is produced and how it is used sustainably.

This principle of farming and living reflects the philosophy of the people who live and work on the Gröner Hof. They see their work as a unit, as everything is interrelated. In a joint discussion, it becomes clear that all generations of the Gröner Hof stand behind this conviction. In addition to the idea of freedom, the desire for peaceful coexistence is one of their personal guiding principles. This basic idea applies to all decisions and life situations on the family farm. Gero Gröner takes it even further and beyond the boundaries of the farm. He includes peaceful interaction with the environment and the regional community. It is about moderate thinking and investing in the future, always looking beyond one's own nose. Maintaining a "wide-angle view", looking at things carefully first, then forming an opinion before taking action.

The Gröner Hof is a good example of how a sustainable regional project can be led to success with a clear idealistic attitude and in contentious family harmony. Freedom and peace for oneself and one's fellow human beings and pride in one's own achievements "Made in Eifel" seem to be a good guarantee for this. 

If you would like to find out more about the Gröner Hof, you can take a virtual visit or, even better, pay a visit directly in Loogh.

Gröner Hof
Im Mühlenweg 3
54578 Loogh
info@eifel-groener.de
Tel.: +49 6593 1812