„The top priorities in our company are the creation of regional material and energy cycles and, associated with this, sustainable value creation and climate protection. In order to be able to continue to implement this successfully, stable political framework conditions must be created in the long term. “

Christoph Hänel, Chairman of the cooperative

In the heart of the Ore Mountains at an altitude of 535 to 720 meters, 216 hectares of rapeseed, 35 hectares of oil flax and 16 hectares of camelina grow on the fields of the agricultural cooperative "Bergland" Clausnitz in addition to cereals, potatoes, beans, corn, clover grass and energy crops. The edible oils produced from the oil seeds are sold in the cooperative's farm store together with other groceries from the cooperative's own production as well as other products from the region. A large part of the rapeseed is used for the production of vegetable oil fuel, which is used in the farm's own machinery. By operating various tractors powered by rapeseed oil, as well as a forage harvester and a mower-conditioner, approximately 90,000 liters of fossil diesel fuel can be replaced annually on the farm. At the same time, the protein-rich side product press cake is used to feed the farm's own dairy cattle.

But it’s not only the sustainable use of native oil plants that distinguishes the company from others. In addition to 3 wind turbines and a photovoltaic system on a roof area of 8500 m², the cooperative has 4 biogas plants. Here, the entire liquid manure of the 700 dairy cows is converted into electricity and the fermentation residues are spread specifically on the adjacent agricultural land for fertilization. In 2016 alone, 5.8 million kW/h of electrical energy produced by the biogas plants were fed into the power grid. The generated heat is not only used to dry threshing fodder and hay, but also to heat some of the company buildings and cooperative rental apartments. The cooperative also obtains heat for heating apartments and office buildings via woodchip heating systems, which saves around 50,000l of fuel oil per year.