Lukas Kilcher – The Bridge Builder of Ebenrain
Lukas Kilcher (57) has been the Head of the Ebenrain Centre for Agriculture, Nature and Food for seven years. Much has changed during this time, and this is only just the beginning.
There was no sign of a change in career in spring 2013. At the time, Mr Kilcher had already been working at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture for 20 years. As a member of the executive board, the agricultural engineer who graduated from the ETH Zurich travelled all across the globe working on international development cooperation projects. Then the father of four received an unexpected call from a headhunter which had come at a good point in time shortly before his fiftieth birthday. The offer to become the Head of what was Ebenrain’s Agricultural Centre at the time was of immediate interest to him, and it sounded like a special kind of challenge. Lukas Kilcher signed the contract shortly before his milestone birthday, almost as a birthday present to himself, and he began his new role on 1st November 2013. The awkward LZE abbreviation was soon altered and is now called the Ebenrain Centre for Agriculture, Nature and Food. But it’s not just the name that has changed.
Government Council Thomas Weber
Head of the Economics and Health Directorate BL
and therefore also responsible for the Ebenrain
"The Ebenrain creates future perspectives for the producing agriculture with new ideas, strategies and also a self-confident public relations work - this not least also thanks to a lasting occupation of the position with Lukas Kilcher, who brought numerous changes in the last seven years and will also have a lasting effect for the coming years among other things with the promotion program for the Baselbieter special cultures or the conversion of the regional development project."
Lukas Kilcher soon became aware of his voluntary and compulsory duties. His compulsory duties included implementing the federal government’s agricultural policy, managing the agricultural school as well as all the official and public administration tasks. These included coordinating the canton’s direct payments or the assignment to improve structural measures. All of these educational and public administration tasks hold a special place in Lukas Kilcher’s heart. But his voluntary duties are particularly important to him, as this is where he gets to really unleash his creative powers. Together with his team he explored opportunities for action and looked for options to reduce agriculturalists’ dependence on direct payments by expanding the share of the market net product. Lukas Kilcher therefore launched a support programme for the special crops of the Basel canton based on its strengths in addition to a regional development project called “urban and rural delights”. These are just two specific results from his first seven years in Ebenrain. Lukas Kilcher has seen himself as a builder of bridges again and again, as this was also his approach to international development cooperation. In his eyes, people must be bought together and given support to become self-efficient. The same applies to many different issues which he does not treat in isolation and instead tackles systematically. For instance, it is not a question of nature OR agricultural production, instead it is about nature AND agricultural production, and not urban VERSUS rural, but rather urban together WITH rural.
It came as the next logical step then that the Nature and Landscape Administration transferred from the Construction and Environmental Affairs Department to the Economic Affairs and Health Department in early 2015 and was integrated into the Ebenrain Centre. Farmers work together WITH nature, and that is why this Ebenrain department is the right place for Lukas Kilcher. The Schloss Ebenrain country residence also came under the Ebenrain roof in 2018 and was integrated into the Ebenrain Centre, thereby also making Mr Kilcher a Schlossherr, or lord of the castle. However, resting on titles or even on laurels does not suit him. There is still far too much to do, such as implementing the regional development project to start with. Climate change is another topic that weighs heavily on Lukas Kilcher’s mind. Rising temperatures and increasing drought in the Basel region present a problem to special crops in particular. Lukas Kilcher and his team have therefore just launched a project to improve the water storage capacities of agricultural soil. Our region has a lot to learn and invest in when it comes to economical water management, and Lukas Kilcher is convinced that necessity must be the mother of invention. He must and also wants to take on a pioneering role with Ebenrain in this regard. The permanent loss of land is further cause for concern to him. He states that “there is a growing number of people living here and across the entire world who have increasing requirements in terms of wealth and mobility. We must feed more and more people on less and less agricultural land and with fewer farmers, which is why we need more appreciation of agriculture, nature and of our source of food”. In his eyes, agriculture and society must work together much more closely instead of against one another. Lukas Kilcher, a bridge builder once more.
Highlighting these connections and approaching sustainable solutions for the future is particularly important to Lukas Kilcher. Educational work with young people and working professionals is therefore of tremendous importance to the father of four, which is why Lukas Kilcher is in high demand as a speaker and lecturer at technical colleges and universities. For many years he gave a lecture titled “Agriculture biologique dans les tropiques” at the university for agriculture in Paris. Since 2020 he has led the “Future sustainable agriculture and food” module, part of the Sustainable Development CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) programme at the University of Bern. Lukas Kilcher likes to spend his free time in nature, be it in his garden or while hiking in the mountains with his family.