Temperature map: edamame beans in Germany

Father of three daughters, Benedikt Sprenker is the third generation of his family to farm here. He could never have predicted that they would grow edamame beans on the farm: "One day my wife and I were sitting on the sofa with a book about soya beans," he recalls. "We read about tofu, Asian sauces and edamame, which we'd not heard of before," he says with a grin. The idea of growing these beans was born, and a glance at the temperature map only strengthened their resolve: in addition to Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, in 2009 the region around his farm was identified as being suitable for growing soya beans.

"So for two years we experimented with growing edamame beans," which, he explains, involved a great deal of trial and error. "In the third year we finally got our first successful edamame harvest." Today his produce can be found in regional food retailers. "It's not everyone that gets their products onto the supermarket shelves," he says proudly.

#AgriChallengesSuperfoods from Germany: when soya beans are more locally grown than potatoes

#AgriChallenges
Superfoods from Germany: when soya beans are more locally grown than potatoes