With the help of the Ministry of the Environment, the public nature centre Robbesscheier is using workhorses to redefine agricultural work.
Whilst modern machines remain important, the new "Horsepower" project endeavours to highlight the strength of horses with the ethos of respecting nature.
Draft horses are especially valuable in maintaining forests and fields. As Minister for the Environment Carole Dieschbourg pointed out, workhorses have less of an impact on forest soil than modern machinery. In fields, workhorses are able to remove pesticides in a manner that can be described as sustainable mowing.
The horses can weigh between 800 and 1,000 kilograms and live for around 30 years. Given their immense strength, it can be difficult to find people able to work with workhorses, but they remain crucial in the fusion of tradition and using modern machinery.
Dieschbourg highlighted Luxembourg's history of using workhorses and argued that this mix of tradition and modernity can be incredibly beneficial to both working to minimise the effects of climate change and increasing nature protection. First of all, workhorses do not have as big an impact on the land as the use of modern machines do. Second, by having workhorses use modern yet motor-less machines, there can be a move away from our increasing dependency on fossil fuels.
Workhorses are much like sheep, which Dieschbourg describes as "biodiversity taxis". Sheep moving from open spaces bring a number of seeds with them, in turn increasing the biodiversity of certain areas all while grazing. Workhorses may not be suitable to every setting, but in both fields and forests, they can make a different.
The "Horsepower" project also serves to change public perception on workhorses. Some view the use of workhorses as out of touch with reality and as a type of nostalgia, but the minister stressed the sustainable aspect of using workhorses. The project also has practical implications, notably allowing others to "rent" horses given the costs of purchasing and maintaining the horses.
Dieschbourg also expressed a desire to have people enjoy working with draft horses, especially Ardennes horses. In that context, the project involves working with municipalities and nature parks.
The project will be financed by state subsidies over the course of three years until 2021. The ministry will publish its first tangible plans in June.
