Three of roughly 1,800 Luxembourgish farms were honoured at last week's 'Soirée de l'Agriculture'. The event, organised by the newspaper 'de Lëtzebuerger', awarded the farms for their social commitment, economic diversification, and ecological vitality. Our colleagues at RTL.lu investigated what makes their farms so special.

Paul Jungels started his career on his family farm 50 years ago and has since turned it into a professional beekeeping business. His commitment to bees and nature convinced the jury, for which he was awarded the prize for ecological vitality.

"Honey bees, and bees and insects in nature in general, are hugely important pets - if you want to call them that. Without bees and intact insects, about 80 percent of plants would go unpollinated, which would disrupt the entire natural cycle. I've known about this importance from the start, which is why I started selecting and breeding for vital and disease-resistant bee colonies.’

Felix Miny (27) was awarded the prize for economic diversification for his two-year-old business. He very quickly diversified in order to minimise the financial risks as a young farmer. "We produce vegetables, grow cut flowers, have a small farm distillery, and also keep suckler cows as well as traditional arable farming."

Felix Miny sells the majority of his products in his self-service shop or in other farm shops. The flowers can be cut directly from the land.

Similarly, Marco Clees received an award for social commitment because of his sunflower patch, where people's flower-cutting activities have been funding the NGO 'Le Soleil dans la Main' for the past 7 years.

"This NGO provides development aid in Burkina Faso. I started growing the flowers after the death of a good mate of mine who worked there. The plane crash on the way home and the death of all the passengers moved me so much that I'm not running this initiative for my own money, but for a good cause."

Although the next flower-picking season won't be for a while, Clees is excited about his project and the fact that it not only brings fun to local people, but also helps others.