Food Protector

Michael Baldenhofer, Manager of the Staff Function for Regional Development at the Agricultural Office Stockach

What do the fish in Lake Constance, apples and goat’s cheese have in common? They are all products of the Lake Constance region, which are still processed manually and are particularly worthy of protection. Their “protector” is Michael Baldenhofer, 52, co-initiator of "Good things from the lake" – an established regional brand in the meantime.
Behind this initiative is an association of enthusiastic food producers, processors and dealers, which is concerned with the cultural landscape of Lake Constance and all its diversity and originality. The association - founded in 2004 – stands for foodstuffs with a controlled origin from the Lake Constance region, on the one hand, as well as their environmentally friendly production, on the other.
Michael Baldenhofer was just 30 when he first came to the Lake Constance area – and has stayed ever since. It is the landscape around Lake Constance which motivates him, as well as the “likeable” people of the region, who he describes as close to nature, open and proud – and his profession as Regional Manager at the Agricultural Office of the community in Stockach.
Good food is also important to him. “I want to help protect the landscape with my shopping basket and to make people aware of – and ultimately purchase - the high quality and uniquely tasting products of our Lake Constance native region,” he said. For example, he loves the cheese-making dairy with the attractive name “Naturally, of the highest quality” which produces excellent goat’s cheese. “It is ideal for grilling.” And he considers the Lake Constance apple as "the best apple by far”, which is processed in the windfall juice pressing factory into delicious apple juice. He buys his meat at a traditional down-to-earth butchers shop with an 80-year-old tradition and his bread from the country bakery.
Michael Baldenhofer, who is always open and inquisitive towards novel ideas, still likes to think economically. “Our goal is to achieve the sustainable development of the Lake Constance region as an economic and nature area. By marketing the quality domestic foodstuffs of the region, we will be able to maintain workplaces and last-but-not-least local quality food products, thus helping retain local work and training places.”
At the weekly Saturday market in Constance you are just as likely to be able to find “Good things from the Lake” as quite possibly Michael Baldenhofer personally doing his shopping. Unless he is just taking a boat ride on Lake Constance – with the solar boat, of course. Because we should also remember to conserve the environment in our leisure time, too.

Food Protector
Michael Baldenhofer

Profile

Name: Michael Baldenhofer

Age: 52

Marital status: Married

Profession: Regional Manager in the Staff Function for Regional Development

Has lived on Lake Constance since Since 21 years

Facts

  • Number of professional fishermen on Lake Constance: 130
  • Number of fruit growers in the four-country region around Lake Constance: approx. 1600
  • Area for cultivating apple orchards: about 7000 hectares
  • Yearly yield of the apple harvest: up to 250,000 t