Jan Plagge (* 1971) studied horticulture at the Technical University of Munich, Weihensteph-an. In 1993 he switched his parents’ business to organic farming and worked from 1997 to 2000 as a consultant for organic farming and horticulture in East Germany and from 1999 as the agricultural-political spokesman for the organic associations in Berlin / Brandenburg.
From 2000 to 2008 he was managing director of the Bioland Producer Ring Bayern e.V., in particular responsible for the development and establishment of Bioland specialist advice in Bavaria. In 2008 Jan Plagge took over the management of Bioland Beratung GmbH, where he set up a nationwide advisory and training program for Bioland and its cooperation partners, and became a board member at FiBL (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture). In 2011 he was elected President of Bioland. From 2002 to 2011 Jan Plagge was also head of the organic farming trainee program, the nationwide program for young people in the organic sector as part of the Federal Organic Farming Program (BÖLN). At the European level, he was elected Vice President in 2016 and President of IFOAM Organics Europe (then called IFOAM EU) in May 2018. In summer 2020, he was confirmed again in this position. From 2011 to 2019, Plagge was also on the board of the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW).
