In the middle of Markthalle Neun, you can taste what makes Berlin's and Brandenburg's (and beyond) produce and agriculture special. You might even pass the "Beet & Baum" stand unsuspectingly. A market stall, a lush fruit and vegetable section, a long refrigerated counter, shelves full of dried goods to the left of the checkout. What's so special about it, it looks like a small organic store at first? Let's take a closer look!

Butter from Gläserne Molkerei, of course, familiar. Juices from Voelkel - no surprise there either. Flour from Spielberger Mühle also is a household name for most friends of organic food. But what do we have here? Miso from Wedding? Kombucha from Marzahn? Seasonal produce from Isak Gumpert? Or tortillas from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern? Not only can you find them here, with a bit of luck you can even meet the producers of the region's most outstanding products themselves directly at the shelf.

Take Marie, for example, one of the farmers at Erdhof Seewalde in the Mecklenburg Lake District. Once a week, she, David and Viola bring the dairy products from their herd of Angler red cattle to the Markthalle. By keeping their herd, the three of them are saving this old breed of cattle from extinction and actively contribute to the promotion of biodiversity. The type of farming they practice allows them to produce climate-positive dairy products. Every day, they walk their herd for miles to the nearest pasture, completely foregoing diesel-guzzling tractors and feed grown elsewhere, and finally pay their last respects to their animals in the farm's own slaughterhouse. Milk, heavy cream and yoghurt that are so outstandingly good that they can otherwise only be found in Michelin-starred restaurants.

Joscha from Teto Tofu comes over by bike every week to drop off the soy products that he and his partner Tomoko produce by hand in Berlin. Unpasteurized tofu made from organically grown soybeans from southern Germany, produced with a good portion of sound practical and theoretical experience and research in Japan. Tofu at a level of taste that cannot be imagined before tasting it for the first time.

Connoisseurs know: This is the good stuff, if not the best. The reason: Jiro Nitsch, who knows them all. With decades of experience in the organic trade and a family connection to organic farming, Jiro has made it his mission to offer small producers a platform to give them the attention and recognition their hard work deserves. Precisely those who would fall through the cracks in the wholesale trade, where he himself worked for many years. Because their yields are too low, because they are too uneconomical, too niche. Genuine rarities of the highest quality, high ideals and a huge variety of flavors. With a strong connection to the people who produce them and culinary roots in the region.

And if they don't come to the city, then the city comes to them.

The 2020 platform, the mother of "Beet & Baum", relies on a platform economy - as the name suggests - that makes it possible to bring the regional network of producers directly together with consumers in the city. This also means fundamental logistical issues. How does food produced in the countryside get to the city? Small businesses in particular often lack the right infrastructure, marketing and communication channels. This is where Platform 2020 comes into play, paying particular attention to fair value creation and supporting structurally weak areas by not pursuing a price dumping policy. What does that mean in concrete terms? The final prices on the shelf are set in open consultation with the producers. They do not contain any hidden prices that are paid elsewhere by ecosystems, people and animals. The producers work in harmony with the surrounding landscape, at eye level with animals and fellow human beings and, in the best case, can live from their agriculture and production without subsidies. The price is therefore made up of the actual costs borne by a farm or production facility in the value chain from the field to the shelf. Only products from what Jiro calls "flawless organic production" can then be found on the shelves.

Another special feature of the Plattform 2020 is the custom cultivation planning in close cooperation with the farmers. This not only takes into account the needs of consumers, but also those of the gastronomy and communal catering sectors. Larger purchase quantities allow rarities and individual products to be made available to Berliners. This means that even saffron from Brandenburg does not just find its way into Michelin-starred restaurants, but also into risotto cooked in Berlin home kitchens.

In contrast to conventional ordering methods, where an order from restaurateurs to a wholesaler is placed at night and the desired tomato arrives in the kitchen in the morning, the Plattform 2020 works according to the "from field to plate" model. Together with farmers and gastronomes, they plan for a long time what should go into the field and therefore into kitchens and onto plates. Where possible, the produce is transported directly from the farms and production facilities to the consumers with minimal intermediate storage. The digital marketing platform enables the most direct collaboration between producers and chefs, long-term relationships and fresh, high-quality products.

The "Plattform 2020 für gute Lebensmittel" thus focuses on genuine, long-term sustainability, regionality and fairness. Platform economy closely connects producers, consumers, gastronomy and public catering in Berlin and enables an environmentally friendly and socially responsible food supply. Tasty!