On April 13, 2026, the time had come: a new group of vocational school students from agricultural colleges in Ukraine arrived in Germany to begin their six-month internship at agricultural farms. The future professionals are thus given the opportunity to gain valuable practical experience in German agriculture and at the same time to build intercultural contacts.

The 30-hour journey from Ukraine went smoothly, so that after arriving at the Bernhäuser Forst training center and collecting some documents, there was still the opportunity to explore the city center of Stuttgart.

On April 14, 2026, the official welcome event took place as part of the AKI internship program. There, the interns together with their host families were warmly welcomed by AKI Chairman of the Board Hans-Benno Wichert, General Manager Tatiana Dettmer, as well as Ukrainian coordinator Lesiia Shcherbakova.

As part of the event, both the interns and the participating farms received a short introduction to the course of the program. Afterwards, the students were assigned to their respective training farms. After a joint lunch, the interns traveled on together with their host families to the agricultural farms where they will live and work over the coming months.

The AKI internship program has been carried out successfully for over 35 years. During this time, more than 3,000 interns have been able to gain valuable experience on German agricultural farms. The program thus makes an important contribution to professional exchange and international cooperation in agriculture.

We wish all new interns as well as the host farms a successful start, good cooperation, and a successful and educational internship.