“You’re welcome to go and study, but don’t lose any time on the farm!” was how their sister Rümeysa Saemian motivated the two brothers to get their degree program finished as quickly as possible. Having started studying in 2023, they needed only three semesters to get their hands on their bachelor’s diplomas. Their tight schedule required them to put in 60 to 70 hours a week and commute between lectures and their building site. “The farm project gave us the motivation we needed,” Yasin explains. They knew that the faster they finished their degree program, the sooner they would be able to focus on their farm.
But they had a few trump cards to play: Rümeysa had completed the same degree program before COVID-19 and gave them some handy hints. Plus, the 37-year-old twins already had professional experience and degrees in civil and structural engineering from Cologne and Siegen under their belts, which left them with fewer modules to complete this time around. Yasin worked as a research associate for building technology and building physics at the University of Siegen. “We know how to learn efficiently and plan your study and exams strategically,” Emin says. What was particularly helpful was that they often sat basic and advanced written examinations back to back, thus keeping the content fresh in their minds.
The fact that they shared the same goal and were both studying toward it made their daily routine easier: one worked on the farm while the other went into the University. Then, between 8 pm and midnight, they would compare notes, allowing them to discuss and consolidate what they had learned there and then. Their preferred study method? Old-fashioned index cards!
“It’s not everyone’s cup of tea,” Rümeysa says. “Studying is often a time of self-discovery, after all.” Yasin adds: “We were extremely focused and had the farm as our clear goal in our minds. We wanted to get productive as quickly as we could.” Studying at the University of Bonn also brought some practical benefits: “We were able to take a plant protection course at the local chamber of agriculture, which will be of use to us further down the line. Without a tip-off from our sister, we’d probably have missed out on it,” he explains. Courses like this are hard and expensive to catch up on later, when people are working full-time. “Here too, it’s useful to think outside the box and look closely at the examination regulations.”
The perfect foundations for the farm of the future
The farm that had inspired the pair is not far from the town of Brauweiler. The ground is still muddy from the previous weeks’ rain, and just a glance at the old buildings is enough to appreciate the size of the challenge: many of them have begun to show their age, and some are structurally unsound.
Emin, Yasin, Rümeysa, their sister Rana and their parents bought the dilapidated farm at auction in the summer of 2021 and plan to have renovated it completely within five years. Rana, who actually works as a doctor, is now wearing her second hat—that of digger driver—and transports rubble across the site. Other aspects, such as the roofs contaminated with asbestos, pose a particular challenge.
This is where the family’s specialist skill set comes in: Rümeysa has already been involved in renovating an office building and, as civil and structural engineers, the brothers are experts in construction techniques and materials. This knowledge is invaluable, because they want to make the farm—which will combine horse management and crop production for the feed industry—sustainable and fit for the future. “We’re aiming to become carbon-neutral,” Emin explains. We could put solar panels on our roofs and generate enough electricity to power 200–300 homes in Dansweiler.” They are also planning state-of-the-art building insulation. “But that will have to be worth the investment,” Rümeysa adds. “Not everything you want to do is going to be feasible.” During their degree program, Professor Ralf Pude from the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation at the University of Bonn showed them the possibilities offered by renewable raw materials, and now they are examining whether these can be incorporated into the renovation of the farm.
Professor Pude thinks that the field harbors potential: “Using renewable raw materials from agriculture for renovation or refurbishment could do much to shrink the construction sector’s carbon footprint and conserve resources. It’s something we’ve been researching at the University of Bonn for 20 years, with growing success. Needless to say, we’re delighted when materials like these are prized in a sustainable farm renovation project and also used later on in day-to-day operations, and we’ll be following developments closely.”
Unbridled enthusiasm for agriculture
“Thinking outside the box while you’re studying gives you a clear advantage,” Yasin thinks. The family makes joint decisions on what to do and how to do it. “We often have different ideas in our heads and, of course, there are sometimes arguments—especially while we’re planning or making decisions,” Yasin admits. Ultimately, however, the family are united by a longstanding love for agriculture. “We’ve been dreaming of having our own Vierkanthof, which is a traditional kind of farm built around a central courtyard, for 25 years,” Rümeysa reveals. “The sense of solidarity you get among the farmers is fantastic,” she adds. It took them 10 years to find the perfect farm. “We could have moved to the Eifel region instead, but we wanted to stay here in the region.”
They put a similar amount of careful thought into their decision to go back to university. “You get turning points in your life,” Emin says. “The fact that we’ve now landed up in agriculture and been able to draw on our careers to date shows that we’ve picked the right path.”
