Rainer Friedel was born in 1947 in Berlitt, now Brandenburg. After attending school for 12 years, he studied animal production at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig from 1968 to 1972. He then completed his doctorate at the Research Centre for Animal Production in Dummerstorf. Afterwards, Rainer Friedel became head of the Young Cattle Rearing Production Association in Zingst, one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the GDR (15,000 ha, 50,000 young cattle). There he got to know large-scale farming in bird and water protection areas, which kept him busy for the rest of his life . He habilitated with the evaluation of experiences from the management of this agricultural organisation. In 1990 Rainer Friedel founded his first own company (Agro-Öko-Consult GmbH) to advise farms and agriculture oriented authorities. This company opened its own organic inspection and certification body in 1992. In 2007, together with Control Union Certifications, based in the Netherlands, which at that time had 100 certification offices in 70 countries, he founded the joint Berlin-based branch of Control Union Certifications and took over the establishment and management of this company. In 2014, after retiring from active professional life, he handed over this company to a successor, but before that he founded the Control Union Academy in order to be able to pass on his experience in Germany and internationally to land hosts and governments. His professional interests continue to be future-oriented sustainable production, which humanity needs in order to live and survive. Here he sees an enor mous potential for innovation to improve today's world and preserve it for our descendants. His books you can find at amazon.com.