Matthias Middendorf

Scholarship holder of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

Matthias joined the unit in August 2017 and is a Guest Researcher. He was receiving a PhD scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation from 2019 to 2023. There he was member of the theme cluster Transformation Research. Before the scholarship he has been working in our unit as a research assistant in research and teaching within the international master programs. In his thesis, he uses the concept of food sovereignty and studies actors in the food system from organizational perspectives. One focus is on alternative forms of organization and ownership and the diversity of the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model. Currently he is a visiting scholar at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is finishing his PhD at the University of Giessen.

He complemented his interdisciplinary studies in social and political sciences (Ludwigs-Maximilians-University of Munich) with focus on sustainability by attending the two-year Certificate program on social innovations of the Social Entrepreneurship Academy, a network organization of the four Munich universities. Besides his academic education, Matthias gained knowledge and experience in agriculture and food industry, development cooperation, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, journalism and foundations. He has work experience in Germany, Rwanda, Israel and others.

Since 2015, he works for the Munich Schweisfurth Foundation where he established the new program area 'Town - Country - Table'. The developed "Participatory Conference" format was scaled up in the "100 Participatory Regions" program across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Northern Italy. Today he supports the work of the Foundation as research assistant and project manager at the interface between practice and science. His work includes the support of projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (BMLEH), Erasmus+ and the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).Matthias joined the unit in August 2017 and is a Guest Researcher. He was receiving a PhD scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation from 2019 to 2023. There he was member of the theme cluster Transformation Research. Before the scholarship he has been working in our unit as a research assistant in research and teaching within the international master programs. In his thesis, he uses the concept of food sovereignty and studies actors in the food system from organizational perspectives. One focus is on alternative forms of organization and ownership and the diversity of the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model. Currently he is a visiting scholar at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He is finishing his PhD at the University of Giessen.

He complemented his interdisciplinary studies in social and political sciences (Ludwigs-Maximilians-University of Munich) with focus on sustainability by attending the two-year Certificate program on social innovations of the Social Entrepreneurship Academy, a network organization of the four Munich universities. Besides his academic education, Matthias gained knowledge and experience in agriculture and food industry, development cooperation, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, journalism and foundations. He has work experience in Germany, Rwanda, Israel and others.

PhD Topic: Opening up food sovereignty and Community Supported Agriculture with organizational perspectives: zooming into the diversity of economic actors that are striving for food sovereignty

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christian Herzig (Giessen University) and Prof. Dr. Franz-Theo Gottwald (HU Berlin)

• Alternative forms of organization and ownership
• Food sovereignty
• Sustainable entrepreneurship
• Community-based approaches (e.g., community-supported agriculture)
• Succession and handover processes
• Social innovations

• Middendorf, M., Scholl, S. 2025. Organizational resilience as movement practice: Lessons from the German CSA Network. Rooted Magazine, Issue 3: Weaving Resilience and Resistance. Published in conjunction with the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in Sri Lanka: https: //rooted-magazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Organizational-resilience-as-movement-practice_corr.pdf
• Gastinger, M. M., Kraiß, K., Meißner, S., Rommel, M., Middendorf, M., Egli, L. 2025. Country Report GERMANY in: World CSA Census, International Handbook on Community Supported Agriculture, URGENCI: https://cloud.urgenci.net/index.php/s/SZMzBw3dM93CiTw
• Middendorf, M., Herzig, C. 2025. Food sovereignty at the organizational level: a framework for characterizing the diversity of economic actors. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 9:1258633, doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1258633
• Middendorf, M., Kohlschütter, N., Steyrer, S. 2025. Tackling ecological nutrition locally. The join-in regions. In: The future of nutrition. Ecology & Agriculture 02/2025
• Middendorf, M., Rommel, M. 2024. Understanding the diversity of Community Supported Agriculture: a transdisciplinary framework with empirical evidence from Germany. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 8:1205809. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1205809
• nascent & Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft. 2023 (ed.): Handbook on solidarity agriculture. Solawis erfolgreich gründen & gestalten (Scientific collaboration for the German Handbook about Community-supported agriculture)
• Grenzdörffer, S., Kaiser, J., Mainz, F., Middendorf, M.2022. Interdisciplinary perspectives on the diversity of property: potentials for a social-ecological transformation. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society. doi: 10.14512/gaia.31.2.3
• Middendorf, M. 2021. Community-supported economies: With the CSX approach from the niche to the food turnaround?, Schweisfurth Foundation (online).
• Middendorf, M., 2018, Social innovations needs a fitting environment, SzeneAlpen Nr. 103 Alpwil, CIPRA The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (ed.), Schaan.

Research seminar 2022. mine? Yours? Ours? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Importance of Property for the Socio-Ecological Transformation. For the theme cluster Transformation Research in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Collaborative Research Centre "Structural Change of Property" (University of Jena and Erfurt)

• Middendorf, M., 2023. participation in panel discussion about Community-supported agriculture, Living lab Regional & Cooperative Economy in the Werra-Meißner district, Witzenhausen.
• Klerman, A., Middendorf, M., 2023. Webinar: Starting a community-supported agriculture organization (online).
• Middendorf, M. 2021. radio ballet " Human-Environment" with reflection workshop, Future for All Congress, Leipzig (as part of the AckerEnsemble collective)
• Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management of organic pioneers during succession processes. Practical workshop with young entrepreneurs of the AöL - Organic Food Processors, Brixen, Italy.
• Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management during succession processes of organic pioneers of the food processing sector. Perspectives and challenges for partnerships with the organic farming sector, Science Conference Organic Farming, Kassel, Germany.
• Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management of organic pioneers during succession processes, Biofach Congress, Nuremberg, Germany.
• Middendorf, M., 2017 Social Innovation Theory. Lecture for CIPRA International (The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps), Valle Maira, Italy.
• Middendorf, M., 2017. Current developments in the area of alternative food movements. Lecture for Bioland, Munich, Germany.
• Middendorf, M., 2017 Civil society participation of our food system. Summer school workshop, START-Foundation, St. Peter-Ording, Germany.

• Middendorf, M., 2019 Food is political: where to find the transformation of the food system? Discussion with Priska Hinz, Hessian Minister of the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Youth Festival, Bad Vilbel, Germany.
• Middendorf, M., 2019 Tapped! Clean groundwater for all! Panel Discussion, Viva con Agua network meeting, Elsdorf, Germany.

• Middendorf, M., 2019. Pressure from the right on agricultural associations. Panel Discussion on right influence on organic farming and peasant agriculture, Witzenhausen, Germany.