Review 2016

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In the winter semester 2016/17, 1213 students were enrolled in the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences. They were distributed across the individual degree programs as follows:

  • Bachelor of Organic Agriculture: 701
  • Master's in Organic Agriculture: 166
  • Sustainable International Agriculture (SIA, cooperation with the University of Göttingen): 173
  • International Food Business and Consumer Studies (IFBC, cooperation with Fulda University of Applied Sciences): 107
  • Sustainable Food Systems (Susfoods, cooperation with Fulda, Lyon, Ghent, Cluj, Aarhus): 9
  • Exchange students: 13
  • Doctoral students: 44

As part of the Event Management module, students organized the 24th Witzenhausen Conference from 6 - 12 December with 230 participants. This year's title was "I'll give you the farm! - Focus on farm handover".

Two extensive lecture series were organized in the winter semester: "Seed sovereignty versus new genetic engineering - Are we allowed to do everything we can?" and "Sustainable development, food security and humanitarian aid".

Larger excursions took place to Ireland (Organic Agriculture course) and the Netherlands (International Food Business and Consumer Studies course).

In 2016, the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences raised € 6.7 million in third-party funding.

Around 100 articles from our department were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals in 2016 (see websites of the individual departments). A total of 30 doctorates and one habilitation were completed.

Of the large number of research projects carried out last year, the projects with several scientific cooperation partners that were completed or started in 2016 are listed as examples.


Completed cooperation projects:

  • Erasmus Plus for Organic Sector (EU)
  • Further development and testing of a concept for the documentation and evaluation of agricultural research achievements for practice and society (BLE)Acquisition and utilization orientations as determinants for the development of village profiles (DFG)
  • Excellent cattle, excellent farmers: Representation, identity formation and community of actors as reflected in awards (1780-2000) - LOEWE focus "Animal-Human Society" (State of Hesse)
  • Sorghum genotypes, tillage systems and cover crops for promotion mycorrhiza responsiveness and Striga hermonthica management (Volkswagenstiftung)
  • Boar fattening - Development of a concept for the production, slaughter, processing and marketing of organically produced boars along the entire value chain (BLE)
  • Effects of water content, input of roots and dissolved organic matter and spatial inaccessibility on C turnover & determination of the spatial variability of subsoil properties - FOR 1806 (DFG)
  • Summary analysis of subsurface irrigation activities in Sub-Saharan Africa for optimization and adaptation to environmentally friendly irrigation practices (BLE)
  • Improvement of haymaking technology (BLE)
  • Application of information technologies in precision agriculture principles in Beekeeping (BLE)
  • Securing humus supply with straw and green manure - Economic evaluation of management strategies (BLE)
  • OSCAR: Optimizing Subsidiary Crop Applications in Rotations (EU)
  • COBRA: Coordinating Organic Plant Breeding Activities (EU Core Organic)
  • IMPRO - Impact matrix analysis and cost-benefit calculations to improve management practices regarding health status in organic dairy farming (EU)

Cooperation projects started:

  • Healthy plants from healthy soils: Resilience and stability of organic cropping systems (Ekhaga foundation)
  • Biodiversity education at the Botanical Garden (DBU)
  • Teacher training and further education: Bringing the Global Development Framework into schools (BMBF)
  • The relevance of nutrient management and primary and functional traits for milk production in an urbanizing environment - FOR2432 (DFG)
  • Intensification effects on material flows in rural-urban cropping systems - FOR2432 (DFG)
  • RE-DIRECT (EU)
  • Assessment of structural and functional properties of crop production systems with modern terrestrial, aerial and spatial remote sensing methods - FOR2432 (DFG)
  • Regional forage (BLE)
  • Effects of intensified land use and changes in soil management on soil water balance and water use efficiency (DFG)
  • Practical suitability of animal welfare indicators in on-farm self-monitoring, development of an evaluation framework and technical implementation in digital applications (EiKoTiger) (BLE)
  • Intensification effects on material flows in rural-urban cropping systems - FOR 3423 (DFG)
  • SoundHooves - Automatic early diagnosis of claw diseases (BLE)
  • SmartBeet - Development of an electronic smart harvest system for low-damage sugar beet harvesting (BLE)
  • Development of a ROBOTIK solution for slug control in agriculture (BLE)
  • Economic assessment of humus replacement strategies - SOMenergy joint project (FNR)
  • Aggregated indicator concept for the assessment of animal welfare performance and its economic implications in dairy farming (BLE)
  • Preventive cultivation planning in dealing with the pest guild in field beans and peas (BLE)
  • Extension and agronomic evaluation of the practical surveys and investigations within the framework of the model demonstration networks soybean and lupine of the protein crop strategy (BLE)

The following members or projects of the department received awards in 2016:

  • Ms. Aiperi Otunchieva (Department of Organic Food Quality and Food Culture): Commitment Award Prize 2016 (initiated by the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)
  • Mr. Stephan Junge (FG Organic Plant Protection): Best MSc thesis and prize of the potato industry for the MSc thesis
  • Mr. Philip Schierning (Department of Ecological Plant Breeding and Agricultural Biodiversity): 1st prize from the CLAAS Foundation for his BSc thesis
  • Department of Agricultural Engineering: Best teaching in the field of agricultural engineering in the agricultural university ranking
  • Recognition as a botanical garden with special status
  • Allocation of the HMWK to the University for Education/Public Affairs in the TGH 2016

The following members were appointed or elected to specialist committees in 2016:

  • Prof. Dr. Hamm (FG Agricultural and Food Marketing): Confirmation of membership of the Bioeconomy Council of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
  • Prof. Dr. Hamm (Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing): Elected to the Board of Directors of the Competence Center for Empirical Research Methods
  • Prof. Dr. Hamm (FG Agricultural and Food Marketing): Editorial board of scientific journal "Food Quality and Preference" ( Publisher Elsevier)

The department conducted a large number of guided tours and information events for visitor groups. Larger events were held in 2016:

  • International DAAD Alumni Seminar from 02.02.-09.02.2016 (Department of Agricultural Engineering)
  • Humus balances under control? - Solutions for farms without livestock" BÖLN final workshop on 02.05.2016 (Department of Business Administration)
  • Presentations and information stand at the Biofach trade fair in Nuremberg from 10-13.02.16
  • Final conference of the EU project "OSCAR" in February 2016 (Department of Organic Plant Protection)
  • Plant market of the tropical greenhouse on 01.05.2016
  • Open day at the Frankenhausen domain on 3.7.2016
  • Annual conference of the university association "Food Supply in the City, Urban Agriculture and Gardens" on 14.07.16
  • The department was represented at Eurotier from 15 - 18.11.16 in Hanover.
  • Doctoral Certificate Program of the German-speaking agricultural faculties: "Principles and Practices in Agricultural Economics" (FG Agricultural and Food Marketing)

In 2016, 20 professors worked at our department together with a total of around 220 scientific and administrative/technical staff. Two professorships (Prof. Dr. Eva Schlecht, Research Group Livestock Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics; Prof. Dr. Claudia Neu, Research Group Sociology of Rural Areas) belong in equal parts to the University of Göttingen and the University of Kassel.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Thiel started as Head of the Department of International Agricultural Policy and Environmental Governance in the summer semester 2016 and Prof. Dr. Claudia Neu as Head of the Department of Sociology of Rural Areas in the winter semester 2016/17. Prof. Dr. Uta König von Borstel has taken over the Department of Animal Breeding as deputy professor.

In the winter semester 2016, apl. prof. dr. dr. h.c. Peter von Fragstein (Department of Organic Vegetable Production) resigned and Prof. Dr. Sven König left the department and accepted an appointment at the University of Giessen.

Changes in the Dean's Office from 1.9.2016: Dean for the next three years is Prof. Dr. Gunter Backes, Dean of Studies Prof. Dr. Bernard Ludwig.