Completed Research Projects

Project objective:

The overarching aim of the project is to optimize the on-farm utilization of clover grass on organic livestock farms along the supply chain from cutting to application. The focus will be on the low-loss conservation of clover grass, the efficient utilization of nutrients and the economic evaluation of clover grass transfer processes.

Project structure:

The consortium of practitioners, consultants and scientists has set itself the scientific and technical goals of (i) developing a composting process for clover-grass with a focus on minimizing nitrogen losses, (ii) determining the fertilizer effect of the composts in comparison with other clover-grass transfer processes in multi-year field trials and (iii) carrying out the economic evaluation (line-cost calculations) of various clover-grass fertilization strategies to improve nutrient management on the basis of practice-relevant production and application processes and making them available for practical use.

Work packages:

1. optimize the composting process

• Determine suitable C/N ratio
• Determine suitable material mixture of clover grass, straw and wood-rich structural material
• Determine suitable turning frequency
• Determine suitable timing and quantity of delayed addition of a N-rich substrate

2. test the fertilizing effect of the clover-grass transfer fertilizer

• A total of four field trials with summer and winter cereals for comparative testing of the composts produced

3. economics of different clover-grass transfer strategies

• Identification of typical farm constellations
• Creation of a cost-performance model taking into account nutrient flows and technical and monetary elements to analyze individual farms
• Implementation of practical model calculations

Editing

• Dr. Benjamin Blumenstein
• Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Cooperation partner

• Department of Organic Agriculture and Crop Production, University of Kassel (Christian Bruns and Verena Jalane)

• LLH (State Agency for Agriculture Hesse, Dr. Thorsten Haase)
• Bioland GmbH (Stephan Gehrendes)

Duration

01.05.2019 - 31.12.2023

Funding program

BMEL (Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food)

BÖLN (Federal Program for Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture)

Description

Despite demonstrably good cultivation and baking properties, heterogeneous wheat populations have not yet found their way into the food sector. As part of BAKWERT, organic value chains consisting of farms, mills and bakeries are being established in three regions. Two heterogeneous winter wheat populations and a reference variety are being used in the three clusters to identify and evaluate the factors relevant to the acceptance and spread of heterogeneous wheat populations along the entire value chain. The aim is to use a holistic approach to promote the cultivation, processing and marketing of population cereals. Qualitative interviews with the various stakeholders, workshops and field days, participatory methods, as well as field and stock assessments serve as the basis for researching the value chains. Independent analyses will be carried out by the Institut für Getreideverarbeitung GmbH to comprehensively evaluate the quality and baking properties. Based on this data, optimization potentials along the value chain (cultivation, milling and baking processes) will be developed in a multi-actor process. The final results will be communicated by means of a 'population manual' and a 'population film' produced from participatory videos. In addition, all (interim) results and further information will be available on the project website. The overall coordination is the responsibility of the Department of Business Administration at the University of Kassel. Partners are the Department of Organic Plant Protection at the University of Kassel, the LTZ at the Kompetenzzentrum Ökologischer Landbau Baden-Württemberg (KÖLBW) and, as a contractor, the association Die Freien Bäcker e.V.

Editing

• Dr. Torsten Siegmeier
• Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Website

BAKWERT - More wheat diversity! From the field to the store counter.

More information on the topic: www.weizenvielfalt.de

Get to know us: www.youtube.com/@weizenvielfalt

Follow us at: www.instagram.com/bakwert

Latest news at: www.twitter.com/popkruste

Duration

15.05.2020 - 31.10.2023

Funding program

BÖLN (Federal Program for Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture)

Description

Animal welfare consists of protecting animals from excessive demands on their adaptability. The project aims to develop a concept with which adaptation performance can be recorded and compared with economic parameters. In order to minimize deficits relevant to animal welfare, these must first be assessed for each individual animal. In addition, it is important to identify those measures that are highly effective in terms of animal welfare and at the same time have a favorable cost-benefit ratio. The complexity of the subject area is to be taken into account through a pragmatic, yet scientifically robust concept. Based on MLP data, software-generated animal-specific deviations from nutritionally relevant requirements and reference values and animal health impairments are recorded to enable adaptation to the respective living environment. Economic assessments are based on farm branch evaluations. The aim is to develop a graduated assessment concept that is capable of evaluating animal welfare performance on an individual animal basis. Furthermore, software is to be developed with which data available on individual farms can be evaluated, aggregated into indicators relevant to animal welfare and, by combining them with economic data, made operational and usable for farmers. At the same time, the concept enables comprehensive farm monitoring.

Work plan

Comprehensive data that can be analyzed using software will be collected on 36 dairy farms, including the animal-specific gap between energy requirements and energy supply and the extent of health problems. Furthermore, an assessment of animal welfare is carried out on all farms according to the Welfare-Quality® criteria. Algorithms are developed to relate the cost situation of the farms to individual animal performance data. Optimization strategies are developed using a test model.

Utilization of results
The development and application of the tool to be developed will enable a significant improvement in animal welfare performance in dairy farming and proof of animal welfare performance. On the one hand, this can be used to implement animal welfare measures that are not detrimental to farm income. In addition, it can be used for monitoring purposes, for label programs and for a general improvement of the image of products of animal origin as well as for technology transfer abroad.

The joint partner DSP will incorporate the results of the research project into a new software system and thus make them directly usable. The integration of the software into existing applications and the intensive market penetration of DSP with close contacts to farmers, veterinarians, hoof trimmers and consultants will enable the innovation to be disseminated quickly.

Editing

Verena Uhlig

Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Cooperation partner

• Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health (coordination)
• Department of Business Administration
• Data Service Paretz GmbH

Duration

01. 10. 2016 - 30. 04. 2020

Funding program

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag. The project is sponsored by the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) as part of the program to promote innovation.

INSUSFAR is a coperative research project, funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research The Project is being performed jointly by the Technical University of Munich, The University of Kassel and the Julius-Kühn-Institut.

Sustainable agricultural systems will need an excellent capacity for self-regulation and self-regeneration to allow for overall reduced external inputs while maintaining or increasing overall system output including delivery of ecological services. System output will be measured in the future not only as crop yields for food, feed, and energy but also as yields relative to inputs such as energy. Biodiversity at all levels is a major system component allowing for efficient self-regulation. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the optimum level of diversity needed for high yield and yield stability, while at the same time achieving maximum self-regulation and self-regeneration to reduce the necessary inputs in a giving agricultural system.

The overall aim of the proposed work is to achieve a better understanding of how genetic diversity in self-pollinating crops with a focus on wheat grown in production systems characterized by reduced tillage and the use of living mulch crops can be optimized. To achieve these aims, the breeding innovations realized until now will be analyzed for their effects on adaptation to agricultural systems differing in input and diversity levels to determine which types will be necessary for diversified sustainable systems. The breeding innovations realized so far will be described and their role in the agricultural systems' change management will be determined and critically assessed. The potential of plant breeding innovations for the development of sustainable production systems will be investigated by analyzing their performance when grown in systems characterized by different input levels and different levels of system specific species diversity.

Varieties, lines and populations as well as the genetic changes in genetically diverse populations will be studied. Model and real cropping systems will be made use of. Besides crop performance, ecological and economical parameters will be analyzed. The results will be reflected for their potential effects on agricultural practices and breeding methods and goals as well as the political and administrative measures that might be necessary to support sustainable agricultural development. As breeding is a long-term process, a critical aim is also to ensure that the data generated in the project will be available for future research as public and readily accessible source kept in an information system.

Editing

Dr. Torsten Siegmeier

Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Cooperation partners

(1) Technical University of Munich, Chair of Plant Nutrition (KU-PE), Prof. Dr. U. Schmidthalter, Dr. J.P. Baresel
(2) Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Dr. Lothar Frese
(3) University of Kassel, Department of Ecological Plant Protection (KU-FÖP), Prof. Dr. Maria R. Finckh
(4) University of Kassel, Department of Organic Plant Breeding (KU-ÖPZ), Prof. Dr. G. Backes
(5) University of Kassel, Department of Business Administration (KU-BWL), Prof. Dr. D. Möller
(6) Technical University of Munich, Chair of Organic Farming and Crop Production Systems (TUM-ÖL), Prof. Dr. K.J. Hülsbergen, Dr. H.J. Reents

Duration

01.03. 2014 - 28.02.2020

Funding program

BMBF in the frame of the funding initiative "Innovative Pflanzenzüchtung im Anbausystem" (IPAS, Plant Breeding innovations in the Farming System).

Description

For the practical use of domestic protein feeds in feeding, the decisive factor is whether they are competitive with imported goods. However, this is not only dependent on the respective market price. The use (as well as the production and provision) of domestic protein sources is associated with synergy effects that must be taken into account when assessing economic efficiency. Tapping into the value-added potential of domestic protein sources requires the ability to adapt to specific farm requirements.

In close cooperation between the partners, the value creation potential of domestic protein sources in organic monogastric feeding is to be analyzed in terms of demand and supply as well as in terms of development through cooperation. Practical farms with organic pig and poultry farming provide the data basis for the optimization of feed rations with domestic protein sources and the calculation of the cost-benefit ratio in the implementation of various feeding strategies in agricultural practice. The objectives of the project are the analysis of the potential of individual farm optimization strategies for a demand-oriented nutrient supply with domestic protein sources as well as the economic potential of cooperation between feed producers and suppliers.

Processing

Anne Oltersdorff / Caroline Over

Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Cooperation partner

• Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health (coordination)
• Department of Business Management
• Bioland Consulting GmbH

Duration

01. 01. 2017 - 31. 12. 2019

Funding program

BÖLN: Federal program for organic farming and other forms of sustainable agriculture

The project aims to analyze and evaluate the fermentation of cereal straw as an option for energy use while at the same time ensuring humus reproduction in accordance with the requirements of §17 BBodSchG. The project pursues an interdisciplinary and interactive approach in which aspects of humus reproduction are taken into account as well as the economics of material flow management. The overall aim is to identify optimal solutions for the energetic use of cereal straw through fermentation with regard to production economy and humus reproduction.

Editing

Dr. Benjamin Blumenstein

Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

Cooperation partners

• Prof. Andreas Gattinger, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Chair of Organic Farming
• Department of Business Administration

Duration

01.04.2016 - 31.03.2019

Funding program

FNR Agency for Renewable Resources

PROGRASS - Securing the conservation of NATURA grassland habitats with a distributed bioenergy production

Responsible: Dr. Benjamin Blumenstein, Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

In many years of research work, the University of Kassel has developed a special technology for the energetic utilization of biomass (production of electricity and solid fuel), which is particularly suitable for older grassland growths.
A mobile bioenergy plant will be used at three different locations (Germany, Wales, Estonia - link) to demonstrate the Europe-wide applicability of this technology on NATURA 2000 grassland habitats of particular conservation value. The research focuses on socio-economic and business management aspects as well as sustainability in relation to the conservation of botanical diversity, climate-relevant savings potential and the strengthening of regional material and value cycles in remote, economically disadvantaged regions.
One focus of the project is the regional and Europe-wide dissemination of information and the provision of advice to potential interested parties and users in agriculture, higher-level institutions and interest groups.

The University of Kassel developed a technological and process oriented approach (PROGRASS) to produce bio-energy (electricity and solid fuel) also from mature grasslands.
PROGRASS will combine state of the art technology in a sustainable approach to gain bioenergy from a substrate which could not be used with conventional technology. As demonstration project PROGRASS will be introduced in 3 model regions in protected NATURA habitats to prepare the ground for a large scale European wide transfer.
The PROGRASS approach will be applied in an interdisciplinary approach in a transnational partnership of 4 Research Institutes, a regional Government, the Environmental Ministry of the German State of Hesse an Industrial Partner and an Education Agency.

siehe auch / see also: www.prograss.eu

Summary

In 2010, the project 'WEIDEKUH I' was started, which was essentially based on the initiative of dairy cow farms and was thus brought to science by practitioners. The objective was to identify the appropriate genetic basis for the 'pasture' production system. For the comparison of different Holstein Friesian (HF) genotypes, daughters from the mating with New Zealand bulls and high-performance dairy sires as well as bulls from Germany recommended for grazing systems were available. The original breed of today's HF, the German Black Pied Lowland Cattle (DSN), served as a further comparison group. In WEIDEKUH II, in addition to production traits from routine performance testing and fertility traits, functional traits of animal health and welfare were also recorded on the farms. These are of fundamental importance for organic breeding programs or breeding in pasture-based husbandry systems. Data collection for a wide range of traits in combination with a comprehensive economic evaluation of dairy farming in pasture-based production systems allows a) studies on genotype-environment interactions, b) the derivation of economic weights for production and functional traits in pasture-based systems, c) the development of an overall breeding value for pasture-based farms and the corresponding ranking of bulls and d) the identification of economic criteria for successful dairy farming in pasture-based systems. WEIDEKUH II is the prerequisite for the implementation and expansion of pasture-based production systems in Germany. Based on the generated data, the developed total breeding value can be used to identify the most suitable genotype as well as the most valuable bulls across genotypes and to develop farm strategies to maximize farm profit.

Editing

Detlev Möller / Verena Uhlig

Duration

2013 - 2016

Funding program

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture on the basis of a resolution of the German Bundestag as part of the Federal Program for Organic Farming and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (BÖLN)

See also / see alsohere

Expansion and integration of bio gas facilities in energy supply networks

Responsible: Dr. Stefan Gold / Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller

The objectives are to develop a simulation model that enables a comprehensive analysis of biogas production and the various utilization paths, to take into account utilization options such as electricity and heat generation, natural gas substitute and fuel, and to improve the integration of biogas plants into existing and future changing energy supply structures.

Soil fertility in organic agriculture

Responsible: Prof. Dr. Detlev Möller / Daniel Wolf

The project is being carried out by a consortium of scientists and advisors from FiBL Germany, FiBL Switzerland, the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL), the Dresden University of Applied Sciences, the Naturland farming association, the Foundation for Ecology and Agriculture, the University of Kassel and the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wilbois from FiBL Germany is responsible for the overall coordination of the three-year research project.
The main aim of the interdisciplinary research project is to develop measures to maintain soil fertility, to make better use of yield potential at various locations and thus to increase the added value for organic farms. The project pursues a practice-oriented research approach and focuses on livestock-poor or livestock-less organic cash crop farms. The main focus is on researching ways to increase the performance of legumes in pure stands and mixed crops. Soil chemical and physical as well as phytosanitary aspects are at the forefront of the work. In addition, yield-limiting factors and their control at the respective location will be determined on practical farms. All soil fertility management measures developed and tested during the project will be subjected to both an economic analysis and a technology impact assessment.

see also: www.bodenfruchtbarkeit.org

Developing a method to create a network of rural service providers and agricultural enterprices with sheltered workshops fostering rural development

Author: Albrecht Flake

A research project of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL Deutschland e.V.), in which Albrecht Flake is involved as an external doctoral candidate.

see also: www.gruene-werkstatt.de/modellvorhaben

Integrating nature conservation objectives into organic agriculture

Author: Detlev Möller / Tina Behrens

Organic farming is considered to be a land use method that is inherently beneficial in terms of environmental protection and nature conservation. Nevertheless, there are also conflicting objectives and untapped potential here. In an interdisciplinary BfN project, various nature conservation measures are being implemented on the Hessian state domain of Frankenhausen and accompanied by scientific studies. The aim of the agro-economic project is the economic analysis of nature conservation measures in the form of cost-effectiveness analyses and operational cost-benefit analyses. From this, statements on nature conservation efficiency and any necessary compensation payments can be derived. Both measures in the cultivated area (wide rows, ridge cultivation, forage management, harrowing, flower strips) and permanent landscape structures (grazing concepts, planting hedges) are considered.

see also: www.uni-kassel.de/Frankenhausen

Economics of group housing systems of lactating sows

Processing period:
Processor: Katja Lange

The importance of pig fattening and thus also piglet production in organic farming is increasing. Interest in ecologically and economically sensible housing systems is growing. Group housing systems for farrowing sows are an interesting alternative to the usual individual housing systems. The housing system is adapted to the natural behavior of the animals and is also environmentally friendly. It is assumed that there are also economic and production-related advantages. Nevertheless, this method is still not widely used and has not been sufficiently researched from an economic point of view. The aim of the project is to investigate the economic efficiency of group housing systems and to derive practical recommendations in comparison with conventional methods. Based on empirically collected cost and performance data, typical model farms and a decision support model are constructed on a full-cost basis.

Success factors and economics of bio gas production on organic farms

Project period:
Author: Victor Anspach

The research project is designed as an empirical study and should include about half of all larger "bio-biogas plants" in Germany. The aims of the project are, on the one hand, profitability studies specifically geared to the conditions and needs of organic farms, taking into account all important input and output areas (e.g. Nawaro cultivation and the effect of "biogas slurry"). In coordination with the German Agricultural Society, work is to be carried out on a transferable farm branch accounting system for organic farms.
On the other hand, in addition to quantitative performance indicators, qualitative parameters relating to the "human factor" as an entrepreneur are to be given greater focus and success factors precisely identified.

Network data base of bio gas facilities on organic farms in Germany

Processing period:
Author: Victor Anspach

The aim of the project is to set up an operator database in which characteristics such as output, substrate composition and heat utilization concepts of all "bio-biogas plants" are to be recorded. In addition to providing an overview of the actual development and significance of biogas plants, the database can above all serve as a basis for research tailored to the special features of organic farming and for better networking of plant operators.