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02/10/2026 | Campus News

InnOFoodLabs Project: New Approaches to Regional Organic Food

With the launch of the EU-funded “InnOFoodLabs” project, the University of Kassel is supporting twelve practice-oriented innovation projects across the organic food supply chain in Europe. The four-year project runs from September 2025 to August 2029 and aims to strengthen regional organic value chains, make them self-sustaining in the long term, and contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive food system. As part of this effort, approaches to the processing and marketing of organic food, as well as various forms of cooperation, will be tested directly with businesses, evaluated from the consumers’ perspective, and made available for use in other regions.

Vegetable BoxesImage: freepik (AI-generated)

In these innovation projects, farms and processing and marketing organizations are testing concrete solutions for the production and marketing of regional organic foods. The focus is on alternative marketing channels, stronger cooperation between agriculture, processing, retail, and consumers, as well as innovative organizational and distribution models. The innovations are tested directly in real-world settings, so they must function under real-world conditions.

The main testing grounds are twelve so-called “living labs”—existing farms and organizations where stakeholders from agriculture, processing, retail, consulting, academia, and consumer groups work together on solutions. In Germany, two living labs are participating: one in northeastern Brandenburg and one in southern Bavaria.

“In InnOFoodLabs, innovation doesn’t necessarily mean inventing something completely new,” says Dr. Benedikt Jahnke from the Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing at the University of Kassel. “The key is to further develop existing solutions within their respective regional contexts so that they also work for other regions.”

Role of the University of Kassel in the Collaborative Project

The Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing, led by Dr. Benedikt Jahnke and Prof. Dr. Katrin Zander, provides scientific support for the innovations. Progress and challenges in implementing the innovations are documented in innovation diaries, and on-site visits to the living labs deepen the exchange between industry and academia. At the same time, the university supports collaboration among the industry partners to pool experiences and build a network that can continue to be utilized even after the project ends.

Another focus of the University of Kassel in the InnOFoodLabs project is consumer research: The project examines how consumers perceive new organic products, regional marketing channels, or cooperation models; which factors influence their purchasing decisions; and under what conditions innovations are marketable and transferable. 

InnOFoodLabs thus contributes to the European Union’s goal of increasing the share of organically farmed land to 25 percent by 2030. The project is aimed in particular at agricultural operations as well as small and medium-sized processing companies, supporting them in securing regional value creation, tapping into new market opportunities, and receiving a fair share of the value created.

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