Pioneer in organic farming: University of Kassel celebrates anniversary of agricultural sciences

Priska Hinz, Hesse's Minister for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, paid tribute to the scientists and congratulated them: "If the next few decades are anything like as successful, I have no fears for the future of organic farming." The President of the University of Kassel, Prof. Dr. Ute Clement, added: "That organic agriculture is indispensable for a sustainable society is, in my opinion, beyond question. The scientists at the University of Kassel are making a significant contribution to the scientific basis for ensuring that the agricultural turnaround can also work." 

Since 1973, the department (located in Witzenhausen, a small town about 40 km from Kassel) had offered a first postgraduate course in environmental studies, also a nationwide novelty, and from then on focused more and more on ecology: After the establishment of the professorship in 1981, a focus on organic agriculture followed in 1993, and three years later, the department was finally completely converted to organic agricultural science, and the world's first university course in organic agriculture was launched in the winter semester.

World's first university course in organic agriculture

Since then, the scientists in Witzenhausen have not only produced numerous research results in plant cultivation, soil science and livestock farming, but have also invented the organic waste garbage can, for example, and discovered a new species of banana in Oman.

Today, the department has 22 departments, around 250 employees and four different courses of study, some of which are internationally oriented. Of the approximately 1,200 students, about one in four comes from abroad. The department includes a greenhouse for tropical plants and the Hessian state domain of Frankenhausen as an experimental farm. "We live a scientific culture that focuses on systems and overall processes. This enables us to grasp agricultural interrelationships, formulate practice-oriented results and, last but not least, open up excellent career prospects for our graduates," is how the department's dean, Prof. Dr. Maria Finckh, describes the profile. Students have always played a major role in the development of the department.

The University of Kassel cooperates in agricultural sciences with numerous institutions, including the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and is involved in national and international research associations. In the future, the department will not only be involved within the university in the emerging Center for Sustainability Research, but also wants to further expand its role in agro-ecosystem research.

And this is also part of the department's record: an unusually high number of graduates are starting their own businesses. A list from the department lists around 100 in the region alone; the actual number is probably significantly higher. The university also contributes to the agricultural turnaround through these spin-offs.

The University of Kassel and the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences will celebrate the multiple anniversary next Tuesday: It also falls within the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the university. The ceremony of the department, in which the new dean Prof. Maria Finckh will also be officially introduced, will take place digitally. It will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. and will be broadcast publicly via Zoom.

Information on the program and link to the live broadcast:  https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb11agrar/infothek/jubilaeumsveranstaltung

Press contact:

Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communications, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: 0561 804-1961
E-mail: presse[at]uni-kassel[dot]de