70 Years of Research at Müncheberg

The predominance of highly variable, sandy soils in combination with low precipitation rates has always been a particular challenge for Agriculture in northeastern Germany.
The amelioration measures undertaken the past centuries were replenished by the directive agricultural research of A. D. Thaer (1752-1828). The foundation of the "Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut für Züchtungsforschung" by E. Baur in the Brandenburgian town of Müncheberg marked the beginning of long history of research, which is now in its 70th year. Despite of ruptures due to politics and subject-related issues, research has remained closely related to the specific problems and potentials of land use in northeastern Germany.

The Institute prevailed, despite of Baur's death in 1933, in its initial administrative form until the end of the second World War. However, beginning in 1936 the Institute was enlarged enormously according to national socialistic points of main effort.

The administrative successor of the Müncheberg Institute at the end of the war became the "Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung" at Köln-Vogelsang.

At Müncheberg, under frequent changes of the leadership, plant breeding research was revitalized at limited scale by a few members of the former staff in the "Zentralforschungsanstalt für Pflanzenzucht (Erwin-Baur-Institut)".

In 1951, a new general subject of soil fertility research lead to quick decrease in breeding research. In 1952, the Institute was renamed "Institut für Acker- und Pflanzenbau" and worked with high continuity concerning the research topic until 1969, while constantly increasing staff equipment.

The demand for further concentration of research efforts related to soil fertility gave way to the implementation of a still larger research center, the "Forschungszentrum für Bodenfruchtbarkeit", in 1970.

Until its closure in 1991 due to the unification of the both German states, this research center in subsequent phases focussed research on maximization of agricultural research, on economizing resources in intensification of agriculture, and finally on researching ecologically and economically balanced land uses.

Following the recommendations of the German Scientific Council (Wissenschaftsrat), the "Zentrum für Agrarlandschafts- und Landnutzungsforschung (ZALF) e.V." ("Center for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research") was founded at the beginning of 1992 at the Müncheberg location. The primary scientific objective of ZALF is to analyze, evaluate and predict processes (including their interactions) in agricultural landscapes of the northeastern German lowlands.