News Archive

 

In a world where sustainable agricultural practices are of increasing importance, "agroecology" has become a pivotal term for discourse and action. A recent study in Environmental Science & Policy examines its diverse usage and provides insights for ongoing discussions on agroecology.​

Müncheberg, Germany - Scientists from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), together with two Chinese partner institutions, have published a paper in the journal Plants People Planet. The results show how artificial intelligence can be used to identify so-called traditional agricultural systems and preserve them to protect biodiversity. As a case study, the researchers use a widespread crop with a particularly long tradition in China: Chinese tea. In the course of the ongoing modernization of agriculture worldwide, standardized seeds are increasingly being used in many places. Genetic diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. In agriculture, this has a negative impact on disease and pest resistance, adaptability to climate change and the stability and function of ecosystems, among other things. Traditional agricultural systems offer the possibility of preserving both genetic diversity and indigenous knowledge of cultivation, thereby preserving important cultural and social values that play an important role for a culture. With the help of indicator evaluation models and machine learning, the researchers have now been able to narrow down areas in China that are particularly suitable for the preservation of traditional agricultural systems. Areas were identified that are characterized by a particularly high genetic diversity and other socio-economic factors, such as the presence of local knowledge and cultural systems. Conserving these systems not only protects biodiversity, but also the indigenous knowledge and cultures associated with them. "The results of the research are a call to action to recognize traditional agricultural systems as an indispensable part of our cultural heritage and ecological future," explains Yunxiao Bai, lead author of the study. The methodology provides a model that can be applied globally to identify and protect other critically endangered agricultural systems. The map enables politicians to use resources specifically for the conservation of these systems. To the publication: https://doi.org/10.1002/ppp3.10479 The text was created with the help of artificial intelligence and carefully reviewed and revised under the aspects of AI regulations at ZALF. The text is used at the user's own risk. Tweet: Did you know that traditional agricultural systems, like the ones that produce our tea, are also good for our environment? They preserve the diversity of nature & ancient knowledge! A study examines how and where they should be preserved. #ProtectAgriculturalHeritage 🌿🍵

The Leibniz Lab "Systemic Sustainability" addresses the challenges posed by the rapid loss of biodiversity and advancing climate change on the one hand, and intensive agriculture and food security on the other. It brings together relevant knowledge from science and society to promote the development and implementation of systemic solutions.

A study led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and published in the journal Ecological Economics provides important insights into the future of food labeling in the EU. By analyzing expert opinions from the food industry, the study identifies a broad consensus on the need for new food labels to encourage farmers to provide more ecosystem services.

This year ESP organizes its 5th European conference under the theme "Ecosystem Services: One Planet, One Health. The theme focuses on how the concept of ecosystem services can address the challenges of achieving the global vision of One Health. It highlights the interdependence of human health, animal and plant health, ecosystem health and the health of the global environment. The conference will be held in Wageningen, the Netherlands, November 18-22, 2024. The ZALF scientist Prof. Dr. Bettina Matzdorf is part of the Scientific Program Committee. The theme is consistent with international commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework and is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals can only be achieved in a healthy and equitable economic system that takes into account the full value of nature's contributions to human well-being. Ecosystem services science can make a major contribution to addressing various challenges to sustainable development and global health and offers great potential for scientific partnerships across sectors and for driving transformative change. ESP is the leading global ecosystem services community. ESP conferences serve a vital function for this community by providing a space for knowledge exchange, networking, and innovation. At the 5th ESP Europe Conference, we aim to focus on two thematic streams: a) Ecosystem services and health, and b) Ecosystem services and conditions for transformative change. The streams are inspired by the overarching conference theme and will feed into the conference outputs and takeaways in different ways - with the common goal of scaling up the positive impacts of ecosystem services research. Of course, as always, there will also be ample room for session proposals that do not fit neatly into the streams and conditions layout, but address topics relevant to the ESP community. The 5th ESP Europe Conference will be an in-person conference to provide an enriching experience that allows attendees to fully immerse themselves in the conference, interact with speakers, and engage with other attendees in real time. The conference will also make a special effort to empower young voices. We are committed to enabling high-impact participation by early-career researchers. The program will be complemented by pre-conference trainings, a conference dinner, and field trips showcasing local landscapes. Registration will open this summer. We look forward to welcoming you all to Wageningen in November to meet and connect with passionate people, learn from their experiences, and gain valuable insights into the connections between ecosystem services and One Planet, One Health!

A study published in Ecological Research by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in collaboration with the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg sheds light on how artificial intelligence and machine learning could revolutionize ecological research. The study analyzed 1,550 articles.

A newly developed test will make it easier to identify biting midges that can transmit dangerous disease agents. In a recently published study, the authors present an innovative method for differentiating biting midge species known to transmit viruses causing serious diseases of ruminants such as bluetongue and Schmallenberg viruses. These diseases pose a major threat to the agriculture livestock industry Europe and can cause enormous economic losses. ZALF scientist and dipteran expert Dr. Doreen Werner was involved in the study. Until now, it has been difficult to distinguish the various biting midge species that transmit the bluetongue and Schmallenberg viruses from each other and from non-vector species. The hematophagous females of these insects look very similar, and traditional methods of species identification are often time-consuming and require specialized knowledge. This has made it difficult for both authorities and scientists to effectively control and prevent outbreaks of these diseases. In response, scientists at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, together with ZALF and the University of Strasbourg, have developed a new genetic method that can be used to quickly and accurately identify different biting midge species. The method is based on the analysis of a specific gene that is different in each biting midge species. By analyzing more than 4,000 genetic records from a publicly available database, the team was able to develop a test that detects all known vector species of these viruses within a certain biting midge group. The new test is exceptionally accurate, outperforming previously used methods. This development is an important step in the surveillance and control of biting midge-borne diseases. Researchers and animal health authorities will be able to detect potential outbreaks more quickly and take more targeted control and prevention measures. This is particularly important as climate change and global warming could increase the risk of these diseases spreading to new regions. The study highlights the importance of combining classical taxonomy and genetics in solving problems that affect both agriculture and public health. The research group plans to further refine the methods and apply them to other groups of disease vectors to enable even broader application in monitoring and controlling disease outbreaks. Funding: This research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) through the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE), grant number 281B101816.

Long-term experiments (LTEs) are an important infrastructure for investigating interactions between soil, plants, and agricultural activities.

In a recent study, scientists from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and the University of Geisenheim have found that the use of amorphous silicon as a fertilizer in drought-stressed wheat fields has two major benefits: it increases soil moisture and promotes the development of beneficial microbial species. These findings offer new approaches to wheat production under climate change conditions and could lead to more effective farming practices.

Researchers at ZALF have developed a low-cost instrument for agricultural research to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes and evaporation from plant and soil surfaces. The device will help fill data gaps on greenhouse gas emissions and water use efficiency in agriculture.

In its final statement, the Leibniz Senate emphasized the outstanding development and the good to excellent performance of the various research units of the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). The Leibniz Senate recommends continued funding by the federal and state governments for the next seven years.

The dataset contains two kinds of wind-related-data for the site Forst (Lower Lusatia) in the SIGNAL project.

The dataset contains two kinds of wind-related-data for the site Forst (Lower Lusatia) in the SIGNAL project. The relative wind speed was simulated with the Large Eddy Simulation model ASAM (All Scale Atmospheric Model, Jähn et al. (2015).

Crises are posing new challenges for agriculture and the food sector worldwide. It is becoming increasingly clear that one-size-fits-all solutions no longer work and that case-specific concepts need to be developed from a variety of approaches. By joining the Agroecology Coalition, the German government aims to promote the conversion of agriculture to sustainable agroecological cultivation methods through policy, knowledge exchange and the provision of financial resources. Depending on regional conditions and requirements, agriculture in Germany and around the world is to be adapted to natural and climatic conditions and cycles, with local experience and the inclusion of practice partners being important building blocks.

Two dissertations successfully completed Anne-Katrin Kersten and Marina Gerling

Can the joint work of practitioners and researchers in living laboratories accelerate and improve the transformation of the agriculture and food sector, and if so, how? Questions like these were discussed by more than 100 participants at a pre-conference for the Scientific Conference on Organic Agriculture (Wita 2024) at the University of Giessen.

Today marks the end of the four-day DAFA conference on agricultural research on climate change. The scientific conference in Potsdam focused on the transformation of the agricultural and food system. Several ZALF scientists and political representatives took part.

The Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) has installed the first four charging stations for e-mobility in Müncheberg. They are operated by EMB Energie Brandenburg, a GASAG Group company. All stations are accessible to ZALF employees, guests and tenants, and two of the stations are also accessible to external electric car drivers. Eight charging stations are available, each with a charging capacity of up to 22 kW, depending on capacity.

The scientific community has made its decision: 26 Leibniz researchers will serve on review boards of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) for the next four years. Among them is ZALF scientist Prof. Dr. Steffen Kolb for the field of soil sciences in the review board "Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine". Kolb heads the working group "Microbial Biogeochemistry" at ZALF.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced the establishment of the Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems. Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), has been appointed as a member of the committee. The Senate Commission has the task of evaluating new scientific findings for their social and political significance and making recommendations for action.

Prof. Stefan Sieber, head of the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries" at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), has been appointed adjunct professor by the Humboldt University of Berlin. The certificate was presented to him by Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Ulrichs, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences at the HU. Prof. Sieber is now adjunct professor at the Thaer Institute for Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences at HU Berlin in the Department of Agricultural Economics. At ZALF, he heads the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries" in Program Area 2 "Land Use and Governance". He is an expert on food security, climate change adaptation and bioenergy. He deals with impact assessment and the development of decision support systems in the context of sustainability issues. In addition, Prof. Sieber advises on agricultural and environmental policy issues and is committed to the dissemination of scientific findings.

Many ZALF data are generated on experimental plots in a few regions. These are increasingly being expanded into LivingLabs (Agroscapelab Quillow). These so-called ZALF Focus Areas are described as well as possible with metadata and their geodata and get published in the BonaRes repository.

General description of the Long-term Field Experiment ‘V140‘: The long-term field experiment ‘V140‘ was established in 1963 at the experimental site of the present Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) about 50 km east of Berlin in the district Märkisch-Oderland

This data set reports measurements and observations from a grain legume cropping system experiment (2017-2021) investigating the effects of cultivars and irrigation on yield of soybean, lupins and faba bean, and rotational effects on a subsequent winter wheat (2018-2020)

At the end of January, the DFG research network RESTORE, in which ZALF is involved with two sub-projects (AG SUS: Sieber/Löhr) under the leadership of Prof. Fischer (University of Leuphana), began its work in Rwanda. In addition to exploratory field visits in Western Rwanda, the kick-off took place in Kigali. Day 1 explicitly aimed at scientific actors. Day 2 brought together researchers and actors from policy and practice. Both days were organized in a participatory manner in order to work jointly on visions, strategies and methods, as well as to explore synergies and collaboration opportunities. Dr. Apollinaire William and Valery Ndagijimana joined the ZALF RESTORE team in February. The up-coming field phase is scheduled for June in order to start establishing stakeholder platforms and two living labs based on an in-depth network analysis and further field visits.

Research plays a crucial role in societal efforts towards sustainable development. However, how can we recognize and promote this societal responsibility of research?

A new podcast format has been launched at ZALF: Soil Hydrology Prediction delves into the details of soil science, hydrology and modelling water and energy cycles in environment. It is hosted by Dr Roland Baatz, ZALF researcher in the field of landscape modelling.

On February 28, the Commission of Experts for Research and Innovation (EFI) presented recommendations for action based on a study by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) to the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The study examined the potential contribution of digital and smart technologies in agriculture to promoting sustainability.

A study conducted by an international team led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) has comprehensively investigated the impact of climate change on productivity at long-term field experiment (LTE) sites in Germany. The study, published in the European Journal of Agronomy, analyzed net primary productivity (NPP) - a key indicator of vegetation productivity and carbon dynamics - at 271 LTE sites and projected significant spatial shifts in productivity under different climate scenarios across Germany by the end of the 21st century​

Under the motto "Brandenburg shows attitude", regional organizations and individuals take a public stand for democracy and cohesion. The Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) takes part in this campaign and stands up for an open-minded Brandenburg. ZALF also joins the declaration of the Leibniz Association "For Democracy and Human Dignity". Current crises such as climate change, war, inflation and migration hold conflict potential, also for democracy in Germany. Insecurities caused by the rapid changes in our society are exploited by extremist and anti-democratic forces. ZALF is therefore committed to the protection of democracy and scientific exchange in order to overcome the current challenges in society. With "Brandenburg Shows Attitude - For Democracy & Cohesion!" ZALF supports a campaign in which numerous organizations and individuals from the state show that they stand against right-wing populism, anti-democracy and for an open democracy. Prof. Frank Ewert, scientific director of ZALF, explains the reasons for supporting the campaign as follows "Similar to science, democracy needs different perspectives to find solutions for the current complex social upheavals and crises; the answers are rarely simple. People from almost all continents research and work at ZALF and bring not only their professional diversity and thus different perspectives, but also a cultural diversity to our institution, which we see as a great enrichment. We are therefore committed to a democratic, tolerant, diverse and cosmopolitan Brandenburg. As part of our organizational guidelines, we also stand for open discussion, objective debate, and respectful interaction with one another.”

Find out more about the joint work of PhenoRob and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Developing and designing crop systems that combine food security with sustainability, ZALF aims to deliver solutions for an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture – together with society.

In a recently published study, a large international consortium of biodiversity scientists utilized synthesis data to show the synchronized response of communities to land-use. The study provides evidence, that higher agricultural land-use has direct and indirect effects on the community leading to faster growth and nutrient cycling in most guilds. This has consequences for functional biodiversity as well as for ecosystem functions like nutrient fluxes, carbon sequestration and productivity. They analyzed traits and occurrence data of more than 2800 protozoa, fungi, plants and animal species from grassland plots in three long-term study areas in Germany, the DFG-funded Biodiversity Exploratories. The working group “Sustainable grassland systems” from Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) contributed data and plant root trait expertise for this endeavor. The study „A slow-fast trait continuum at the whole community level in relation to land-use intensification” has been published on 10 February 2024 in the journal Nature Communications.

Given the pressing challenges of climate change, education is increasingly seen as a key to transformative adaptation to a changing environment. A study, conducted in collaboration between the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and the University of Victoria (Canada), takes a closer look at an innovative approach: the use of drama in climate change education.

The Tropentag conference took place on September 20 - 22, 2023 and was organised by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany in cooperation with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

The latest scientific data show that Europe's biodiversity has reached a tipping point: Over the past four decades, the populations of Europe's farmland birds and insects have declined significantly. To improve the situation, seven projects of the BiodivScen program propose collaborative and sustainable solutions. ZALF has contributed to these solutions with the SALBES project (Scenarios for Agricultural Landscapes' Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services).

The "CarbonTillage" innovation project (ZALF, LEMKEN, agrathaer) presented itself to a broad public from January 19th to 27th, 2024 at the Green Week.

On Thursday, January 25, Martin Jank, ZALF's Administrative Director, hosted the official inauguration of a new woodchip heating system in Hall 51. According to Jank, the new heating system is "an important first building block for a secure, affordable and environmentally friendly energy supply" and one of the projects to increase ZALF's energy resilience.

The Call for abstracts and pre-conference workshops for the LANDSCAPE conference 2024 in Berlin is now open. The deadline for submissions is March 15th, 2024.

The study focuses on the impact of a beneficial microbial consortium on the plant performance of winter rye under different farming practices during the vegetation period, including the winter growing season.

Tree species composition of a landscape in north-eastern Germany in 1780, 1890 and 2010

On January 19, Cem Özdemir visited the stand of the "Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System (DAKIS)" project and the joint project "Agricultural Systems of the Future". At the Global Food Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), the Minister of Ministers had the first applications demonstrated to him.

On January 18 and 19, we will be presenting the DAKIS project at the 'Agrarsysteme der Zukunft' booth. Among other things, the new image film will be presented there. This film provides insights into the work and goals of our research project. Additionally, a poster illustrates our visions for the agricultural landscape of the future: What might our agricultural landscapes look like in the year 2050, and how can we reconcile nature conservation objectives with agricultural production on the same area? These are the questions we, the DAKIS team, would like to discuss with the visitors of the GFFA Forum. On our tablets, we demonstrate the innovative DAKIS software and the EROSPOT web app. These digital tools, developed as part of the DAKIS project, aim to support farmers and agricultural advisors in implementing sustainable production systems.

From January 19 to January 28, the "Land-Innovation Lausitz" project will be presenting itself at the International Green Week in Berlin. At the exhibition booth, a miniature model will be used to demonstrate solutions that have been developed in the transformation region as part of the project. The aim of "Land-Innovation-Lausitz" (LIL) is to develop Lusatia into a model region for adapting land use to climate change. This is to be achieved with the help of innovative technologies and sustainable forms of use on a bioeconomic basis. More than 60 partners from research, business, agriculture, politics and administration are currently working together to achieve this. The research and development projects focus on the innovation areas of soil, plants and materials, the integration area of cultural landscape and the cross-sectional area of digitalization and sensor technology. The project teams each come from science and practice and conduct research into resource-efficient cultivation systems, drought stress-resistant crops and bio-based plastics, among other things. Very different projects such as a truffle plantation and the World Heritage Initiative of the Lusatian post-mining landscape are united under the umbrella of LIL. The projects are researching the dual use of climate-resilient crops such as sunflowers and chickpeas, developing monitoring of landscape surfaces and biodiversity using drone and satellite data and agroforestry recycling management. One project utilizes iron hydroxide sludge and aims to develop a valuable soil additive from it. And much more! "Land-Innovation-Lausitz" is jointly managed by the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and is funded as part of the "Change through Innovation in the Region" (WIR!) program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). With this funding program, the BMBF aims to strengthen innovation and structural change in selected regions. The funded initiatives are intended to bundle regional expertise, establish new collaborations between science, industry and society and thus provide important impetus in the respective region. In the long term, the aim is to create partnerships that form sustainable, self-supporting structures.

Join us for anl virtual conference on Planetary Justice and Societal Responsibility in International Sustainability Sciences!Dive into discussions on the role of international cooperation in sustainability, the interplay between Global North & South, and the impact of cultural and socio-economic diversity on research. We're bringing together experts to reflect on the societal responsibility within Sustainability Sciences.

ZALF scientist Cenk Donmez has been awarded the title of professor by University of Cukurova-Adana in the Graduate School of Natural Sciences at the Department of Landscape Planning, Division of Remote Sensing and GIS, upon the recommendation of The Turkish Council of Higher Education-Ankara.

ZALF scientist Cenk Donmez has been awarded the title of professor by University of Cukurova-Adana in the Graduate School of Natural Sciences at the Department of Landscape Planning, Division of Remote Sensing and GIS, upon the recommendation of The Turkish Council of Higher Education-Ankara.

The first European Soil Mission Week took place in Madrid from November 21–23, 2023 organised by the Joint Research Center - EU Soil Observatory (EUSO), the EU-funded PREPSOILProject, and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) in support of the EU Mission "A Soil Deal for Europe

ZALF scientist Cenk Donmez has been awarded the title of professor by University of Cukurova-Adana in the Graduate School of Natural Sciences at the Department of Landscape Planning, Division of Remote Sensing and GIS, upon the recommendation of The Turkish Council of Higher Education-Ankara.

On November 23, 2023, a parliamentary evening with ZALF participation took place in the newly opened Potsdam Lab.

Together with the Parliamentary State Secretary of the BMEL, Dr. Ophelia Nick, the ZALF scientists Dr. Cheng Chen and Prof. Dr. habil. Michael Maerker traveled to China to represent the perspectives of agroecology and to expand ZALF's cooperation with China. The delegation was led by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and included representatives from research, industry, organic farming and farmers' organizations. Several meetings were organized to discuss agrobiodiversity and green transformation. The exchange with the Chinese Agricultural University highlighted the potential for cooperation in sustainable agricultural development, food safety and agro-environmental protection. A field trip to an indoor smart farm and the Shared Harvest organic farm were also part of the delegation's itinerary. At an agricultural reception hosted by the German Ambassador to China, Dr. Patricia Flor, it became clear that both Germany and China want to continue working together on solutions for sustainable food systems. Dr. Cheng Chen from the working group "Ecosystem Service Governance" is co-leader of the German-Chinese project "SinoPES". The International Research and Training Centre on Erosion and Sedimentation (IRTCES) hosted Prof. Dr. Michael Maerker, Editor-in-Chief of International Soil and Water Conservation Research, for a series of lectures at various Chinese universities. Both Cheng Chen and Michael Maerker joined the BMEL delegation to China to strengthen the ZALF network in China.

From 12th to 18 November 2023, the CarbonTillage project presented its innovative carbon farming plow at the world's leading fair for agricultural technology AGRITECHNICA in Hannover. Together with the project partner LEMKEN, the fractional deep tillage to increase soil fertility and yields as well as for sustainable climate protection was explained to visitors.

On November 20 and 21, our DAKIS project was represented by Frauke Geppert, Marvin Melzer and Karoline Hemminger at the Digital Summit in Jena. At the booth of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) we presented the latest developments of the DAKIS software and the EROSPOT web application. The visit of the Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger at the BMBF booth was a special event and showed the great interest in the presented innovations. As part of the Market of Digital Opportunities, Marvin Melzer also held a workshop where he introduced the new DAKIS image film and demonstrated the practical application of the EROSPOT app for the detection and reduction of soil erosion. The DAKIS booth provided an excellent platform to get in touch with a broad audience and to gain important insights into the public perception of research work. The ZALF team would like to thank the BMBF for the opportunity and Project Management Jülich for coordinating the participation in the Digital Summit. The event provided valuable insights for further research.

At this year's Agritechnica, DAKIS successfully presented itself together with the other consortia "NOcsPS" and "GreenGrass" as well as the coordination office of the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future" in Hall 24 in the Campus & Career area. On screens and tablets, visitors were shown the current research status of the decision support system for farmers developed in DAKIS. The 3D erosion map EROSPOT, which was demonstrated using the project regions of Bavaria and Brandenburg as an example, met with particular interest. The open-minded audience consisted of representatives from politics, economy, science and agricultural practice. The interactive multi-touch table provided valuable information and drew the attention of visitors to the stand when they had questions about the entire "Agricultural Systems of the Future" funding line. On Friday, November 17, from 12:00 to 12:50 pm, a panel discussion took place on the DLG Studio Stage in the Campus & Career area. Dr. Ariani Wartenberg from DAKIS, Dr. Juliane Horn from the GreenGrass consortium and Dr. Ingrid Claß-Mahler from NOcsPS took part in the discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Rebecca Klopsch from the Central Coordination Office. Under the title "Agricultural systems of the future - innovative visions for area-based systems", the participants discussed the extent to which research into innovative agricultural systems can reduce conflicts of interest in the production and use of food in rural and urban areas. The individual projects were briefly presented, interfaces were identified, and opportunities for cooperation and transfer to industry and practice were discussed in a subsequent discussion with the audience.

The effects of climate change pose a major challenge for cereal production in many regions. In a recently published study in “Nature Reviews Earth & Environment”, ZALF scientists have investigated how warmer temperatures, increased carbon dioxide levels and changes in water availability affect globally important cereals such as wheat, maize, millet, sorghum and rice.

Prof. Dr. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at the University of Bonn, has been named a "Highly Cited Researcher" in the category "Agricultural Sciences" for the eighth time in a row.

Dr Katharina Löhr gave a lecture on 'Sustainable land use in African countries' as part of this year's 21st Autumn School System Earth: 'Africa - a continent in the focus of geosciences' and provided insights into research approaches and project activities. Once a year, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences offers the "Autumn School System Earth" in cooperation with the German Meteorological Society (DMG). Teachers, trainee teachers, seminar groups and students as well as all members of the participating societies are invited.

On November 13, 2023, Annika Hoffmann successfully completed her dissertation at Humboldt University Berlin. Since 2018, Ms. Hoffmann has been working as a doctoral student in the DFG-funded Research Training Group "BioMove - Integrating Biodiversity Research with Movement Ecology in Dynamic Agricultural Landscapes", investigating the effects of different environmental filters and dispersal strategies on the fungal community in the phyllosphere of wheat.

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations in Uzbekistan has, upon the recommendation of the National Research University „Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME)” in Tashkent, awarded ZALF scientist Dr. Ahmad Hamidov as Professor of Melioration and Irrigated Agriculture.

For the 60th anniversary of the nutrient enrichment trial in Müncheberg, ZALF invited scientific partners as well as former and current employees to a field trip followed by scientific lectures.

Stefan Sieber of the SusLAND working group of ZALF stayed in the period from 1st to 3rd of November in Madagascar to initiate a closer cooperation between ZALF and the University of Agriculture in Antananarivo. Agreements of a closer exchange of students between ZALF and the Humboldt University to the Madagascan University have been achieved. Beyond, Mr Sieber visited and strengthened the cooperation between the Forest for Future - project as well as the Prosar - project of the GIZ that are both accompanied by specific research projects. Further project activities have been additionally discussed.

Two ZALF projects will be present at the Agritechnica in Hannover from November 12th to 18th. Visitors can find the project DAKIS - Digital Knowledge & Information System for Agriculture in hall 24. In Hall 11, the CarbonTillage project will provide information about a special type of soil cultivation that is designed to both secure yields and protect the climate.

Stefan Sieber from the working group SusLAND of ZALF participated in the webinar CASSIS-series of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Stefan Sieber discussed within a group of experts how forest protection can be efficient organized. The options for efficient forest protection from regulations like the supply chain law to efficient governance approaches through ownership and participation in a transdisciplinary setting have been discussed. Link https://lnkd.in/euBPpnVK

In the joint project VolCorn, funded by the Leibniz Association and led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), a team of researchers has gained fundamental insights into how wheat plants respond to stress factors such as drought, flooding or pests in interaction with microorganisms in the plant and soil. The findings are important for breeding more resistant varieties and for the general understanding of plant-microbe interactions.

The American Center for Life Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) held its annual conference from September 25-28 in Burlington, USA. More than 200 speakers presented their research on life-cycle analysis in a variety of sectors.

ZALF scientist Dr. Ahmad Hamidov was part of a German delegation at the INNOWEEK 2023, which took place during 16-20 October 2023 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Dr. Hamidov presented research cooperation between ZALF and Uzbek institutions. The main aim of the visit was to strengthen collaboration between German and Uzbek scientists. The visit was organized and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in collaboration with the Uzbek Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations (MHESI).

The EU CAP Network Focus Group has released its final report and several publications on enhancing biodiversity on farmland through High Diversity Landscape Features (HDLFs). These features contribute significantly to biodiversity, yields and community well-being.

Astrid Artner-Nehls represented ZALF at the 6th Conference of the European Rural History Organisation with a presentation on her work in the BMBF junior research group BioKum, which is investigating the potential of livestock manure as a resource for the bioeconomy. The four-day conference took place from 11 to 14 September at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania). The programme was broad in topics and time span, ranging from rural finance in the 14th century to the agri-food change in the 21st century.

ZALF researchers recently partnered with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (College of Agriculture and Food Science) to conduct a workshop with local farmers in Laguna, Philippines last September 25, 2023. This collaborative effort was the culmination of an 18-month field trial focused on the reuse of pineapple residue through soil incorporation as part of a project called rePRISING.

The fourth status seminar of the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future" took place on 26-27 September 2023. At the conference, which was attended by over 150 participants, the eight consortia and the coordination office presented their project progress and professional communication activities at the Archenhold Observatory in Berlin. A special focus this year was on the cooperation of the consortia to develop and implement new innovations and their transfer activities. After the opening remarks by Monika Schreiner (IGZ) and Thomas Weith (ILS), co-directors of the coordination office, Christina de Wit, head of the Department for Sustainable Management and Bioeconomy at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), started the event with a welcoming speech. She assessed the funding line as a successful model and quoted Albert Einstein, who gave his first lecture on the theory of relativity at the Archenhold Observatory: "The whole is more than the sum of its parts". And she emphasised that "long-term and genuine solutions can only emerge if action is taken together and holistically, if - as in the case of the "agricultural systems of the future" - researchers and practitioners work together, there is close cooperation with industry and associations, and the public is involved. She stressed out that the consortia contribute significantly to creating sustainable and resilient agricultural systems. These goals are also laid down in the coalition agreement, the Future Strategy for Research and Innovation and the National Bioeconomy Strategy. Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring, Vice President for Research and Transfer and professor of science communication at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences, then outlined in her keynote speech how the transfer of scientific knowledge can succeed. "The transfer between science and the public is a constant loop and mutual translation process." Molthagen-Schnöring advised against addressing a diffuse broad public, it would never be possible to reach everyone at the same time through communication, a more specific, selected target group would be necessary. Her recommendation for the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" was to address the youth, as they are the decision-makers of tomorrow and multipliers to other target groups. She also mentioned politics as a relevant target group for a successful transfer. Following the keynote, four consortia presented their project progress: NOcsPs, Fahrerkabine 4.0, food4future and DAKIS reported on their field tests, the implementation of real laboratories and pilot plants, the dialogue with affected stakeholders from politics to consumers and practitioners, and gave an overview of a large number of new publications. The presentations of the consortia were complemented by poster presentations in which young scientists presented individual topics of the consortia in greater depth. In the report of the coordination office, Rebecca Klopsch and. Thomas Weith (ILS) presented the activities of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" in public relations and at events and gave an insight into inter-consortium workshops and fields of action, as well as in the cooperation of the consortia. Afterwards, Dagmara Weckowska (FU Berlin) from the food4future consortium, Thomas Weith (ILS) from the coordination office, and Marcus Geimer (KIT MoBiMa) from the Fahrerkabine 4.0 consortium presented the background and impact of responsible research practice on technological innovation processes that can lead to social change. Marcus Geimer gave practical insights into the implementation of innovations with science using the example of successfully implemented work at KIT. On the second day of the status seminar, four further consortia - GreenGrass, RUN, SUSKULT and CUBES Circle - presented the results of their work to date: In the session "Pathway to Impact", Thomas Weith (ILS) and representatives of the consortia presented inter-consortia working groups that work together on selected priority topics. The working groups were developed in workshops by the consortia of the funding line themselves from the transformation pathways and fields of action. Two groups have already started their work on the topics of governance and sustainability and were able to report initial successes. In addition, there was an insight into the planned action in the second funding phase of the "Agricultural Systems of the Future". In the closing remarks Monika Schreiner and Thomas Weith from the coordination office emphasised the importance of the work done so far by all consortia and their exchange with each other, as the strategic cooperation of the consortia can now be continued in order to advance the technological and social transformation of agricultural systems.

On 27-28 September 2023, the first "Agricultural Systems of the Future Summit" with over 150 participants took place. The international conference met on the topic of transformation towards sustainability in the agricultural and food sector at the Archenhold Observatory in Berlin. The summit was hosted by the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future". Klaus-Peter Michel from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research opened the event and affirmed that the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" are developing unconventional concepts and that these are necessary to address the major challenge of securing our food supply while conserving natural resources. Afterwards, Harald Grethe, Professor of International Agricultural Trade and Development at the Humboldt University in Berlin, gave a keynote on the interplay between technological and behavioural change to achieve sustainable agricultural and food systems. He made it clear that both technological and societal behavioural change are needed. In addition, he stressed that science-based strategies and measures should be attractive to those who have to implement them. On the second day, Christine Lang, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Technical University of Berlin and member of the International Advisory Council for Global Bioeconomy (IACGB) opened the main part of the conference. In her keynote speech, she emphasised that the bioeconomy is a crucial solution for a fossil-free, sustainable, regenerative and cycle-oriented global economy. New technologies and social innovations are key elements for a bioeconomy based on bioresources and science. Rebecca Klopsch and Monika Schreiner (IGZ) from the coordination office of the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" then moderated the panel discussion on the topic of "Agricultural Systems of the Future - Food (Retro) Perspectives under the Sign of the Bioeconomy". Invited guests were Sabine Kulling (coordinator of the BMBF innovation space "NewFoodSystems" and head of the Institute for Safety and Quality in Fruit and Vegetables of the Max Rubner Institute), Christine Lang and Matthias Lech (co-founder MaKers-Lab). Kulling made clear: "The transformation of agri-food systems towards sustainability is a multi-stakeholder approach involving a multitude of stakeholders. It is complicated and we need to engage the public." Collaborative creativity is needed for this, she said, and farmers who drive change. We need to strengthen these, Lech added. The panel discussion was followed by lectures and presentations by international experts from science and practice on three topics: 1. Sustainable and innovative land use through integrative indoor production and recycling systems. 2. Digitalisation as the key to sustainable and effective land management systems 3. Transforming agricultural systems - creating technological and social change The prize for the best poster was presented by Sabine Kulling to Jasper Mohr, Thomas Gaiser, Max Frohberg, Almut Haub, Paul Mosebach and Inga Schleip from the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation at the University of Bonn. The poster dealt with the work on a bioacoustic concept for the detection and quantification of biodiversity in grasslands. The aim of the conference was to present research-based new solutions to current challenges in agricultural economics and nutrition, and at the same time to strengthen the national network of agricultural science and agricultural economics experts in order to gain more visibility and influence in the international research community. An important part of the "Agricultural Systems of the Future Summit 2023" is therefore the embedding of German activities in international policies and international research strategies for the transformation of agricultural systems.

Free online conference on Sustainable restoration of agricultural landscapes affected by military activities

This year's ZALF PhD Day on 10 October, 2023 will again offer PhD students the opportunity for exchange and reflection. Special topics this year are motivation, as well as the time after the PhD: with creative methods, such as Lego, Sketchnotes and pantomime, young scientists are invited to take a curious look at the period after graduation and options for the upcoming career.

The 25th Tropentag Conference took place in Berlin from September 20-22. With a total of more than 1,000 participants online and on-site from over 80 countries, it was the largest Tropentag conference since the first Tropentag in 1999.

In the context of the future strategy for research and innovation, the # Zukunftsstrategie Forum (Future Strategy) has started its work. The panel consists of 21 experts from business, science and civil society who will advise both the Federal Government and the mission teams on the implementation of the Future Strategy. Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), is one of the 21 selected members.

On September 27-28, 2023, the first "Agricultural Systems of the Future Summit" will take place. The international conference will be held on the topic of transformation to sustainability in the agricultural and food industry.

The symposium organized by Die Gemeinschaft e.V. on September 11 and 12 brought together some 300 stakeholders from the food sector to discuss a sustainable and equitable food system. Elisabeth Berlinghof, regional manager of LeguNet Berlin-Brandenburg and researcher at the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), organized activities on legumes.

On September 26-27, 2023, the fourth status seminar of the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future" will take place. The focus this year is on innovation and transfer.

Jörg Schaller has been appointed adjunct Professor (apl. Prof.). The certificate of appointment was presented to him on September 4, 2023 at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen.

https://landscape2024.org/frontend/index.php

On Saturday, September 16, the nature park administration again invites you to the traditional nature park festival in Buckow. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and many nature park partners and regional stakeholders will celebrate at the visitor information center "Schweizer Haus" (Lindenstraße 33 in Buckow).

IMA delegation represented by Katharina Helming, Ahmad Hamidov and Shakhnoza Abulkosimova visited Uzbekistan during 21–25 August 2023. The main aims of the visit were to organize the 2nd WEFCA International Summer School (Sustainability assessment of the water–energy–food–environment nexus for irrigated agriculture: Interdisciplinary approaches for Central Asia) and participate in SusWEF project’s (Sustainable water-saving irrigation technologies to achieve water, energy and food security in the context of climate change in Uzbekistan) field seminar.

Vereinigte Hagelversicherung invited to a press briefing on the occasion of the International Expert Seminar of the world's leading crop insurers. The event took place on Thursday, August 31 at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg.

On Thursday, August 30, 2023, an information event was held at the ZALF trial site in Dedelow to report on the cereal and legume growing season to date. About 60 farmers and industry representatives took part in the practical exchange. The invitation was extended by Dr. Gernot Verch, head of the ZALF experimental infrastructure platform, which includes the Dedelow site.

TROPENTAG 2023, the annual international conference on tropical and subtropical agriculture, will be held on September 20-22, 2023, at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. This year's TROPENTAG is organized by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in collaboration with the Humboldt-Universität Berlin. Journalists are cordially invited to attend.

At "Book a Scientist" on 12 September, 2023, the curious and knowledge thirsty will have the chance to talk to an expert from the Leibniz Association for 25 minutes and ask everything they ever wanted to know about their favorite topic. There are over 100 research topics to choose from. The Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is also represented with two scientists.

Three new research teams have started work as part of the BMBF funding initiative "Creative Young Researchers for the Bioeconomy". One of them is a project of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), which is investigating the effects of field robots on soil health and soil condition in different cropping systems.

Can cities rely on their surroundings for their food supply? In the case of Munich, the answer is a resounding yes. In fact, if food waste is reduced and people switch to a less meat-based and a regionalized diet, the required catchment area shrinks. This is the result of a study by a team of researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). The study was commissioned by Karl Bär, an agricultural economist and member of the German Bundestag.

On July 21, 2023, Jonathan Friedrich successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Sustainability Transitions in German Livestock Farming: The Role of Innovations, Incumbents, and Imagined Futures".

As part of the AF4EU project, the first meeting of the Regional Agroforestry Innovation Network (RAIN) in Saxony-Anhalt took place on 24th July 2023. The team of the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) welcomed 20 stakeholders to the workshop in the ecovillage Sieben Linden in Beetzendorf.

How can we design agricultural systems to be both environmentally sustainable and support socio-economically equitable food production? This challenge exists at both the local and global levels. Agroecology has emerged as a promising approach to address the challenges for pursuing sustainable and resilient agricultural and food systems (agri-food systems). It involves studying and replicating relationships in ecosystems to develop productive and healthy agricultural practices. A recently published review by scientists from ZALF and ETH Zurich investigates to what extent agroecology can become the mainstream model for transforming agriculture toward more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems within the given economic and political context. The article shows that new technologies such as digitization and breeding can play a major role in successfully implementing agroecology on a large scale.

Dr Monika Joschko, Biologist at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e. V., researches soil. She knows how soil can be analysed using medical computer tomography and how farmers can protect their soil.

EROSPOT research project develops digital tool: Conservation of arable soils through targeted erosion management ​18.07.2023 Press Release Abbildung einer EROSPOT-Erosionskarte in 3D​ Arable soils are a valuable resource for our food and biodiversity - and are at risk from drought, storms and heavy rainfall. To help farmers better protect their fields from erosion, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), in cooperation with the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture (LfL), has produced erosion maps that identify areas particularly at risk of erosion and thus help to target protective measures where they will have the greatest effect.

On 06. July 2023 the workshop "Agroforestry policy in practice and for the future" took place on the farm of the agroforestry pioneer and farmer Thomas Domin. After a presentation of previous research results and a guided tour of Thomas Domin's farm, suggestions for improvements in agroforestry policy were discussed and prioritized together with representatives from agriculture, politics and administration. It became clear that, above all, government-funded advisory services, simplification of the use concept and its integration into the application for agricultural subsidies are considered essential. Financial incentives and an increase in premiums for agroforestry systems are also important, but not quite as significant.

Some crops actually improve the soil, such as beans and chickpeas. But these protein-rich sustainable legumes aren’t popular everywhere. We look at an attempt to introduce chickpeas in Germany.

In an insightful meeting within the framework of “Leibniz im Bundestag” held on July 5, 2023, at the Paul-Löbe-House, Dr. Michelle Bonatti and Associate Professor Stefan Sieber engaged in a productive discussion with Dr. Anton Hofreiter from the Alliance 90/The Greens. The focus of the one-hour meeting revolved around exploring ways to enhance the resilience of smallholder agriculture in the face of climate change. The discussion primarily centered on the socio-economic factors crucial to the successful implementation of agricultural innovations. The participants also delved into the concept of agroecology and agroforestry. Dr. Hofreiter, in particular, discusses the potential of agroecology within a global context, highlighting its applicability in large-scale cultivation to meet the demands of wholesale and retail markets. Agroforestry was also one of the key topics of the meeting, as a practice that combines agricultural cultivation with the integration of trees holds promise as a strategy to address climate change challenges while simultaneously boosting agricultural productivity. Dr. Hofreiter expressed his keen interest in the global application of agroecology and its potential to contribute to supply chains for wholesale and retail markets. The discussion touched upon how large-scale cultivation could incorporate agroecological principles to ensure sustainable and environmentally friendly production practices. The meeting concluded with a shared perspective to further research, policy development, and collaboration among stakeholders to foster the adoption of agroforestry and agroecology practices. Already in May, several discussions between politicians and scientists from ZALF on soil biodiversity and on legumes in agriculture took place within the framework of “Leibniz im Bundestag”.

Twenty regional participants from the fields of agriculture, the environment, climate change, land administration, science, farmers, and farmer organizations attended the "PREPSOIL Regional Soil Needs Workshop" on May 26, 2023. Participants talked about the Brandenburg region's future soil health, major agricultural threats, and farming techniques that could support high-tech agriculture in support of soil health. We further identified the possibilities for future collaboration in Living Labs.

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) organized its 9th Global Workshop at Columbia University this week. AgMIP is a collaborative network of scientists and stakeholders who work to advance the next generation of agricultural modeling to improve global food security and agricultural system resilience.

In a recent study published in the journal Nature, scientists looked at the impact of extreme rainfall on rice harvests in China. Through long-term observations and experiments, they found that heavy rain can reduce harvests by up to eight percent. Furthermore, the authors forecast additional yield reductions of another eight percent by the end of the century due to global warming. Prof. Heidi Webber, a scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), was involved in the study.

In a recently published paper in the journal Nature, the authors discuss two previous studies on the relationship between leaf and root traits, which were based on the same data set but came to almost contradictory conclusions. Dr. Joana Bergmann, a scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, was involved in both the Nature study and one of the underlying research papers. In one study by Carmona et al. (let's call it Study A), the form and function of aboveground leaves were shown to be largely independent of those of belowground roots, while the study by Weigelt et al. (Study B) described features of leaves and roots as interrelated. In the paper now published, the authors show that trait selection in the analysis played a crucial role in the different results. Study A) involved above-ground characteristics of different organs and functions, for example, leaf area, plant height, stem density or seed mass. Study B) deliberately focused on leaf and root characteristics that serve the purpose of resource acquisition and hence potentially similar ecological functions. For example, the scientists examined the amount of nitrogen in the leaves and the roots. Subsequently, they included plant size related traits like aboveground height and rooting depth into the analysis. In addition, the use of an analytical correction factor (varimax rotation) in the A) study, but not in the B) study, influenced the results. The authors emphasize the importance of careful and hypothesis-based trait selection and the influence of statistical procedures on research results. The contrasting conclusions highlight the complexity of studying plant traits. Further research is needed to fully understand the relationship between leaf and root traits. Nevertheless, the comprehensive data and analysis, as well as the critical comparison of the two studies, provide valuable insights for future investigations.

Francesca Calitri successfully defended her dissertation

From May 24 to 27, 2023, the VÖW seminar "Sustainable Land Use Systems - Transformation Processes and Goals" took place at the Environmental Education Center Berlin. This seminar was organized in cooperation with the Topic Cluster "Life in Transformation: Food, Resources and Minds" of the Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of the HU Berlin and the Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and financially supported by the Graduate School of Life Science, among others. The seminar aimed to promote exchange and discussion on the design of sustainable land use systems between young scientists from different disciplines such as agricultural sciences, biology, geography, psychology, political sciences and agricultural economics.

Many ZALF data are generated on experimental plots in a few regions. These so-called ZALF Focus Areas are described as well as possible with metadata and their geodata and get published in the BonaRes repository.

SusWEF kick-off meeting in Tashkent (Uzbekistan)

On the 25.05.2023, Custódio Efraim Matavel successfully defended his PhD work with the title“Integrating more efficient renewable energy technologies into food systems in Central Mozambique: Implications to food and nutrition security”. The PhD defense was held at the Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the doctoral committee was headed by Prof. Dr. Klaus Eisenack. Mr. Matavel was supervised by PD Dr. Stefan Sieber (Head of the working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries” at ZALF) and Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller (Professorship in Economics and Politics of Rural Areas at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Co-Head of Research Area 2 "Land use and governance" at ZALF). Within his PhD, Mr. Matavel explores the effects of optimally designed processing energy usage on food and nutrition security in rural Mozambique. He followed an experimental and transdiciplinary approach to provide a holistic understanding of the effects of the newly introduced food processing technologies and the nature of food and nutrition security in Central Mozambique. Within five peer-reviewed articles, Mr. Matavel demonstrated the importance of staple crops and post-harvest technologies for the household food and nutrition security. Moreover, Mr. Matavel was able to provide strong evidence that the effectiveness of a technology dissemination program depends on the awareness of cost-effectiveness oft he training approach which, depending on the context, needs to be adjusted to achieve the highest impact per unit of resource expenditure. The doctoral committee rated the PhD with an overall grade of magna cum laude. We congratulate Mr Matavel!

In the current webinar of the platform "Climate Change of the German Agricultural Research Alliance (DAFA)", new arable crops were discussed as adaptation options for crop production under climate change.

This year's TROPENTAG will take place in Berlin from September 20 to 22, 2023. The guiding theme is "Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation: trade-offs and synergies". Registration is now open.

Today’s 50th World Environment Day serves as a platform to drive enhancements in national and international environmental policy. The EU research project Contracts 2.0 funded under Horizon 2020 ends after four years and, within the handbook called “Co-Creating Contracts”, is now publishing numerous recommendations to decision-makers for the EU level as well as for federal and state government levels for the design of ecologically effective, economically viable and viable agri-environmental schemes. The President for environmental matters of the German Farmers' Association (DBV) and President of the Farmers' and Winegrowers' Association of South Rhineland-Palatinate, Eberhard Hartelt: "From farmers' point of view, biodiversity in agricultural landscapes especially succeeds when biodiversity measures are practicable and flexibly implemented by politicians and administrators. The current agricultural policy framework formally offers room for innovative approaches; politicians must actively use and promote it. In the future, innovative approaches such as results-based payments and collective schemes should be enabled, and designed to be flexible, motivating and as simply as possible to implement.” Contracts2.0 was able to show that the many economic and ecological advantages that novel contractual solutions can bring are worth the initial effort they need. Farmers are willing to implement innovative approaches if their contractual agreements are motivating rather than restrictive and reliable rather than vague. The administrative focus should be on compliance with practical principles rather than rigid regulations. Regarding the publication of the handbook called “Co-Creating Contracts”, the head of the research group “Governance of Ecosystem Services” at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and coordinator of the Contracts 2.0 project, Prof. Dr. Bettina Matzdorf reinforces: “We should show more courage in the shoulder-to-shoulder cooperation between science and practice to implement innovative approaches, such as collective and results-based agri-environmental measures, in practice and also use experimental spaces such as living labs for this purpose. If we take the ideas of the EU Commission’s Farm-to-Fork strategy seriously, we also need holistic approaches that implement a complementary rewarding of farmers’ ecological services through support policies and consumers.” In the Contracts 2.0 project, approaches such as co-design and bottom-up principles as well as the involvement of all relevant stakeholders played a major role. In this regard, the lead scientist of the research team “Nature and Society” at the Flemish Institute for Nature and Forest Research (INBO), Dr. Francis Turkelboom, emphasises: “Involving the different knowledge holders and stimulating co-creation is one of the keys in solving challenges of the current agri-environmental schemes under European Agricultural Policy. In practice, this means simplifying bureaucracy and reducing state controls, actively involving farmers in designing and monitoring contracts, and strengthening the involvement of intermediate experts such as agricultural advisory services for high potential of innovative agri-environmental schemes.” The published handbook entitles “Co-Creating Contracts – Designing innovative agri-environmental schemes – A guide for policymakers” can be accessed online. All results and publications of the Contracts 2.0 project can be found via the website: www.project-contracts20.eu Background: Project Contracts 2.0, funded by the EU under Horizon 2020 for the past four years (2019-2023), has designed innovative contractual approaches for effective and sustainable agri-environmental schemes with a wide range of scientific research and participatory processes between agriculture, nature conservation and administration. A total of 28 European research and practice partners were involved under the direction of the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg. The Flemish Institute for Nature and Forest Research (INBO) in Brussels took the lead for the participatory co-design process and the organization of the living labs, which were at the heart of the project. The German Farmers' Association (DBV), as a practice partner, was responsible for communicating and publishing the diverse research and practice results for stakeholders from practice and politics. We thank all partners for their extraordinary commitment and contributions over the years. Funding: Contracts 2.0 is an EU-funded Research- and Innovation Project within the framework of Horizon 2020.

On May 12, 2023, the German JSPS alumni association honored Prof. Dr. Sonoko Dorothea Bellingrath Kimura with the JSPS Alumni Club Award 2023, the JACA award.

The Bonares repository team organized a data workshop at the BonaRes2023 conference, which took place between May 15th and 17th. This workshop was titled "data publication and reuse".

PREPSOIL Regional Soil Needs Assessment Workshop

For the first time, the effects of silicon fertilization on wheat yields were investigated for a study led by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. In a field trial in Brandenburg, the plants formed significantly more biomass: Yields increased by 80 percent compared to conventionally farmed areas. The sequestration of carbon in the soil and the availability of water also improved significantly as a result of fertilization. In the future, this could improve the plants' robustness to drought episodes.

The intensive interactions of digitalisation and spatial development are the focus of the Spatial Science Colloquium 2023 (SSC2023), an event hosted by the Leibniz Research Network “Spatial Knowledge for Society and Environment – Leibniz R”. For the first time, the SSC will take place on two days: 4 July is an online event aimed at an international scientific audience. Day 2 on 5 July will be a face-to-face event in Berlin dedicated to the application-oriented exchange between science, politics and practice. Registration for the event is now open.

In the course of climate change, the question of long-term yield security is becoming increasingly important for society. For a better understanding of yield development over long periods of time and the influence of controlling factors (climate, management, soil), long-term data with large area coverage are needed.

On April 26, the first virtual FAIRagro Plenary meeting after the project start in March 2023 took place.

France experienced in 2016 the most extreme decline in wheat yields in recent history: In some districts, yields fell by 55 percent. To determine the causes, scientists combined the largest contiguous, detailed dataset of wheat field trials with statistical methods and crop models, climate information and yield physiology. The results show that the yield losses were caused by a confluence of different climate effects.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has now announced the funding of new research groups. The research group "A social-ecological systems approach to ecosystem restoration in rural Africa" has also been included in the funding. More than three million euros will be available for this project over the next four years.

Nitrate pollution from agriculture is the most common cause of the poor chemical status of groundwater in Germany. Intensive livestock farming in particular, but also special crops and rapeseed cultivation, contribute to this. In the new opinion paper, agricultural engineers Prof. Frank Eulenstein and Prof. Jürgen Augustin provide insights into the state of groundwater in Germany, and what needs to happen to reduce nitrate surpluses in agriculture.

In 2021, Springer published the book "Sustainable Land Management in a European Context - a Co-Design Approach". In essence, it answers the questions: How can land use be made more sustainable? And: what development processes are needed to resolve increasing conflicts and competitions? As of today, the book has received more than 150,000 hits. "Sustainable Land Management in a European Context - a Co-Design Approach" was edited by current and former ZALF staff members Thomas Weith, Tim Barkmann, Nadin Gaasch, Sebastian Rogga, Christian Strauß and Jana Zscheischler. On more than 350 pages, innovative approaches to land management in a European context are presented and discussed. The book emphasizes and highlights co-design processes within the framework of the "co-design approach", which reflects collaboration in transdisciplinary research processes between science and other stakeholders. A team led by Professor Thomas Weith at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) received the Gerd Albers Award (Special Mention) from the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP) for this work on November 10, 2021. For a broad readership from land system and environmental sciences, social sciences and geosciences, new insights and experiences on the sustainable use of land are offered here.

The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) is funding the "Model Demonstration Network for the Expansion and Improvement of the Cultivation and Utilization of Grain Legumes in Germany" (LeguNet) with around 5.2 million euros. The aim is to promote the cultivation, processing and utilization of legumes such as peas, beans and lupins with regional partners throughout Germany by 2025. The project joins the various nationwide networks already successfully funded by the BMEL's protein crop strategy since 2014. The new network builds on the experience gained and now brings together the work across different crop types. The grain legume network will bring together stakeholders from research, extension, breeding, production, processing, trade and associations and demonstrate best practice examples. The demonstration of successful practical examples from agriculture and the downstream sector as well as the networking of the aforementioned actors takes place on a regional and supra-regional level. In this context, ZALF is responsible for regional management in Berlin and Brandenburg as well as for the coordination of nationwide environmental assessments. In this context, ZALF accompanies on-farm trials and supports the development of value chains for legumes. As a follow-up project to the model demonstration network on lupins and soybean, in which ZALF was already involved, LeguNet opens up to all grain legumes. Besides the common grain legumes, chickpea, lentil and common bean are now also in focus, and thus also targets human nutrition to a greater extent than before, because there is a great need and interest in protein-rich alternatives to meat. In addition, ZALF is evaluating the environmental performance of legumes in crop rotations, for example the effect on greenhouse gases. The project is in close exchange with the CiLaKlima and Valpro Path projects, which are also based at ZALF. Since the approval in spring 2023, the first on-farm and on-station trials on various grain legumes have thus already been planned. Network building in the region is also underway and interested actors are welcome to join.

On the 26th of April 2023, the final conference of the ZALF-coordinated research project contracts2.0 will take place in Brussels. At the final conference, the project and its results will be presented and reflected upon.

Last week, ZALF offered an international block class for MONICA users. In the mornings, Prof Claas Nendel provided the theoretical background of the processes used in the simulation model, and Michael Berg-Mohnicke then demonstrated the technical tricks of using the model in different situations. The international participants then each had the opportunity in the afternoon to set up and advance their own simulation projects and to get individual support from the ZALF staff in the virtual space. Dr Roland Baatz and Dr Ehsan Rezaei rounded off the course with learning units on model calibration and large-scale application using massively parallel computing infrastructure. The MONICA course was attended by 15 scientists and PhD students from nine countries.

To improve dialogue and knowledge circulation between different actors of policy, practice and sciences, the ZALF working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries”, together with the GIZ project “Forests4Future” initiated the “WebTREESSeries”. This webinar series focuses on studies related to impacts of Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in Africa with a session planned on a bi-monthly basis. The first session took place on 2nd March 2023 and focused on Togo with presentations by Edoh Ekoue and Lidia Dekede from the University of Lomé on perceptions and adoption of agroforestry practices, and contributions of (non-) timber forest products to FLR. This webinar was conducted in French and English to increase participation and outreach. The next webinar will focus on FLR in Ethiopia and is planned for May. The WebTREESeries is the product of a current collaboration between ZALF and GIZ and its Global project on Forest Landscape Restoration and good governance in the forest sector (Forests4Future) commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). Forests4Future aims to restore forests and tree-rich, productive landscapes in different African countries, who are committed to the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative, the AFR100. Linked to Forests4Future, ZALF is performing accompanying research on F4F implementation. The research results will help to scientifically underpin the FLR practices developed for each country package, taking into account their context-specific ecological, economic, and social conditions.

This March is the official project launch for the FAIRagro consortium (2023-2028).

High summer temperatures, mild winters and changing precipitation: Climate change is increasing the risk that exotic mosquitoes and the viruses they transmit will also occur in Germany. The interdisciplinary research project "CuliFo 3" started its third round on February 16 with a kick-off meeting in the historic lecture hall of the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. The Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is involved as one of five partner institutions. The research project focuses on the spread of various mosquito species in Germany and their ability to transmit so-called arboviruses such as the West Nile virus or the Usutu virus to humans. "CuliFo" stands for research (in German “Forschung”) on mosquitoes (in Latin: Culicidae). CuliFo 3 continues the research work on the spread of mosquito species and viruses transmissible by them in Germany. It builds on the findings of the previous BLE-funded research projects "CuliMo" on mosquito monitoring, as well as CuliFo and CuliFo2. The continuation project CuliFo 3 aims to focus even more on how insect-specific viruses and arboviruses in mosquitoes interact and what this means for their ability to infect animals and humans. In addition, the researchers want to find out the minimum infectious dose needed for mosquitoes to transmit arboviruses and maintain cycles of infection. The collaborative also wants to investigate which environmental conditions favor outbreaks. The environmental conditions studied include abiotic and biotic influencing factors such as temperature, precipitation, habitat or landscape structure. The researchers hope to use these data to model outbreak scenarios in order to develop environmentally sound and sustainable control strategies. The researchers hope to use these data to establish an early warning system for arbovirus disease outbreaks.

ZALF supports the Leibniz Association's efforts to ensure responsible and sustainable management of and open access to research data as a cornerstone of its research strategy.

Annelie Ehrhardt, M. Sc., successfully defended her dissertation

In the BonaRes SIGNAL project, emphasis was placed on well-structured data management agreed with all project partners right from the start.

On February 1st and 2nd, Dr. Maria Kernecker from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) joined 19 experts from around Europe in Poitiers, France, to participate in the first meeting of the EU CAP Network Focus Group for enhancing the biodiversity on farmland through high-diversity landscape features. The Focus Group will meet once again and produce a recommendations and outcomes report. Recommendations feed into future EU funding calls and EIP-AGRI Operational Groups. This specific group focused on the question of how farmers can create and maintain high-diversity landscape features (HDLF) that positively impact farmland biodiversity. The specific tasks for the focus group included: • Identifying both challenges and opportunities for farmers in implementing HDLF to increase both the diversity and area of habitats and/or better connectivity between habitats. • Collecting and highlighting good practices, successful approaches and methodologies for implementing but also maintaining HDLF at different scales, from farm to landscape. • Identifying examples of how HDLF are socially and economically valued. • Identifying needs for capacity building in the implementation of HDLF. • Suggesting innovative HDLF and suitable maintenance/management models. • Identifying further research needs and possible gaps in technical knowledge.

On Tuesday, February 28, starting at 10 a.m., a workshop on agroforestry systems will be held at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). The title: "Agroforestry systems as a component of sustainable agriculture - policy instruments and agricultural realities". The workshop will be held in the framework of the "AGROMIX" project and will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas with representatives from agriculture, politics and nature conservation.

What can justice mean in a spatial context? And what are the possibilities for "implementation"? These were central questions of the lecture on January 17, 2023 in Bayreuth with about 30 participants with subsequent discussion. The existing lines of discussion from Geography, Spatial Planning Studies, Law / Equality, Land Use, Environmental Justice, Ecosystem Services, Energy Justice and Digitalization were pointed out. In the second part of the presentation, a further development of the understanding of the term and the derivation of recommendations for concrete use cases was proposed. Special importance was attached to the fair urban-rural balance, a current topic in the distribution of subsidies or area-related coordination processes in the designation of commercial areas. The exchange with colleagues in Bayreuth on the topic of spatial justice and transformation, in particular with Prof. Dr. Manfred Miosga, is to be continued.

On 25th January 2023, the final meeting of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) funded collaborative project MoPlaSa on non-chemical control strategies against the buckthorn fruit fly (Rhagoletis batava) took place at ZALF. The project had started in August 2018 and was led by ZALF.

The deadline for registering to the Spring School on "Evidence Synthesis for Agri-food Systems Transformation" from 20-24 March 2023 has been extended until the 12th of February.

Congratulations! Larissa Koch successfully completed her PhD on 16th December 2022 at the Research Centre for Environmental Systems Research and the Institute of Geography at the University of Osnabrück. Since April 2022, she has been employed as a Post-Doc in the research group “Co-Design of Change and Innovation” and is initiating a living lab project (prepLL). Ms Koch wrote her dissertation in the resource Management group led by Prof. Dr. Claudia Pahl-Wostl. Her PhD research focuses on the social dynamics in collaborative approaches to environmental governance and resource management. In particular, she dealt with interpersonal communication, narratives and the mechsnisms that influence good cooperation in groups. Using quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis, she investigated how the social relations among the actors involved have developed and which social dynamics influence the success of these collaborative approaches. We congratulate Larissa Koch on her successfully defended doctoral thesis and wish her all the best for the future.

On 21.01.2023 Welthungerhilfe with ZALF and HU Berlin hosted the expert panel “Linking indigenous knowledge with transformation processes of sustainable food systems” at GFFA2023 in Berlin.

In November 2022, a data set on soil samples from 1983 was published in the BonaRes Repository of Soil and Agricultural Research Data to serve as the basis for a renewed study on conversion to organic farming.

On 17.1.2023 the first Coffee Lecture at ZALF about Research Data Infrastructure (RDM) took place with the topic: "Two working groups, one aim".

FAIRagro - the consortium in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) for research data in agrosystems research - introduces itself with an article in "Informatik Spektrum".

In this podcast episode, host Julia Lidauer asks about the conditions under which agriculture can work in a conflict region like Colombia, when the main crop of many farmers is coca plants (i.e. plants from which cocaine is later produced), what part agriculture plays in peace, what challenges but also opportunities the more difficult conditions in the country offer and what we can learn from these regions for other conflict regions in the world. Guest in this episode is Dr. Stefan Sieber, Agricultural Engineer from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF).

As part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2023, an expert panel on linking indigenous knowledge in transformation processes of sustainable food systems will take place on January 20 from 11:30 am to 1 pm. The event is jointly organized by Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, ZALF and Deutsche Welthungerhilfe. ZALF scientist Dr. Katharina Löhr will be the moderator.

How can spatial planning govern the future development of Urban-Suburban Areas in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania? On 14th of December 2022 in Schwerin various actors from Spatial Planning Offices of the various regions in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (AfRL), the State Planning Office of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the project partners of the BMBF-funded ReGerecht project discussed possible answers. Keynote speeches by Ms Petra Schmidt-Kaden (Deputy Head of Department and Head of Division for Principle Issues of Spatial Planning, State and Regional Planning in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), representatives of the regional offices as well as Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith (ZALF) and Prof. Dr. Köck (UFZ), who are also involved in the ReGerecht project, shed light on different approaches to solutions. In the subsequent discussion, these were brought together and can serve as a basis for the further development of the state spatial development programme, which is currently being revised. At the same time, the event showed how transdisciplinary projects can generate new knowledge for solving practical problems and contribute to their implementation. The continuation of the event is currently being examined.

BonaRes held a virtual workshop on research data management on 13th December 2022.

A study published by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in the scientific journal "Global Change Biology" shows that in the long term, more and more arable land in Europe will become suitable for soy production. This effect exceeds the yield losses that are to be expected due to increasing heat and drought, especially in southern Europe. According to the authors of the study, this would enable the EU to do without a large proportion of soybean imports from Brazil and the USA in the future.

The ZALF scientist Prof. Heidi Webber has been invited as a member of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) of the “Excellence in Agronomy” initiative for the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Heidi Webber holds a professorship in "Integrated Crop Systems and Modelling" at BTU Cottbus and is an expert in climate change adaptation and climate risk assessment at ZALF.

On 15th and 16th December 2022, 14 spatial data experts from different national (research) institutions (i.e. Thünen Institute, JKI, UFZ, IAGB, 52°North) met at ZALF.

At the 2nd International Symposium on Cocoa Research in Montpellier (France), ZALF scientists from the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries" presented current research results from the PRO-PLANTEURS project on cocoa farming in Côte d'Ivoire. The conference was organized by the International Cocoa Organization and the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD). More than 500 participants from academia, as well as the entire cocoa value chain, gathered for intensive discussions on sustainable cocoa production. During the symposium, PhD student Bonna Antoinette Tokou from the Université Félix-Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) and ZALF presented research results on diversification models of Ivorian cocoa farmers in the PRO-PLANTEURS research project. In a poster presentation, Dr. Franziska Ollendorf and Dr. Claudia Coral explained measures to reduce income disparities. The team also met with project partner Prof. Adou Yao of the UFHB (Ivory Coast). The research is funded by BMZ to conduct accompanying research on PRO-PLANTEURS. The joint project of GISCO, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Conseil du Café-Cacao (CCC) works with more than 30,000 cocoa farming families to improve their incomes and professionalize the organizations to which they belong.

What should the future of cities and regions look like? What needs to be considered in particular? These questions were the focus of a hybrid conference with around 80 participants on November 26 and 27, 2022, organized by Southeast University in Nanjing. Thomas Weith and Meike Fienitz from ZALF (working group Co-Design of Change and Innovation) were invited to give a keynote address on the topic "Analysis and solution of urban-rural land use conflicts with examples from Germany and Indonesia". They presented different approaches to the analysis and resolution of land use conflicts. The conference offered renowned scientists the opportunity to exchange ideas on current developments and planning in urban and regional development. The lecture cycle was accompanied by lively discussions after the presentations on the 7 sessions. The cooperation with the Chinese colleagues is based on a long-standing exchange and shall be continued in the future - if possible on site.

With collaborations from the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), University of Hohenheim, and SIDO-Lindi, the Veg-Leg project implemented a combination of low-cost technologies to guarantee basic nutritional needs together with investments in processing technologies to add value through market integration.

From November 21 to 25, the International Conference on Ecological Sciences took place in Metz, France. It was jointly organized by the Société Française d'Écologie et d'Évolution (SFE²), the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) and the European Ecological Federation (EEF). The ZALF scientist Benito Schöpke won a photo competition in the category "Ecosystem" with a picture of a bog landscape from the Uckermark. The title of the picture: "Foggy memory". The picture shows a bog in the nature reserve Poratzer Moränenlandschaft in the Uckermark in the rising evening fog. The habitat, which at first glance appears so wild and untouched, is subject to constant change as part of the cultural landscape that has been used and overused by man. The dead bog birches and black alders show the dynamic nature of the water balance. The pine monoculture in the background extracts a lot of water from the moor through evaporation. Old drainage ditches are not visible in the picture, but at least likely.

Next year's Conference on Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural and Natural Resource Management (TROPENTAG) will be organized by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in collaboration with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The 2023 TROPENTAG will take place from September 20-22, 2023 in Berlin and online. The topic this year: „Competing pathways for equitable food systems transformation: trade-offs and synergies“.

On November 15, 2022, the management of agrathaer GmbH and the Executive Board of the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Thus, agrathaer GmbH and ZALF will go organizationally separate ways from 01 January 2023. agrathaer GmbH was founded in 2011 as a subsidiary of ZALF to make research results usable for politics, practice and society.

Due to the war in Ukraine, wheat exports have declined worldwide. Yield fluctuations and losses due to climate change are additionally hampering the supply situation in individual regions of the world. As a result, wheat prices have risen sharply. In a recent study published in the journal Global Food Security, scientists argue that in the long term, wheat production must increase worldwide to compensate for the lack of exports.

A sustainable bioeconomy requires integration of soil productivity with a wide range of other soil functions including nutrient cycling, carbon storage, water retention and filtering as well as being the habitat of a myriad of organisms and enabling their activities.

Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at the University of Bonn, has been named a Highly Cited Researcher in the category “Agricultural Sciences” for the seventh year in a row.

Prof. Claas Nendel from ZALF and Dr Til Feike from the Julius Kühn Institute welcomed over 50 participants to a virtual workshop on "Modelling Crop Rotations" on 11 November 2022.

Long-term field experiments (LTEs) are agricultural experiments for monitoring soil and crop properties in changing climate conditions and different management practices.

The FAIRagro consortium aims to create an infrastructure for agrosystems research data to facilitate cross-institutional and interdisciplinary research. As confirmed by the Joint Science Conference (GWK) in a press conference on November 4, 2022, FAIRagro will be included as a consortium in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) and funded by the federal and state governments from March 2023. A funding period of five years is planned. FAIRagro is coordinated by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg and comprises 29 partners.

More than one hundred participants accepted the invitation of the Academy for Rural Areas Baden-Württemberg to attend the conference "The New Image of Rural Areas" in Baiersbronn on 27th and 28th of October 2022. Experts from various disciplines and institutions discussed the current situation in rural areas and the need for transformation with representatives from the field. Thomas Weith from ZALF (working group Co-Design of Change and Innovation) was invited to give a keynote address on the topic of "Functions of rural areas: How to deal with different demands for use? On the first evening, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Agriculture Hauk also visited the event. The lively dialogue between science and practice showed, on the one hand, the requirements arising from demographic and social changes as well as climate protection and climate adaptation. On the other hand, it opened up new perspectives on social innovations and transformations for a better quality of life. The event, which takes place every four years, thus made a trend-setting contribution to the future discussions on rural areas, in Baden-Württemberg and beyond.

The partners of the AGROMIX project will gather together in Residenza Le Benedettine, located in Pisa, Italy, from 7th-10th November 2022, to discuss Europe's mission to transform farms into more resilient and effective uses of land.

On 21.10.2022 GIZ with the project “Forests4Future” (F4F) and the ZALF working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries” hosted a symposium on 'Research for Restoration Impacts in Africa' in Bonn to strengthen dialogue and collaboration between research and practice.

The ZALF working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries “ (SusLAND) met with Peru's Minister of Environment Wilbert Rozas, Yamina SIlva Vida, Vice-Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources of the Ministry of Environment, and Billy Heinrich Maco Elera, Director of the Office of Cooperation and International Affairs to co-ordinate co-operation actions and research strategies. A delegation of GIZ Germany and GIZ Peru, led by Alejandra Munoz Gonzales, also participated in the event.

This year the PhD day took place on the 15th of September under the topic “Science for Dummies: Present your research in a creative way to everybody”. The program consisted of various presentations and activities on professional and organizational topics related to doctoral research and science communication. Overall, more than 50 persons attended the event.

About seventy participants from all over Saxony-Anhalt accepted the invitation of the network Stadt-Land in Sachsen-Anhalt to the summer academy in the village community centre in Schleberoda (Freyburg/Unstrut) on 19 October. apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith from ZALF (Working group co-design of change and innovation) was invited to give the keynote address on the topic of "Regional Justice - Results from the BMBF ReGerecht Project". After the introductory words of the former chairman of the Bundesverbandes der gemeinnützigen Landgesellschaften, Dr. Boß, and the greetings of the Saxony-Anhalt Minister of Agriculture, Sven Schulze, Professor Weith showed what added value can result from a just urban-rural balance for people and their development options. In the subsequent panel discussion with Gert Zender, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of Saxony-Anhalt, as well as mayors and heads of local administrations, the necessity of involving different groups of actors at an early stage in land-related coordination processes between cities and the countryside, e.g. in the designation of industrial estates, became particularly clear. The event showed once again that the topics of spatial and landscape justice and urban-rural linkages are highly topical - and should be discussed again and again on a regional and local level.

The manifold interrelations between humans and the Earth system are the focus of a conference on 8 and 9 November, which will for the first time deal with an ‘Integrated Earth System Research’. Nationally and internationally recognised researchers from the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities are involved. The venue is the Albert Einstein Science Park on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam. Several ZALF scientists are involved in the organization and content of the conference. Registration is possible until 28 October.

The third status seminar of the BMBF funding line "Agrarsysteme der Zukunft" (Agricultural Systems of the Future) took place on 5th and 6th of October 2022. The eight consortia and the Central Coordination Office presented the progress of their work at an online conference with over 180 participants. A special focus was on the cooperation between the consortia to implement their developed transition pathways this year. At the opening of the event, Dr Klaus-Peter Michel from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) emphasised the importance of the systemic approach of "Agrarsysteme der Zukunft", which is designed for long-term and sustainable solutions. Dr Boelie Elzen, a transition expert from Wageningen University & Research, gave inspirational keynote speech for change in the agro-food sector. He shared insights from over 20 years of transition research in the agro-food sector. Elzen said: "The big challenges are not technological, but environmental, political and social". He further stated that the success drivers for transition are combination of different innovations ("smart combinations"), to break down transition pathways into manageable steps, to engage stakeholder in processes from the beginning and work with farmers with a frontrunner attitude. The eight consortia presented their project progress, including the DAKIS project coordinated at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Scientists complemented the presentations with in-depth insights into individual topics of their work in Young Talent Talks and Focus Talks sessions. The two-day event concluded with an endorsement of further strategic collaboration across consortia to advance the technological and societal transition in agro-food systems. For this, the "Agrarsysteme der Zukunft" work along four transition pathways: integrative indoor production systems, sustainable land management systems, local and regional circular production systems and healthy and attractive work systems in the agricultural industry. Professor Schreiner (IGZ) and Professor Weith (ZALF) from the Central Coordination Office concluded the importance of the event, because now concrete steps can together be taken to push the transition in the agro-food systems, beyond the individual projects goals.

ZALF faces the challenge of generating, managing and analyzing more and more remote sensing (RS) data. ZALF conducts research at the landscape scale and has traditionally been closely networked with other research institutions.

Das ZALF gratuliert Marta Kifleab von der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin zum 2. Preis in einem Fotowettbewerb des Tropentags 2022. Das Bild ist im Rahmen ihrer Forschungsarbeit für das ZALF-Projekt „TREES“ in Äthiopien entstanden. Marta, derzeit in Äthiopien, um im Rahmen ihrer Masterarbeit (TREES/Forests for Future) Daten über Bodenverluste zu sammeln, nutzte direkt die Gelegenheit, um ihre visuellen Eindrücke zu teilen: Am fernen Horizont ist der Chamo-See zu sehen, und aus der Nähe sieht man die Einzugsgebiete von Elgo und Sile. Die Bodenerosion ist ein fortschreitendes Problem in der Region, vor allem aufgrund landwirtschaftlicher Aktivitäten an hohen Hängen, die zu Bodendegradation und Erdrutschen führen, insbesondere im hügeligen Oberlauf. Agroforstwirtschaft, Erd- und Steinbänder und Rückhaltedämme sind die vorherrschenden lokalen Bodenschutzpraktiken, um das Risiko von Bodenerosion und Landverödung zu verringern. Weitere TREES Forschungsarbeiten zu Äthiopien (Shibire Bekele, HU/ZALF) und Madagaskar (Hamy Raharinaivo, Uni Antananarivo/ZALF) wurden als Poster ebenfalls beim Tropentag vorgestellt. Diese Arbeit wurde mit finanzieller Unterstützung des Bundesministeriums für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ) im Rahmen des globalen Projekts zur Wiederherstellung von Waldlandschaften und guter Regierungsführung im Forstsektor (Forests4Future) der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) durchgeführt und verwaltet.

The Soil Mission Support (SMS) project comes to its end. After 2 years of working side by side with our partners, the project is holding its final conference

​During the currently four years since its start, much has happened in the research project ReGerecht. Participants of the project now presented some of its results at the symposium “Good Urban-Rural Relations: For a Sustainable Development in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”, which took place on September 15th at HanseMesse Rostock. ​The event was organized jointly by the research projects ReGerecht, PROSPER-RO and VoCo, which are all part of the BMBF funding scheme “Stadt-Land-plus”, as well as by the scheme’s accompanying research team. The aim was to present core results of the three research projects that focus on Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and discuss them with regional decision makers and the interested public. With more than one hundred participants from administration, ministries, politics, and interest groups that represented all levels from municipalities to the Federal level, this aim was certainly reached. A total of ten expert talks examined different aspects of urban-rural cooperation – from sustainable land management and resilient infrastructures to regional value added. For the ReGerecht project, apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith (ZALF) and Ute Franke (Landeshauptstadt Schwerin) presented concepts for regional land banks, Antje Ellen Wahls (Amt für Raumordnung und Landesplanung Westmecklenburg) reported how regional planning contributes to a regional balance of interests in Westmecklenburg and Eva Eichenauer (BTU) explained results of her work on regional value added from wind turbines. A poster exhibition that included results of the analyses on digitalization (Sabine Barthold, TUDD) and land use conflicts (Meike Fienitz, ZALF) conducted in the ReGerecht project completed the event. During the final panel discussion the exchange between the Symposium’s participants was further intensified. Here, two of ReGerecht’s practice partners were part of the panel: Amt für Raumordnung und Landesplanung Westmecklenburg, represented by head official Karl Schmude, and Landgesellschaft Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, represented by Torsten Mehlhorn, head of the department for urban and regional development. The manifold information and the opportunity for personal exchange were received very positively by all participants. Conclusion: Diverse knowledge is available which now needs to be (further) implemented. Or, to use the words of Thomas Beil (Greifswalder Agrarinitiative): Regarding implementation we now not only have to start trotting, but we need to switch on the warp drive (as known from Star Trek).

Dr. Ahmad Hamidov, researcher in the Impact Assessment working group at ZALF, coordinates a new BMBF funded project about “Sustainable water-saving irrigation technologies for achieving water, energy and food security in the context of climate change in Uzbekistan (SusWEF)”.

The European project PREPSOIL will help improve the knowledge base and awareness of soil health in the European Union.

ZALF researchers receive poster award at the 2022 annual meeting of the German Soil Science Society (DBG) in Trier.

As part of the UBA-funded project "City and Country: Equality of Living Conditions by creating sustainable spatial relations" (in German: „Stadt und Land: Gleichwertige Lebensverhältnisse unter Ausgestaltung nachhaltiger Raumbeziehungen“), an expert workshop was realized in Berlin on September 9th 2022 to discuss how land use in Germany can be governed in a better way and the loss of agricultural soils will be avoided. In addition to about twenty other experts from all over Germany, apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith, head of the working group "Co-Design of Change and Innovation" at ZALF and coordinator of the ReGerecht project, was also invited. The workshop demonstrated that a variety of efforts are still necessary to achieve a stronger implementation of sustainability-oriented land policy.

The International Congress of the European Society for Agronomy (ESA) started in Potsdam on 29 August 2022. Under the motto "Diversification & Digitalization – Trends that shape future agriculture", researchers will be discussing ways to achieve climate-adapted, resource-conserving and digitalized agriculture until 2 September 2022. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is hosting the conference this year.

The new, English FELD magazine ist here!

Long-term field experiments (LTEs) are agricultural experiments for monitoring soil and crop properties in changing climate conditions and different management practices.

In 2027, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), together with the Julius Kühn Institute and the Thünen Institute, will host the XXVI International Grassland Congress in Leipzig. The congress will present diverse aspects of natural grasslands and those managed at varying intensities, including the cultivation and use of other forage crops.

The Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger visited the exhibition stand of the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future" at the Open Day at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on 20 August. She asked the coordinators, Professor Monika Schreiner and Professor Thomas Weith, about the current challenges facing the agricultural sector, such as climate change, and about ways to transform agricultural systems. Another topic was whether and how bio-economic topics can be included in the educational mandate, especially at schools. On the second day, Undersecretaries of State Judith Pirscher and Kornelia Haugg visited the exhibition stand of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" as well for a further dialogue. Interested citizens were able to interactively explore the work of the eight projects of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" on a multi-touch table during the two-day event - from grassland management with virtual fencing to satellite-based sensor systems in agriculture to nutrient communities in urban and rural areas. "The great interest of the public in the exhibition stand showed once again that research about innovative approaches for a future-oriented, sustainable agricultural economy is highly relevant to society," said Professor Monika Schreiner from the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), co-head of the coordination office of "Agricultural Systems of the Future", after the event. "We are therefore very pleased that we were able to provide insights into the work of our eight projects at the open day." Professor Thomas Weith from the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), co-director of the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" coordination office, adds: "Part of our systemic approach is to engage in dialogue with all stakeholders - i.e. also with citizens, who help decide on possible futures with their views and behavior." Dr. Rebecca Klopsch and Julia Walter from the coordination office of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" presented the researchers' vision for the future of agriculture in a presentation entitled "Of smart tractors and bio spaces in the city - a journey into the future of agriculture" on the second day of the event. "Agricultural Systems of the Future" is a funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in which eight inter- and transdisciplinary projects exploring and experimenting with innovative approaches in the field of agricultural systems. Together they pursuing the goal of transforming the agricultural system in the light of the bio-economy. The coordination office of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" is located at the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Website: “Agriculture System of the Future” https://agrarsysteme-der-zukunft.de/en/home

Although a basic food provision for Berlin with regional products is possible, a large part of the food for Berlin is produced far away and then imported.

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) will host the 17th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy (ESA). The congress will take place in Potsdam from the 29th of August to the 2nd of September 2022. The registration period has been extended until August 19, 2022.

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas. Whether a soil acts as a methane sink or as a methane source, i.e. absorbs or releases methane, depends on the composition of the microorganisms, i.e. the microbiome, in the soil. How the soil microbiome changes over the course of a year and what influence its composition has on methane emissions in grassland has now been studied in depth for the first time. The researchers found that methane fluxes in the soil change significantly depending on the season and that methanogen transcripts provide useful information about methane emissions in grassland. The ZALF scientist Prof. Steffen Kolb was involved in the research.

The 22nd World Congress of Soil Science (WCSS) took place between 31st July and 5th August in Glasgow, Scotland. Several ZALF scientists participated. One of them was offered a grant of £5,000 by the British Society of Soil Science to develop a feasible and low-cost approach for the environmentally sustainable analysis of soils in agriculture.

The new documentary series "Roots" starts today on Arte. Journalist Pierre Girard and a camera crew visited farmers in Europe who are trying to use alternative farming methods to conserve resources and deal with climate change. Researchers from various research institutions, including ZALF, supported the production with a fact check.

From 2nd to 3rd June, the conference "Towards Pesticide Free Agriculture" was held in Dijon. The conference was organized by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE). Several ZALF scientists were involved. The recordings from the conference, as well as presentations by the keynote speakers, the thematic sessions and posters have now been published on the conference website.

ZALF Annual Report 2020 & 2021

In the "FInAL" project, researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) are testing measures for insect protection. Since 2018, they have been investigating possibilities for the insect-friendly management of lowland fen soils in a specially established landscape laboratory in Havelland, Brandenburg. These soils can only be used to a limited extent for agriculture, but are very valuable due to their ecological significance, for example as carbon sinks. By directly comparing areas with and without measures, practical results are now available showing the successes and limitations of various insect protection measures.

A growing world population and a harsher climate are posing challenges to wheat production worldwide. Production must increase, if possible without further increasing the area of agricultural land. An international research team has now calculated for the first time that global wheat production could be doubled if wheat varieties were better adapted to regional growing conditions using the great genetic diversity available in wheat gene banks and modern techniques. ZALF Director Prof. Frank Ewert and ZALF scientist Heidi Webber are co-authors of the study, which appeared in the journal Nature Food in early July.

How can systems thinking be translated into collaborative action and strategic planning around the regional food system? After being invited by INRAe, Beatrice Walthall and José Luis Vicente Vicente travelled with this guiding question to Avignon. In Avignon, researcher form INRAe and ZALF shared insights and research results from their work in the FoodSHIFT2030 project.

38 years of yield data published from ZALF Research Station Dedelow

As part of the development of the federal government's national security strategy, Dr. Katharina Löhr (ZALF) participated as a panelist in the consultation workshop "Climate and Security in the National Security Strategy". The organizer was the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office. The geopolitical and security policy challenges of climate change, (regional) vulnerabilities and methods for securing peace, as well as possible solutions, were discussed in panels. In the coalition agreement, the Federal Government has undertaken to develop a national security strategy. The Federal Foreign Office has taken the lead in this strategy development process and intends to take up ideas and explore different perspectives in a series of workshops.

The Haus der Wissenschaft Bremen shows from 07 July to 15 October 2022 the photo exhibition "Klimaneuland - Akteur*innen der Klimaforschung und -kommunikation im Porträt"

LTE research data

On 31 May 2022, State Secretary Judith Pirscher of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) visited the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" at the Hanover Expo together with representatives of the Project Management Jülich (PtJ) organization. At the "Bioeconomy Showcase" stand, the Coordination Office of Agricultural Systems of the Future presented innovative approaches of the BMBF funding line "Agricultural Systems of the Future" to the State Secretary. A virtual reality simulation showed visions for sustainable agri-food systems and a multi-touch table allowed visitors to learn more about the content of the eight projects.

How can agri-environmental and climate measures (AACM) be documented more easily in the future? How can farmers obtain information about the range of AACM? How can the workload for information and documentation of agri-environmental measures be reduced at the administrative level? The NatApp wants to provide help here.

How can mission-oriented research and innovation be designed and implemented in a sustainable way? And how can these efforts be coordinated between different actors, across policy fields and levels? These and other questions were the focus of the first international conference of the Leibniz Research Network Knowledge for Sustainable Development, in which ZALF is also involved.

A Soil Deal for Europe – European R&I Conference

In recent years, the concept of “justice” has once again become a central point in both socio-political and scientific debates. For this reason, the ReGerecht project, funded by the BMBF’s “Stadt-Land-plus” initiative, addresses the topic from a spatial perspective. Since there is thus far no fundamental, comprehensive work regarding the current state of discussion on this topic, the authors review the existing lines of discussion from geography, spatial planning studies, law, land use, environmental justice, ecosystem services, energy justice and digitalization. Subsequently, the definitions of central terms are further developed and recommendations for concrete cases of application are derived.

On September 1, 2022, the European Coordination and Support Action "Digitalization for Agroecology (D4AgEcol)" will start. Together with eleven partners, "D4AgEcol" aims to demonstrate the potential of digitalization as an enabler for agroecological farming systems in Europe with a strong focus on existing knowledge and the co-innovation capacity of actors and stakeholders.

On 4 May 2022, the second webinar of the Bayer-funded project "Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Crop Production" took place – co-hosted by ZALF. This webinar focused on the collaboration among researchers, farmers and businesses. The recording of the webinar is now available online.

In the Frame of the Leibniz Initiative “Leibniz in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag)” associate professor Dr. Sieber, head of the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries (SusLAND)", was able to visit the politician and entrepreneur Knut Gerschau. Mr. Geschau is member of the German Federal Parliament since 2021 (FDP). He is former chair of the Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung and state chairman of the liberal medium-sized business of Lower Saxony. The discussion focused on problems such as leakage effects and telecoupling of international trade linkages, which may contribute to the deforestation of the rainforest. A potential solution would be strengthening governance systems and assigning responsibilities to people at local level in order to better control natural resources. Advantageous and disadvantageous have been intensively discussed and a further collaboration was envisaged by all involved participants.

Making research data freely available is a matter of the highest priority.

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) will host the 17th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy (ESA). The congress will take place in Potsdam from the 29th of August to the 2nd of September 2022. The registration period starts from 1st June 2022.

Equipment manufacturers and scientific institutions presented digital tools and robotics for agriculture during the patchCROP Field Robotics Workshop on 3 May 2022. The event took place on the grounds of the patchCROP landscape laboratory in Tempelberg, Brandenburg, which is coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Together with ZALF, the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB), the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence and the DAKIS research project hosted the specialist event. In lectures, a panel discussion and technology demonstrations, scientists and manufacturers demonstrated the latest digital technology for agriculture. In a keynote speech, Prof. Arno Ruckelshausen, Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, gave an overview of the range of digital agricultural technology available for practical use and possible development prospects. Prof. Anne-Katrin Mahlein from the Institute for Sugar Beet Research at the University of Göttingen presented digital solutions for crop protection in her keynote speech. In the BMEL-funded digital experimental field "FarmerSpace", coordinated by the University of Göttingen, research and practice partners are testing, among other things, drones and optical sensors for the detection of plant diseases as well as various agricultural robots for weed control. Information systems and automation support sustainable agriculture The subsequent lecture program gave partner projects of the "patchCROP" landscape laboratory the opportunity to present their work. Nahleen Lemke from ZALF explained how the DAKIS project (Digital Knowledge and Information System for Agriculture) can help farms to use techniques such as artificial intelligence and robotics to manage resources more efficiently and in a way that is adapted to the landscape and the demands of society. Prof. Chris McCool, Department of Agricultural Robotics and Engineering at the University of Bonn, illustrated the progress of the research of the "PhenoRob" Cluster of Excellence on robotics and autonomous systems, for example for mechanical and sustainable crop protection. Helge Wanta from the Technical University of Dresden presented an extension of the computer game "Farming Simulator 2022", in which the research design of the "patchCROP" landscape laboratory can be depicted and the research content developed in a playful way. In the future, the virtual demonstrator will help to make the interactions of small-scale farming tangible with the help of robotics and new technologies for soil processes, yield and other factors such as biodiversity. Focus on practice and applicability In the subsequent panel discussion, journalist Andreas Oppermann debated with researchers Prof. Cornelia Weltzien (ATB) and Dr. Maria Kernecker (ZALF) as well as Prof. Engel Arkenau, the Digitalization Officer of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the question of what steps are necessary for agricultural robotics to become part of everyday operations on farms. In addition to questions of approval, safety and liability, the experts also discussed the importance of independent advice and information for farms. Another important point of discussion was the question of the economic efficiency of the new technology: Will the purchase also pay off for smaller farms? The panel was unanimous on the point that the expertise and decision-making autonomy of farmers will continue to be central to agricultural processes in the future. Digital tools should only take on the role of a support system for agriculture. Companies and research present digital helpers Following the lecture program, the manufacturers Zauberzeug and Naïo presented various agricultural robots that can be used primarily for weed control in special crops such as herbs, vegetables and sugar beet. The team from the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) demonstrated the autonomously driven small tractor SunBot for use in the cultivation of bush berries. Representatives of Bayer presented the digital yellow trap, which digitalizes and simplifies pest monitoring in oilseed rape. In addition, the companies AgXeed, geo-konzept, E-Terry and the digital experimental field LANDNETZ presented their offerings in the areas of software, surveying, precision farming, robotics and data infrastructure.   Modern technology is tested in the landscape laboratory The research design of the "patchCROP" landscape laboratory, the partner institutions of which had invited to the workshop, relies heavily on the support of digital tools and agricultural robotics. Here, small-scale, climate-resistant and sustainable agriculture adapted to heterogeneity is tested as a model: The field is divided into small field units of only about half a hectare. Up to nine arable crops grow side by side here on the field. However, these so-called patches cannot be cultivated using large heavy agricultural machinery. Starting this year, the research team and their practice partner, the Komturei Lietzen, have been using a maneuverable small agricultural robot from the company Naïo for cultivation, for example for weed control. Soil sensors or drones record the condition of soil and plants.

On Friday, 13th of May, the consortium of the InNuSense project with representatives from the Center for Rural Development (SLE) and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and colleagues from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda visited ZALF. The meeting aimed to exchange on current research activities in Africa.

BonaRes (www.bonares.de) and EJP SOIL (https://ejpsoil.eu/) together compiled a substantial metadata database by collecting metadata on LTE in Europe.

What will we eat in the future? How will we produce our food and what forms of agricultural economy are we aiming for? These are the questions addressed by the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" initiative. The coordination office of the BMBF funding program in cooperation with all the projects produced short image films for a broad understanding and a clear perception of the work of the eight transdisciplinary research projects of the "Agricultural Systems of the Future”. For this purpose, the coordinating office, based at ZALF and IGZ-Großbeeren, together with the film team Eonamic-Filmproduktion, visited the individual projects, which are spread all over Germany, and carried out shooting. In addition to interviews, insights gained from research were also recorded. Among the eight projects, the DAKIS project is presented too, which is also coordinated at ZALF.

In April 2022, Mariami Marsagishvili from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Mitiku Ayele from Hawassa University spent three weeks in Ethiopia (Southern Nations, Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR)) to collect data together for their master theses on forest landscape restoration and collective action.

Tenure Track Position for a Scientist (m/f/d) on “Behavioural Economics” [Reference N° T01-2022]

Tenure Track Position for aScientistand future Working Group Leader(m/f/d) on “Demand-Driven Innovations in the Agri-Food System”

On the 29.04.2022, Johannes Michael Hafner successfully defended his PhD work with the title “Development of a component-based assessment framework to evaluate fuelwood energy systems of smallholder farmers in sub-humid and semi-arid regions in Tanzania - Modelling cooking-related demand and on-farm supply of fuelwood.” The PhD defense was conducted virtually; the doctoral committee was headed by Prof Dr. Dagmar Mithöfer (Professorship in management agricultural value chains at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). During his PhD work, Mr. Hafner has been enrolled at the Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institute at the Faculty of Life Sciences of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. He was supervised by Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller (Professorship in Economics and Politics of Rural Areas at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Co-Head of Research Area 2 "Land use and governance" at ZALF), PD Dr. Stefan Sieber (Head of the working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries” at ZALF) and Dr. Anthony Kimaro (Country representative of World Agroforestry Tanzania). Within his PhD, Mr. Hafner focused on the development of a framework to assess and model fuelwood demand and on-farm fuelwood production to determine fuel sufficiency levels of smallholder farmers in semi-arid Tanzania. He conducted multi-annual performance assessments of different cook stove systems and agroforestry fuelwood production systems. Central findings of the research encompassed that improved cook stoves reduce the fuelwood and time spent during cooking compared to three-stone fire stove when operated with common off-farm and with on-farm fuelwood. Using qualitative assessment methods such as participatory impact assessments, Mr. Hafner identified locally perceived most important criteria which can benefit improved cook stove adoption in the case study sites. His final published work included the estimation and modelling of on-farm fuelwood production of G. sepium and pigeon pea within different agroforestry systems. Mr. Hafner developed and published his framework within four peer-reviewed articles. His developed framework enables farmers to estimate their fuelwood consumption during cooking and on-farm production potential to improve farmland planning for fuelwood security. With precise farmland planning, households can substitute fuelwood from off-farm sites with on-farm produced fuelwood which includes multiple socio-economic benefits. The doctoral committee rated the PhD with an overall grade of magna cum laude.

Agricultural transformation – what do farmers and researchers tell us? On 4th May 2022, the second webinar of the Bayer-funded project "Enhancing Biodiversity and Resilience in Crop Production" will take place and focusses on the collaboration among researchers, farmers and businesses. The webinar is co-hosted by ZALF.

Global warming is expected to have beneficial impacts on overwintering crops in cool and temperate regions of the world. Now, statistical analysis that combines different sources of historical yield and meteorological data reveals that decreases in snowpack insulation partly reduce yield benefits of winter wheat.

Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine has triggered a humanitarian crisis. Beyond the acts of war and the suffering of the people on the ground, there is a threat of crop failures in Ukraine. Export restrictions imposed by Russia will also drive up world market prices for numerous agricultural products. Both countries are among the most important exporters of wheat and sunflower oil. In countries that are already dependent on food imports or aid supplies, a further price increase could have catastrophic consequences and drastically exacerbate the problem of hunger and malnutrition.

GeoNode (https://geonode.org/) is THE open source geodata management system that many important research institutions rely on.

On 15 March, the Soil Mission Support held a workshop on how to reduce the EU global footprint on soils as part of the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. Annette Schneegans from the EU Soil Mission Secretariat introduced the mission’s agenda for the global footprint and Mathis Wackernagel from the Global Footprint Network introduced the depth and complexity of the topic. Discussions with participants revealed the many perspectives on what the global footprint on soils consists of and how we can measure it effectively. The workshop was a great first step to develop an ambitious area of research.

The BonaRes Project “Intelligence for Soil” (I4S) is targeted towards the design of an integrated system for fertilizer recommendations and improvement of soil functions at high spatial resolution. The project now started its third phase.

LTE are essential research infrastructures for agricultural and soil sciences and fundamental for answering current and future research questions.

Did you know that in Germany, we throw around 12 million metric tons of food into the trash can each year? 52% of that food waste alone is generated in private households. And on top of that — living in a climate crisis — the Global food production accounts for more than one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from the production of animal foods are almost twice as high as those from the production of plant foods.

"10 Must Knows from Biodiversity Science”, ranging from climate stress for German forests, the restructuring of agriculture to the corona virus that has jumped from animals to humans, are now published for the first time. More than 45 experts from the Leibniz Research Network Biodiversity and colleagues have compiled this inventory on the preservation of nature as the basis of human life. In the run-up to the World Summit on Nature – the UN Biodiversity Conference in Kunming, China – the report is intended to invite dialogue, the researchers say. At the same time, they voice clear policy demands.

The first edition of this series took place on 23/02/2022, 15:00 - 16:30 CET. The webinar entitled "The Scientific Basis of the Brazilian Agricultural Revolution" on the scientific basis of Brazilian agricultural innovations also featured PD Dr Stefan Sieber and Dr Michelle Chevelev-Bonatti from the working group SusLAND at ZALF as keynote speakers. This webinar series is organised by the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin and ApexBrasil.

Prof. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura, researcher at Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), was awarded the prize of the Foundation for Japanese-German Scientific and Cultural Exchange (JaDe-Stiftung) on 05 February 2022 at the Japanese Cultural Institute Cologne.

Speed dating with science - on April 8, 2022, the curious and the knowledge thirsty can enter into a 25-minute personal, virtual exchange with a scientist of the Leibniz Association. In personal conversations, the researchers will provide insight into their topics and their everyday work, answer your individual questions and look forward to exchanging ideas with you.

An article by The Care Operative and “Transforming Academia” workshop participants at 2021 International Transdisciplinarity Conference: What do we want academia to be like in 2050?

On 28th February, the new report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was released. The report warns of the dangerous and widespread disruption that man-made climate change is causing to nature and the lives of billions of people, despite all efforts. In particular, it addresses the importance of species conservation and the urgency to act. ZALF scientists were involved in the IPCC report.

The universities, non-university research institutions, student unions and the Ministry of Science of the state of Brandenburg declared their full solidarity and support for Ukraine on 3rd March. Also the Directors of ZALF, Prof. Dr. Frank Ewert and Martin Jank, signed the declaration.

Dr. Jana Zscheischler will take up the junior professorship "Sustainability-oriented Production Economics" in Geography at the University of Vechta on 1 March 2022. During her time at ZALF, Ms Zscheischler researched intensively on questions of the design of sustainability-oriented transformation processes in rural areas and agricultural landscapes.

The H2020 Soil Mission Support project has published a scientific open access article to promote “Systems knowledge for sustainable soil and land management”. Sustainable soil and land use is pivotal for of many Sustainable Development Goals. However, achieving sustainable soil and land use requires targeted, systemic and inclusive research, innovation, education, practice and governance. The article presents a systemic research framework for applied and inclusive sustainable soil and land use. Six soil and land related societal challenges summarize all related problem situations. Eight knowledge domains guide a systemic, integrated problem solving pathway.

How can we ensure that everyone is involved in the process of a transition towards more sustainable, plant-based and circular food systems? This is a key questions guiding the FoodSHIFT2030 project.

How can we move beyond treating agricultural landscapes as the sum of spatially explicit units to treating them as one complex unit when researching and managing for biodiversity and yields? In a recently published perspective piece, ZALF researchers and alumni outlined how transition zones (TZ) might be used to facilitate an integrated landscape approach.

For the international and interdisciplinary reuse of our research findings, papers AND data must be published and thus accessible and reproducible. This month, we published such a "publication tandem".

On May 5 and 6, the Leibniz Research Network "Knowledge for Sustainable Development", in which ZALF participates, will host an international conference on "Missions for Sustainability: New approaches for science and society". The conference will take place online.

​​​Soil health is an essential basis for the transformation to a resource-efficient, climate-neutral economy. About half the German land area is used for agriculture, and in addition to producing food and biomass, soils actively contribute to storing carbon from the atmosphere, host biodiversity, cool the landscape, and store excess rainfall. This multifunctionality can only be achieved with sophisticated, site-adapted soil management systems.​

The Landscape 2021 conference held September 20-22, 2021 was hosted digitally due to the pandemic situation. By eliminating travel for conference guests and energy requirements at the venue, among other things, digital events have a smaller carbon footprint compared to an on-site event. Nevertheless, they are not entirely climate-neutral. Participants' devices, servers, data centers and data transmission consume electricity and thus generate greenhouse gas emissions. An estimated total of around 1.845 kg of CO2 was emitted during the three days of the conference for the transmission of workshops, lectures and discussion rounds via video conference. The conference organizer, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), has now offset these emissions. During the registration process, participants could optionally top up their registration fees with a donation for CO2 compensation. This raised an amount of 320 euros. The conference team invested the donations in climate protection certificates of the project "MoorFutures", which correspond to a compensation of 5,000 kg CO2. The collected donations will benefit a peatland protection project in the Königsmoor in Schleswig-Holstein. Here, groundwater levels are to be raised again on part of the area previously drained for agricultural use. This measure is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the soils there and restore the typical highland peat vegetation.

Documentary on the research alliance "Towards a chemical pesticide free agriculture" and the landscape laboratory "patchCROP"

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many research methods typically applied face-to-face had to be adjusted to online formats. In a recently published perspective, ZALF researchers, together with colleagues from five international social-ecological research projects, explore the question what drawbacks and possible merits are linked to this development. In a mutual reflection process the authors discuss the pros and cons across several methods.

The project “SinoPES”, coordinated by the ZALF working group “Governance of Ecosystem Services”, had its workshop on 17th January 2022 to discuss lessons learned from Germany and China about incentive-based policy instruments to protect ecosystem services in Germany and China.

On Thursday, 27th January, there will be an expert panel on sustainable agriculture improving soil governance worldwide. The panel will be moderated by Ana Paula Turetta (EMBRAPA Solos) and Stefan Sieber, head of the working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries” at ZALF. The panel is part of the 14th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture with a focus on “Sustainable Land Use: Food Security Starts with the Soil”.

From January 2022, ZALF under coordination of Dr. Katharina Löhr takes over the scientific accompanying research on measures to achieve a living income for smallholders and increase sustainable cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire.

Since November 2021, the ZALF working group "Sustainable Landuse in Developing Countries" takes over the accompanying research on the implementation of the GIZ global project Forests for Future (F4F) for the next four years. It will accompany the implementation of the activities of forest landscape restoration (FLR) implementing organisations in Ethiopia, Togo and Madagascar for the restoration of forest-rich landscapes and good governance in the forest sector.

The female ZALF scientists Prof. Dr. Heidi Webber, Prof. Dr. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura, Dr. Katharina Löhr, Dr. Jana Zscheischler, Dr. Kathrin Grahmann and Dr. Barbara Schröter are nominated by the Leibniz Association to join AcademiaNet in the field of agriculture. AcademiaNet is a database of more than 3200 profiles of excellent female researchers from all disciplines and from over 40 countries.

ZALF is now a member of the NFDI association

Nutrient deficiencies and acidic soils are major challenges for agriculture in large parts of East Africa. Although the important plant nutrient phosphorus is present in the soil, it is not available to the plants in sufficient quantities. In addition, due to the low pH, increased amounts of aluminum ions are released, displacing important plant nutrients and thus harming the plants. A research project led by ZALF biogeochemist Dr. Jörg Schaller is now working with local partners to investigate how fertilization with local volcanic ash can improve soil fertility in croplands and thus improve crop yields.

Steffen Münch received his doctorate from the University of Potsdam

An aerial view of the patchCROP field made it onto the new cover of the Nature Food journal.

Last week, the Careoperative had their third annual meeting since their founding. The Careoperative is an experiment in collective leadership, co-founded by ZALF researcher Dr. Maria Kernecker, ZALF alumni Dr. Harry Hoffmann, and eighteen other mid-career scientists around the globe in 2019. The Careoperative understands collective leadership as a group of individuals from multiple organizations and sectors who lead transformational social change together through critical reflection, inclusivity and care. From their experience with a living experiment for collective leadership, the Careoperative, believes that leadership collectives can support shifts in academia from metrics to merits, from a focus on career to care, and from disciplinarily-bounded to inter- and trans-disciplinary research. In a paper published this year in Sustainability Science, “Creating leadership collectives for sustainability transformations”, and the Careoperative advocates for leadership collectives as both a mechanism and outcome for achieving the structural changes needed for more effective leadership for sustainability transformations. The paper is written under a shared first-author pseudonym Dr. O. Care, which reflects the group’s commitment to acknowledging the collective effort of learning, reflecting and writing that have resulted in the paper, whilst challenging lead author status as an indication of status. The group call for academic organizations to reorient their training programs, work ethics and reward systems to encourage collective excellence and to allow space for future leaders to develop and enact a radically reimagined vision of how to lead as a collective with care for people and the planet. Drawing upon their experience of working together as the Careoperative, the authors highlight three ways leadership collectives can be fostered. 1. Taking root – cultivating nourishing conditions based upon egalitarian ways of working, shared responsibility and an ethics of care. 2. Pollinating – creating inclusive and trusting spaces for the open pollination of ideas, tools and experiences. 3. Seeding change – engaging with active, critical and collaborative reflection that encourages new ideas and approaches to emerge. Based on the ideas published in this paper, the Careoperative has been engaged in a dialogue with other scientists, academic leaders, and funders at several events: a meeting with colleagues at the Dutch Research Institute for Societal Transitions (DRIFT) last week (25.11.2021), the Social-Ecological Systems Institute (SESI ) at Leuphana University seminar series (18.11.2021), the International Transdisciplinarity Conference (14.09. 2021), where the Careoperative hosted a round table discussion with leaders from throughout academia on how to transform science, and Transformations 2021 (09.06.2021), and Transformations 2021 (14.06.2021). In the near future the Careoperative will have an online presence with a website and will write a blogpost with leaders from throughout academia on practicing transformation in collective research processes. Stay tuned!

The article "Using Land for Peace: How Sustainable Land Use Systems can foster climate action and support peacebuilding", using the example of Colombia, shows how sustainable land use systems can reduce emissions, foster livelihoods and improve the resilience of communities to climate change and illegal economies. Several ZALF scientists were involved in the project.

Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at the University of Bonn, has been named a "Highly Cited Researcher" in the "Agricultural Sciences" category for the sixth year in a row.

Welthungerhilfe and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) invite you to participate in this side event on malnutrition as part of the Nutrition for Growth Summit 2021 on December 1st, at 12 PM CET.

Strengthen biodiversity and ecosystem services: ECO²SCAPE project enters practical implementation phase Since October, another research project, funded as part of the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA), has entered the implementation phase: ECO²SCAPE. The aim of the project is to develop practical approaches and measures for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in cultural landscapes together with farmers. The loss of biodiversity is progressing at a rapid pace - with hardly foreseeable consequences for humans and the environment, and thus high consequential costs for society. The intensification of agriculture is considered one of the most important drivers of biodiversity loss in Germany. Despite some partial successes, there is a lack of broad implementation of measures to protect biodiversity. This is where ECO²SCAPE comes in: In the project, new, practical approaches and measures for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services are developed together with farmers in the model region “Vereinigte Mulde” near Leipzig, piloted and studied by an interdisciplinary research team. These measures will focus on the role of farmers in landscape management and the conservation of structurally rich cultural landscapes beyond the production of agricultural products and aim to achieve the broadest possible acceptance in society. The aim is to design ecologically effective and economically efficient measures, which – by means of newly developed monitoring methods – will be examined not only with regard to their effect on specific areas, but especially with regard to their effects at the landscape level. The underlying innovative research approach thus combines current methods from the fields of artificial intelligence, institutional economic instrument analysis, environmental economics, ecological-economic modeling and software development. After a one-year preparatory phase, the second project phase was launched at a kick-off event in Dresden on October 21st and 22nd. Among other things, the results of the first project phase were presented and reflected upon. The project’s advisory board also took part. This board includes members from science and practice who are not directly involved in the project and have an advisory role. The opening event was used by the project members for further networking and planning the next steps. The project is coordinated by Prof. Anna Cord, holder of the Chair of Computational Landscape Ecology at TU Dresden. Prof. Björn Andres, holder of the Chair of Machine Learning for Computer Vision, as well as other experts from TU Dresden with a background in biogeography, environmental sciences, political science and computer science are also members of the project team. At ZALF, Dr. Maria Kernecker leads the work package "Values and Acceptance" and is responsible for the implementation of the tasks and milestones within this and other work packages. The central objective of the work package is to investigate which factors influence the acceptance of biodiversity conservation measures and the associated values of farmers and the public in the model region. Specifically, she and her collaborators will 1) explore farmers' values and perceptions of biodiversity, landscape and measures in the model region; 2) identify key stakeholders and the knowledge flows between them in relation to agriculture and biodiversity conservation and 3) categorize the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in relation to biodiversity conservation. Project partners:  TU Dresden (coordination)  Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU)  Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)  Landscape conservation association Northwest Saxony e.V. (LPV)  Nationale Naturlandschaften e.V. (NNL) Funding: The project is funded by the BMBF Research Initiative for the Conservation of Biodiversity (FEdA).

A team led by Professor Thomas Weith at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) received the Gerd Albers Award (Special Mention) on 10 November 2021 for the publication "Sustainable Land Management in a European Context". The prize is awarded by the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).

At the field, farm, household and market levels, multiple options exist for diversification of activities, building resilience of food systems to stresses and shocks, according to a new Comment in Nature Food, among others by Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director at ZALF.

Modelling European Agriculture with Climate Change for Food Security: the Science-Policy Knowledge Forum (MACSUR SciPol Pilot) will be present at the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2021 (COP 26).​

A Memorandum of Understanding between FAO and Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) will strengthen evidence-based actions to improve agricultural landscapes for sustainable soil and nature resource management, preserving biodiversity and raising food security and nutrition.

2nd Status Seminar of the BMBF Funding Initiative “Agricultural Systems of the Future” The 2nd status seminar of the BMBF funding initiative "Agricultural Systems of the Future" took place from 28 - 29 September 2021. The online conference was attended in particular by the funded collaborative projects with over 200 contributors. The sustainable design of agricultural production is one of the central challenges of the 21st century. In order to research and test possible scenarios for an agricultural economy of the future, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) initiated the funding measure "Agricultural Systems of the Future". Eight inter- and transdisciplinary consortia in Germany are dedicated in different ways of transforming the agricultural economy and developing innovative solutions. After welcoming addresses by Andrea Noske, Head of the BMBF's Bioeconomy Division, Dr Eva Leiritz from the Project Management Jülich (PtJ) and Prof. Monika Schreiner (Coordination Office "Agricultural Systems of the Future"), the eight collaborative projects of the funding measure presented their project progress and activities in professional communication to representatives of the Ministry, the PtJ and an international advisory board. Among other things, approaches to innovative pasture management, circular economy and integration of ecosystem services in the management of agricultural landscapes were presented. The presentations of the consortia were complemented by virtual poster contributions and the Young Talent Talks, where young scientists presented their research. Other highlights of the status seminar were the keynotes on climate change and artificial intelligence (AI). On the first day, Prof. Hermann Lotze-Campen from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research gave a keynote speech on current issues in agriculture in relation to climate change. In particular, the reduction of climate-effective gases, nitrogen management and the protection and preservation of biodiversity are pressing issues here that can only lead to solutions in a systemic and global approach. The keynote speaker on the second day of the conference was Prof. Yael Edan, professor at Ben Gurion University (Israel), who addressed the topic of automation, robotics and AI in agriculture. In the future, developments in this field will increasingly focus on human-machine interaction and innovative sensor technology to optimise autonomous movement in space and the execution of specific tasks in the production process and harvest. Dr Philip Albers (IGZ), Stefanie Fleischmann (IGZ) and Ulf Weddige (ZALF), the managers of the Coordination Office, as well as Julia Vogt (IGZ), the manager of food4future, ensured the smooth running of the event with over 200 participants. Together with the coordinators of the Coordination Office, Prof. Dr Monika Schreiner (IGZ) and Prof. Dr Thomas Weith (ZALF), they prepared and moderated the event. More information on the consortia funded by the BMBF's "Agricultural Systems of the Future" programme, as well as on the work of the Central Coordination Unit, can be found via the following link: https://www.agrarsysteme-der-zukunft.de/en/home.

Even in Central Europe, rainfall can be so scarce that the yield is at risk. Researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) are now looking for a solution in the agricultural soil: Fertilization with amorphous silicate, a silicon compound that is sometimes even produced as a waste product in industry, could solve several problems of modern agriculture in just a few years.

As more data and larger amounts of data is produced in any field of science, there is a growing need for its efficient management and proper tools that support scientists in their daily work. Addressing this need, an international workshop on the data life cycle, data publication and long-term data preservation brought together the agricultural (ZALF), soil science (BonaRes) and long-term data preservation community (ZB MED).

n 29 September 2021, the Horizon Europe Mission on Soil Health and Food has been launched and ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ was presented with the mission’s implementation plan

What kind of research do we need for a better understanding and development of transformative processes? And what is role of transdisciplinary approaches in this context? These were the central questions of the DIALOG event "Transdisciplinary Research - the Gold Standard for Scientific Work on Transition and Transformation?" at the IOER Annual Conference 2021​. On Thursday, 23 September 2021, Prof. Dr. Stefan Siedentop (Scientific Director of the ILS Dortmund), Dr. Jana Bovet (Head of Division at the Saxon State Ministry for Energy, Climate Protection, Environment and Agriculture) and Karl Schmude (Head of the Office for Spatial Planning and Regional Planning of Westmecklenburg), moderated by Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith (ZALF), discussed these questions. Thomas Weith also described the current knowledge on the topic and realized interactive parts with about forty participants. It became clear that transdisciplinary approaches have many advantages with regard to the joint co-development of knowledge (from problem to implementation). At the same time, it became clear that especially in politics and administration, there are many other requirements for usable knowledge. An exciting dialogue: to be continued.

Innovations are generally regarded as drivers of change and progress. In agriculture, technological leaps can be seen most recently in the context of digitalisation. Drones, sensors and robotics are finding their way. But is this enough to break new ground for a sustainable bioeconomy and to drive the transformation of agricultural systems? Organisational and institutional bottlenecks often have to be passed here, e.g. in the value chain and in planning and approval procedures; new concepts are needed. These so-called social innovations were the focus of the keynote lecture by professor Thomas Weith at the "Dialogue Platform Zukunftsfelder" on 21 September 2021, moderated by professor Ortwin Renn. In the discussion with the participation of industry, associations and also other scientific institutions such as the PIK Potsdam, needs for action in future were discussed, based on the lecture. The dialogue itself is the best example of a framework that promotes innovation.

The first monitoring audit of the environmental management system at the Müncheberg site was successfully completed on 1st September 2021. As a result, there are only a few, minor indications and recommendations which, together with the results from the internal audits, will be addressed by the second monitoring audit in fall 2022.

Today, the international Landscape 2021 conference of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) begins. The conference program focuses on the question of how a transformation of agriculture towards more climate resilience and sustainability can succeed. The conference is characterized by its holistic perspective on the topic: all aspects that are important for a sustainable transformation of agriculture will be considered by more than 400 participants from 43 countries. Intensive agriculture, i.e. cultivation on large areas and specialization on a few crops, has led to enormous increases in yields. The negative environmental effects, such as the loss of biodiversity, damage to soils, bodies of water and ecosystems, as well as market-related economic uncertainty for farms, are no longer sustainable worldwide in view of the additional threat posed by climate change. At the Landscape 2021 conference, participants are discussing approaches that focus on diversification, or increasing diversity, in agriculture. The researchers' vision is of resilient and sustainable agriculture, characterized by high productivity with low consumption of resources, while at the same time preserving ecosystems and biodiversity in the landscape system. Diversity should lead to positive interactions between agriculture and ecosystems as well as between agriculture and the food system. This should also enable new economic perspectives and technological innovations for farmers. Diversity strengthens resilience Research assumes that agriculture and nature benefit equally from increased diversity in the field, in the soil, in the landscape as well as in the value chain and finally on the plate. Diverse crop rotations and crop species in the field and varied landscape elements such as wildflower meadows, shrubs, trees and water bodies in the surrounding agricultural landscape are expected to have a positive long-term impact on soil properties and yields. Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Conference Chair, emphasizes: "Diversification is also important on an economic level. When farms grow different crops with different characteristics in a season, they spread their financial risk and do not necessarily have to fear for the loss of the entire harvest in the event of climate-related extreme weather events such as drought or heavy rain." Diversification is thus a fundamental building block for resilient agriculture on multiple levels. Conference Chair Prof. Peter Feindt, Professor of Agricultural and Food Policy, Humboldt University Berlin, explains: "Resilience in agriculture means that agricultural systems can manage to survive crises and cope with necessary transformations as far as possible on their own. This requires individual farms and all the value chains to be future-oriented, to adopt integrated approaches, and to be highly capable of learning and adapting. Only then can food security and the protection of the underlying ecosystems be ensured." Economic resilience and landscape diversity The conference was opened by Prof. Miranda Meuwissen, Professor of Risk Management in Food Supply Chains at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. In her keynote speech, she emphasized the importance of resilience in the agricultural system: "Fewer than half of European farms are economically viable in the long term. Liveable incomes also strengthen the resilience of agriculture and ecosystems. If there is sufficient income, farmers might have room to experiment with production practices which are possibly less harmful for the environment." Douglas Landis, Professor of Entomology at Michigan State University (USA), will provide insight into his research with a keynote speech on the second day of the conference. Prior to the event, he stated: "Agricultural intensification has resulted in a loss of landscape structures such as forests, peatlands and grasslands in favor of large agricultural areas worldwide. The result is the loss of biodiversity and reductions in ecosystem services. This process of landscape simplification must be reversed – and this requires close cooperation between scientists and all key stakeholders." Change is only possible together with practice Because collaboration with practice is fundamental to a transformation toward sustainability and resilience in the agricultural system, stakeholders from agriculture and policy will be involved in Landscape 2021. Conference Host Prof. Katharina Helming from ZALF emphasizes the special approach of the conference: "In order to focus on the entire landscape system around agricultural production, it is absolutely necessary to bring practitioners into the debate. Today, research projects with their application-oriented products for use in practice will present themselves at the Marketplace and search exchange. On the last day of the conference, we will invite farmers and representatives from science and politics to a round table discussion. This will also allow us to continue the dialog successfully launched at the federal level by the 'Commission on the Future of Agriculture'." Virtual conference with varied formats During the three days of the conference, participants at Landscape 2021 will choose from 175 presentations in 38 virtual sessions, which will be transmitted via video conferencing. Project groups and researchers will present a total of 85 scientific posters on an online conference platform. In addition, Masterclasses will be offered - this is an innovative format with a workshop character that focuses on mutual learning, a deeper introduction to the methodology and intensive discussions.

Under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the UN Food Systems Summit will take place on Thursday, 23 September 2021. Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director, is a member of the UN Summit's Scientific Group. ZALF has contributed to several publications and preliminary events, the results of which will now be discussed at the summit.

Human activity interferes with the Earth’s carbon cycle through the release of carbon dioxide and through changes in land use. Croplands cover a large proportion of Earth’s surface, but we are still understanding how cropland soils store and release carbon. Dr Jürgen Augustin and Dr Steffen Kolb from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Germany are using an integrated methodological approach to monitoring carbon fluxes in eroded cropland soils and resolve mechanisms regulating them.

As part of the Science Days of the UN Food Systems Summit in July, Katharina Löhr and Constance Rybak from ZALF hosted with the University of Pretoria and Welthungerhilfe a side event on ‘Bridging scientific and indigenous peoples’ knowledge for sustainable and inclusive food systems’.

You are cordially invited to join a webinar on “Advances and challenges of basin committees for water management: reflections from South America and Europe” on 17th September.

Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world's population. The majority of the world's rice harvest is grown as wet rice, i.e. on flooded fields. This has advantages, however it also produces high methane emissions and consumes a lot of water. Dry rice cultivation, i.e. growing rice on non-flooded fields, could be a climate-friendly alternative to wet rice cultivation, but has so far only be able to provide lower yields. A new international joint project coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is now investigating how yields could be increased. The project is funded by the German Research Foundation.

ZALF Welcomes DAAD RISE Intern

In the "patchCROP" landscape laboratory of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), the second season is starting of an experiment that is until now unique in Europe. Working in cooperation with a farm, a research team will be spending the next 10 years testing an innovative cropping system that focuses on high plant diversity on small areas, digitalization and new technologies such as robotics. The aim is to reduce the use of chemical synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in particular. Through this experiment, the researchers want to prove that it is possible to increase soil fertility, yields and biodiversity while at the same time reducing the use of resources. The landscape laboratory is thus leading the way to the sustainable agriculture of the future. It sounds simple enough: Grow crops where they find the best conditions for growth in the soil. That sums up the research approach of the new "patchCROP" landscape laboratory. The special feature: Instead of taking place in the laboratory or on small experimental fields, the research work takes place under real-life conditions on the agricultural land of the partner farm, the Komturei Lietzen in East Brandenburg. In addition to ZALF and its practice partner, the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), the "PhenoRob" cluster of excellence, represented by the University of Bonn, and the BMBF-funded project "Digital Knowledge and Information System for Agriculture" (DAKIS) are also part of the project. Technology start-ups from the agricultural robotics industry are involved as well. "In patchCROP, we have created an innovative platform for an integrated research approach to the development of sustainable agricultural landscapes of the future", explains Prof. Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at the University of Bonn. "With the landscape laboratory, we are bridging the gap between basic research and practical implementation. All the experiments are carried out under real conditions in a landscape context. This systems approach is central to solving many of the challenges we currently face in agriculture." A mosaic in the field For the experimental setup, a total area of 70 hectares was divided into 30 small squares, called patches, each measuring only half a hectare. Dr. Kathrin Grahmann, scientific coordinator of the experiment at ZALF, explains: "Depending on the soil properties, different crops are grown in each of the squares. This creates a diverse mosaic of arable crops such as rye, sunflowers or lupines. Variegated flowering strips and catch crops complement this diversity." A total of nine types of crops are cultivated at the same time. In addition to the positive effects on the environment, the small-scale, site-adapted cultivation should also make the system more resistant to weather extremes. "By diversifying the crops grown, a farm reduces the risk of losing parts of its harvest during extreme weather events, because each crop species reacts differently to these events", adds Grahmann. To improve soil health in the long term, the crop rotation, i.e. the sequence of crops grown in the field, has been expanded to include crop types that promote the build-up of humus and nitrogen in the soil. All crop residues are left in the field and are only lightly worked in without plowing. This ensures an accumulation of humus in the topsoil. By planting flowering strips between the squares as a refuge for insects, the researchers hope to improve biodiversity and pollination performance. Beneficial organisms, which find a habitat in the newly created retreats, should also support crop protection. Using new technologies to create the cropping systems of the future The experiment is supported by digital measurement technology, 190 soil sensors and drones that are observing each field section. Along with a thorough monitoring of birds and insects, as well as the intensive monitoring of harmful organisms, the impacts of the experiment are being analyzed. In the future, robots will be used to manage the small squares. Not least of interest to the scientists is the question of whether this type of cropping system, using new digital technologies, can be economically viable, i.e. whether it will in future also deliver the yields needed to cover the high investment costs. They are also investigating the contribution the cropping system will make to the environment, nature and biodiversity and how this should be rewarded. For this reason, the networking aspect of the project is very important. The project team is establishing collaborations with technology companies and start-ups in the agricultural robotics sector. In cooperation with the participating practice farm, demand-oriented robots as well as associated software are to be tried out on the experimental area and tested under real conditions. Reduce the use of chemical synthetic pesticides In order to assess the positive impact of small-scale and diversified cultivation in crop rotations with high levels of biodiversity, experts from the JKI's Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment regularly monitor the occurrence of harmful organisms in the crops. At the same time, they are investigating how small-scale crop diversification creates synergies that increase crop resilience. "We hope that this experiment will provide insights into how strengthening agro-ecological factors can help stabilize yields and exploit additional reduction potential in integrated crop protection", explains Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh, a plant protection expert at the JKI. High-tech in the field The researchers are already supported by digital tools that monitor the need for crop protection or fertilization for each site in the field. Soil sensors also continuously measure soil moisture and temperature. However, the team is also testing new digital agricultural technology prototypes: Using electronic insect traps, the emergence of pests and beneficial insects is measured and evaluated via app. Drone images already help to regularly monitor the entire area. In the future, additional small autonomous units are to undertake sowing, automatically remove weeds and check the nutrient balance of individual plants. Together with experts from the "PhenoRob" Cluster of Excellence and the "DAKIS" project, a concept for a holistic, digital management solution is to be developed, tested and implemented. In the future, all relevant information and recommendations for action will flow together on an "agricultural dashboard", which will then support the farm in its work as a decision support tool. Dr. Ixchel Hernandez-Ochoa from the "PhenoRob" Cluster of Excellence, explains: "The data from 'patchCROP' allows us to simulate how diverse cultivation and different field sizes will impact the soil, yields and the entire ecosystem in the long term." The "DAKIS" project, currently one of the largest research projects for the development of a digital, knowledge-based agriculture of the future in Europe, also uses data from the "patchCROP" experiment. The "DAKIS" coordinator, Prof. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura, explains: "The objective of 'DAKIS' is to develop a software system that digitally supports farmers in their everyday decision-making. This decision support system provides information on site-specific requirements for ecosystem services, biodiversity and resource efficiency. In this way, the services that agriculture can provide in addition to production, such as clean drinking water, the pollination performance of insects or attractiveness for tourists, can be recorded. This is the basis for us to be able to reward farmers appropriately for this in the future." The practice partner of "patchCROP", the Komturei Lietzen, is an agricultural food crop producer in Brandenburg. The experiment is being carried out as a landscape laboratory as part of the daily operations on the Komturei's land. Felix Gerlach, managing director of Komturei Lietzen, sees opportunities in this cooperation: "In the 'patchCROP' landscape laboratory, we can support research into sustainable cultivation systems with our experience and integrate the results directly into practice." In 2020, the first management year, extensive measurement and management plans laid the initial groundwork for the experiment. In addition to measuring soil properties, there will be ongoing monitoring of which species of wild plants, birds, insects and soil organisms are present in the field and in flowering strips. Based on this, researchers will be able to determine in the next few years whether diversity in the field is having the expected positive impact on the soil, biodiversity and yields. The "Agricultural Mosaic" is now entering its second season. Project Partners: - Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Müncheberg (project coordination) - Julius Kühn Institute, Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment, Kleinmachnow - "PhenoRob" Cluster of Excellence - Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production, University of Bonn - "DAKIS" – Digital Knowledge and Information System for Agriculture, coordination at ZALF

ZALF scientist Jörg Schaller has been selected as a finalist for the Falling Walls Science Breakthroughs of the Year 2021 in the category Life Sciences. He was selected for his work on significantly increasing soil water availability through fertilization with amorphous silica. This approach is a possible tool to reduce drought stress for plants even during drought periods, thus stabilizing global food production.

Anna Hampf successfully completed her PhD after six years as a doctoral student at the Institute for Landscape Systems Analysis at ZALF. She conducted research on the socio-economic factors of yield gaps in the southern Amazon, the effects of climate change on crops and yield losses due to plant diseases.

On 8 and 9 July 2021, the German Sustainability Summit 2021 took place as an interactive virtual event. As part of the Summit, the German Committee for Sustainability Research presented its new position paper, which is to be developed into a joint research agenda for the coming years. Dr. Jana Zscheischler (ZALF) was invited to comment on the position paper.

In order to achieve the climate goals of the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement, it is important that research findings are incorporated into political strategies. In the MACSUR SciPol project, ten scientific institutions are planning to establish a hitherto missing interface between policy and science for the agri-food sector at a European level. The project is a model for an institutionalized form of scientific policy consultation. MACSUR SciPol was launched in June 2021 under the coordination of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) with a kick-off workshop and will run as a pilot project for 18 months.

Scientists from a wide range of disciplines from Leibniz Association institutions are launching an initiative for "Integrated Earth System Research". Together with partners from Germany, Europe and other countries, they will investigate the current epoch of the Earth’s history, which is strongly influenced by humans, in a coordinated and interdisciplinary way as never before. The findings will point out both high-risk and safe development paths for politics, business and civil society. What are the impacts of the rapidly increasing human influences on the Earth system and in turn how do they affect people? How can unforeseeable risks be prevented and at the same time enable wellbeing, economic prosperity and justice? Humanity’s interference with the Earth system, which has evolved over millions of years, is increasing rapidly – and with it the open questions regarding its impacts on Earth and humankind are growing. Not only is global warming continuing unabated with all its consequences. At the same time, biodiversity is declining worldwide, pollution of the oceans is spreading, water is becoming increasingly scarce in many places, and pollutants are accumulating in soils, the air and waters. As a result, politics, business and civil society are facing enormous challenges. Climate change mitigation and adaptation to unavoidable climate change alone already require considerable efforts across several policy and economic sectors. How to deal with the even more extensive environmental problems of the Anthropocene – the current epoch of the Earth in which humans have gained a strong influence on the Earth system? Scientists from numerous Leibniz institutions have now addressed this question at the virtual conference "Integrated Earth System Research – Challenges, Approaches and Impacts". In view of the enormous dimension of the problem, experts not only from climate, biodiversity and ocean research participated, but also from global economic research, spatial research and international peace and conflict research, among others. As a result of the two-day discussion, it became clear that so far there are hardly any adequate, integrative approaches to scientifically deal with such a complex phenomenon. It is true that there is extensive knowledge about individual processes of change. However, this knowledge is still insufficiently interconnected and usable. Thus, important prerequisites are missing to comprehensively explain the consequences of current trends to decision-makers and to illustrate alternative, sustainable future paths of humankind on and with our fragile planet Earth. According to available projections, the upcoming decisions are of importance for the history of civilization. Against this background, the participants of the conference have launched an initiative for "Integrated Earth System Research". Together with partners from Germany, Europe and other countries, they will investigate the Anthropocene in an unprecedented coordinated and interdisciplinary manner. An important goal is to also develop solutions in the course of research with actors from politics, business and civil society. "With this initiative, we are bringing together global model simulations from very different disciplines and placing them in the context of concrete societal needs and possibilities for action for the first time," says Jochen Schanze, the conference chair. "At the moment, our research mission may seem like a vision of a moon landing in the 1960s. However, all participants agree that the scale and speed of Earth system change urgently requires such an initiative." In the coming months, a research platform will therefore be established step by step. The Leibniz institutions see themselves as initiators, while the platform will be open to all interested scientists. For an initial pooling of resources, numerous Leibniz institutions have already joined forces to form the Leibniz Research Network “Integrated Earth System Research”. The expertise of this network ranges from the observation and modelling of Earth system processes to economics, political and social sciences. The research museums, which are also involved, play an important role in communicating the results in addition to their scientific work. Central questions of future research will be: What complex interactions determine the Earth system? What are the consequences of human activities and what are the risks associated with them in different places on Earth? How can the growing world population be served for equitably within planetary environmental boundaries? What innovations are particularly effective for this purpose? What societal capacities are needed to realize them, and how can they be activated across different spatial scales?

Soil is a scarce resource, and the way we use it determines whether its productivity can be secured in the long term. As part of the BonaRes project, ZALF has developed an assessment platform that provides tools for scientists to evaluate the sustainability of soil management measures. A new video explains how the platform works.

BonaRes Assessment Platform: New introductory video available

The workshop is hosted by Dr. Katharina Löhr and Dr. Constance Rybak from ZALF together with Prof. Hettie Schönfeldt (University of Pretoria) and Dr Harry Hoffmann (Welthungerhilfe). Title: “Bridging scientific and indigenous peoples’ knowledge for sustainable and inclusive food systems”. The virtual event will be held on July 6, 2021; 4-5.30 p.m. via zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84316319155 (Passwort: 405120) The event is free of charge. Participants are kindly asked to also register for the Science Days. The registration link to the main event can be found here: https://sc-fss2021.org/events/sciencedays/

On 7th June, the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, visited the Temmen farm. The farm is one of 150 farms participating in the project "Landwirtschaft für Artenvielfalt" ("Agriculture for Biodiversity"). Scientific support is provided by ZALF. Julia Klöckner praised the project's approach, which focuses on both biodiversity and secure yields. Particularly noteworthy is that consumers can actively promote biodiversity by buying certain foods.

The EU-project AGROMIX is looking for farmers with experience in agroforestry and mixed farming for a survey about the ecological (dis)advantages of such land use practices.

On 22 June 2021, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V. and the FACCE JPI invite policy representatives, researchers, farmer groups or interested farmers, and knowledge brokers to a kick-off workshop and networking event on the topic of establishing a pilot Science-Policy Knowledge Forum in Modelling European Agriculture with Climate Change for Food Security

On 9 June from 19:00 to 20:30, the Climate Forum on the possibilities and opportunities of agri-photovoltaics for farms will take place. ZALF scientist Prof. Klaus Müller will show, among other things, what role agri-photovoltaics plays in securing income as well as for resource protection, biodiversity, acceptance of agriculture and the energy transition.

The third episode of the querFELDein podcast is online. In the conversation with Prof. Dr. Ralf Bloch, Professor of Agroecology and Sustainable Cultivation Systems at the University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde and Dr. Roger Funk, Graduate Agricultural Engineer at the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), this time the topic is the connection between agriculture and forestry.

A total of 100 farms have joined the "Landwirtschaft für Artenvielfalt" (Agriculture for Biodiversity) project as practice partners. It is the largest project in Germany with the goal of preserving and promoting the diversity of wild animal and plant species in agriculturally influenced habitats in order to counteract the decline of native flora and fauna. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) provided scientific support for the project.

In April, the Reuters "Hot List" of the 1,000 most influential climate scientists was published. Prof. Frank Ewert, scientific director of ZALF, is among the top 100.

A variety of positive as well as negative effects for rural area are associated with the buzzword digitalisation. Currently, the focus is on technological possibilities, e.g.for agricultural production. At the same time, tasks such as the promotion of biodiversity, the design of basic services or even peripheralisation processes point to completely different fields of action. With his lecture More than drones, sensors and robots: Digitisation as part of the "Agricultural systems of the future", apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith presented new approaches for smart rural areas at the spring conference of the Agrarsoziale Gesellschaft on 5th of May. These approaches are also a basis for discussion in the scientific accompanying project for the "Agricultural Systems of the Future" programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which is being realised by ZALF.

On 12 February 2020 Dr. Jha successfully defended her dissertation via Zoom (due to Covid-19) at the Life Sciences Faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin. Dr. Jha's work focuses on the adoption and scaling-up of climate-smart agricultural technologies for increasing agricultural productivity and adapting to climate change. Her methodological expertise is in statistical analysis, modeling and quantifying the decision-making process. Her research work, presentation and the discussion that followed were unanimously judged to be excellent.

On July 8-9, the "Science Days" organized by the "Scientific Group" of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) 2021 and hosted by FAO will take place virtually. The aim of the event will be to discuss and pool scientific knowledge around healthier diets and more sustainable food systems as input to the deliberations and decisions of the UNFSS.

On April 19, Katharina Helming discussed the potentials of carbon farming at an event of the FDP parliamentary group with, among others, its climate policy spokesman Lukas Köhler. While he and Gero Hocker (agricultural policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group) considered private CO2 certification to be a suitable instrument for reliable carbon storage, Helming referred to its highly site-specific nature and the BonaRes study, which questions the climate protection potential of current certification practices, particularly on mineral soils. Nonetheless, she emphasized the crucial role of soil improving cropping systems for climate adaptation and resilience of agricultural systems. Hubertus Paetow (President of the German Agricultural Society) and Andreas Täuber (BMEL) agreed with Helming on key points and looked confidently into a digital future for agriculture. The event emphasised in the important role that agriculture plays in the major transformation towards a climate neutral world. The discussion can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oGVQxMNPP0

„Forschungsexperiment – Trüffel aus der Lausitz“

The project “SinoPES”, coordinated by the ZALF working group of “Governance of Ecosystem Services”, had its virtual kick-off meeting on 8th April with 19 participants. Over the next 3 years, the 6 partners from Germany and China will work together on innovation to develop a coordinated, efficient and sustainable management and financing mechanism for ecosystem services considering the contexts of Germany and China. In the kick-off workshop, the German research team presented the concept of ecosystem service governance and the corresponding practice in Germany and Europe. This has been further demonstrated by using recent innovation as examples, including Dutch collective model, Hipp value chain approach and digital driven approach. An example of digitally managed approaches in Germany is the "AgoraNatura" platform, while in China the "AntForest" app is currently in use for ecosystem service governance. Moreover, the Chinese team showed their research of Eco-Compensation, which is China’s like-version of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). A case study of Xin’an river basin presented the Eco-Compensation’s combining approach of market-oriented mechanisms and government interventions. As a result, the discussion recognized that many important components of governance of ecosystem services are framed differently in Germany and China. This includes payments for ecosystem services, stakeholder engagement, and the value chain. The governance approaches of the two countries also differ in how outcome-based, collective, and collaborative they are designed to be and in the way they are digitally implemented. The case study from China showed that PES are adopted and transformed as different forms of practicing in state environmental governance combining authoritarian intervention, marketization, commodification and privatization. The participants recognized that a comparative review in conceptualization of the two countries might provide new understanding of the diversity of PES. The next step of "SinoPES" would be investigating the similarities and differences between those important components considering the framework conditions in two countries. The participants have agreed to organize a workshop around September this year. Funding: The "SinoPES" project is funded by the Sino-German Mobility Programme of the Sino-German Center for Science Research with DFG and NSFC.

In the week after Easter, ZALF offered an international block class for MONICA users. In the mornings, Prof. Nendel provided the theoretical background of the processes used in the simulation model, and Michael Berg-Mohnicke then demonstrated the technical tricks of using the model in different situations. The international participants then each had the opportunity in the afternoon to set up and advance their own simulation projects and to get individual support from the ZALF staff in the virtual space. The MONICA course was attended by 15 scientists and PhD students from nine countries, including six ZALF staff members.

Climate change will make weather conditions more unpredictable. Therefore, the reliability of crop or fodder yields become increasingly important for farmers. However, guidelines how to best quantify yield stability are still missing. Authors Reckling et al. reviewed methodological issues for yield stability assessment. Using data from long-term field experiments, they also provided practical examples and solutions. They recommend a combination of multiple approaches and a consistent and transparent use of stability methods. Their guidelines will help to better quantify yield stability, and to design stable cropping systems that are better adapted to a changing climate.

Third Cohort of Doctoral Students for DFG Research Training Group "BioMove”

Together with more than 20 stakeholders from Finland, Germany and the Netherlands, the ZALF working group of “Governance of Ecosystem Services” hosted an online workshop in 15th March in the context of the research project “PEATWISE”. The workshop aimed to discuss political actions needed at the EU and national level that could contribute towards a transition for climate neutral land use on peatlands by 2050. The EU is globally the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases from drained peatlands. As the EU affirmed the core goal of the Paris Agreement which set zero net CO2 emissions by 2050, reducing emissions from peatlands deserves an important place in Europe’s climate policies. Nevertheless, a comprehensive climate policy target for emissions reductions from drained peatlands is lacking in specific EU and national policies. Participants from policy-makers from national, regional and local levels, agricultural associations (farmer organizations, land care organizations), water boards, and researchers had joined together to discuss the pathways for a transition, policy instruments and ways to help farmers. Conservation of peatlands, such as the cultivation of wet-adapted crops or the restoration of natural conditions, or raising the water levels are widely accepted as cost-effective measures for climate change mitigation. However, as they often imply high costs of conversion and management, farmers need economic incentives sufficiently attractive to initiate the transition. Furthermore, to reduce emissions on peatlands at a large scale, cooperation must be facilitated between neighbouring farmers and different sectors. In addition to the discussion, three input presentations were made on: 1) Results of GHGs measurement of mitigation measures 2) Economic and regulatory instruments guiding towards sustainable use of peatlands in Finland, Germany and the Netherlands 3) Farmer motivations for cooperative action of peatland management in the Netherlands. We would like to thank all participants for their valuable contributions and fruitful discussions.

Which conflicts regarding land use occur in rural areas? Which challenges is agriculture facing, in Brandenburg and beyond? And which solutions are currently being discussed? These questions found much interest in Berlin High Schools: Roughly 200 students and teachers from 14 High Schools attended a virtual event organised by GeoUnion on March 16th, 2021, to learn more. „Ackern for Future? Ansätze für eine zukunftsfähige Landwirtschaft und Landnutzung – nicht nur in Brandenburg“ („Agriculture for Future? Approaches towards sustainable agriculture and land use – not only in Brandenburg“) was the title of the presentation held by apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith and Meike Fienitz (both from ZALF), during which they introduced the participants to the topics of land use change and agriculture, and presented current challenges and solutions. Interactive surveys invited the students to take an active part in the event. The subsequent discussion further demonstrated the high interest among youth regarding questions of sustainable land use. Continuation desired.

In the research project "SattGrün", researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) have been working over the past three years on technical solutions for economic and ecological grassland management, in collaboration with scientific institutions and technology companies. The resulting tools were presented at the project's final workshop at the end of February.

On 16th and 18th of February, two online scenario workshops with the title “Future Soil Management” took place. The "Foresight Team" of the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. invited in the context of the research program "BonaRes - Soil as a sustainable resource for the bioeconomy". ​

Linus Früh successfully defended his dissertation on the invasive mosquito species Aedes japonicus in Germany with a "magna cum laude" at the Ruhr University of Bochum on January 25th, 2021.

Effective March 1, 2021, Martin Jank will assume the position of Administrative Director on the Executive Board of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). With his appointment, he replaces Cornelia Rosenberg, who has held this position since January 2015. Most recently, Martin Jank was chancellor of the Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF Film University. Prof. Frank Ewert remains as Scientific Director on the ZALF Executive Board.

Together with 20 project partners from 15 countries, the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is researching which incentives are decisive for farms to integrate biodiversity-promoting agricultural practices into their everyday operations. The research project also aims to clarify which agro-ecological and socio-economic effects can be achieved with the help of these incentive instruments and how effective communication can be established between actors from science and agriculture. The project of the EU funding program Horizon 2020 started on 1st November, 2020 and has a duration of five years.

Agriculture is not only dependent on climate, but it can also influence it - when viewed over longer periods of time. Soil management plays a central role in adapting agriculture to climate change and slowing down global warming. What is needed to use soils sustainably in the long term is being investigated in the research project "Soil as a Sustainable Resource for the Bioeconomy - BonaRes". The research team will hold a workshop on "Soil Management of the Future" on March 04, 2021 (in German) and March 11, 2021 (in English), 9:00-13:30, respectively.

ZALF scientists Stefan Sieber and Frieder Graef are among the top 10 authors in the field of food security research, according to a review in the journal Land, and thus among the most influential scientists in the field.

The Journal Agriculture is publishing a Special Issue entitled “Reconnecting People with Nature through Agriculture” and calls for submissions until 20 September 2021.

In its November issue (Vol. 65, Issue 11), "CSA News" magazine picked up on the publication by Groh et al. (2020) and emphasizes the importance of lysimeters for improving agroecosystem modeling.

What should the future of agricultural systems look like? What visions can guide them there? Representatives of the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funding measure "Agricultural Systems of the Future" discussed these questions at the online workshop "Mapping Futures" on Thursday 28 January 2021. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) together with the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) in Großbeeren and the Institute for Space & Energy (Institut Raum & Energie) carried out the online workshop and opened new perspectives. They addressed an increased collaboration of agricultural- and food policy with regional circular economy, as well as the development of new networks between consumers and producers. In vivid small-group discussions, the participants aimed for ways to link different future visions in order to develop a joint vision approach and to initial elements for an implementation roadmap. In a next step, the Coordination Office, hosted by IGZ and ZALF, compiles the findings and develops a joint vision for the “Agricultural Systems of the Future”.

On 26 November 2020, Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF, contributed to the panel at the EURACTIV Virtual Conference "The European Food System: The transition towards sustainability and climate mitigation". The panel discussed ways to achieve more sustainable farming systems in the EU while managing global food supply chains. The full discussion is now available online. Ewert took part in the panel in his function as the scientific advisory board chair of the EU’s Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI). This initiative promotes cooperation in research programming that work on solutions for ensuring food security, adaptation of agriculture to climate change and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. The full panel discussion is accessible in a video and a podcast on the website of EURACTIV.

As part of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA 2021), Katharina Löhr and Stefan Sieber from the Working Group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries” hosted an expert panel on agricultural value chains.

As part of the SMS Project and in collaboration with the Research Executive Agency (REA) of the European Commission, ZALF organized the online Soil Cluster Day on 13.01.2021.

In 2020, three scientists were hired on a tenure track basis at ZALF. With the help of this recruitment procedure, outstanding young researchers are supported on their career path and research quality at ZALF is secured in the long term. In a Classic Call, the following candidates were selected for topic-specific tenure tracks: Joana Bergmann's research as a Grassland Scientist includes the topics land use, biodiversity, plant-soil interactions, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in grasslands. As Landscape Experimentalist, Kathrin Grahmann will be responsible for the scientific coordination of the patchCROP landscape laboratory, as well as essentially for strengthening and consolidating the research in landscape experiments at ZALF and networking it nationally and internationally. As an Agro-Ecosystem Modeller, Ehsan Eyshi Rezaei mainly works on the development and application of crop models for the analysis of physiological processes and agroecosystems as well as for the assessment of climate change.

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) participates in the Leibniz Research Network "Knowledge for Sustainable Development". Together with other institutions of the Leibniz Association and external partners, ZALF contributes to the generation of the scientific knowledge needed for the transformation towards a sustainable society. To address global challenges such as climate change, food security, resource scarcity and biodiversity loss, ZALF develops research approaches for sustainable agriculture of the future integrated in a landscape context.

Agricultural long-term field experiments (LTFEs) are an important basis for soil and agricultural sciences. A compilation of metadata and research data from LTFEs in Germany shall enhance networking and simplify the access to the experiments.

Cornelius Kuhlisch successfully defended his dissertation on mosquito species in Germany with a "Magna cum laude" at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald on November 26th, 2020.

The recently approved ZIM cooperation network "DeepFarmbots" met virtually for its official kick-off on November 25. The central goal of the network is to develop and disseminate new agricultural robotics solutions for efficient and sustainable agriculture. In an interdisciplinary approach, agricultural robotics is to be linked with new deep learning methods and the synergy effects between the partners are to be deepened. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is participating in "DeepFarmBots" with research approaches to digitalization in agriculture. The network is funded by the Zentrale Innovationsprogramm Mittelstand (ZIM - Central Innovation Program for SMEs) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. It brings together hardware and software developers, AI experts, research institutions and farmers. AI-based agricultural robotics for efficient and sustainable agriculture - this is the full title behind the name "DeepFarmbots". Our agriculture is facing enormous challenges: Much of current agricultural production is based on intensive, industrialized farming. This practice is unsustainable, damaging soil, water and air, and is also coming under regulatory pressure. In addition, staff shortages are a major problem for many farms. In this context, the use of robots can make an important contribution during the transition to high-yield and sustainable agricultural production. By combining robotics with new approaches from artificial intelligence, the precision, capabilities and autonomy of robotic systems can be significantly increased. ZALF brings to the project its many years of experience in the field of agroecology and in the development of new cropping systems. Prof. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura, head of the "Land Use and Governance" Research Area at ZALF, is investigating how agriculture can become more sustainable and resource-efficient with the support of robots, digital measurement technology and information. "Great potential lies in the development of sensors and the linking of information on the ecological footprint of a product from the field to the consumer", explains Bellingrath-Kimura. "This will allow us to grow and manage in a more site-appropriate and small-scale way, which will ultimately help promote biodiversity and other environmental aspects." The ZIM cooperation network "DeepFarmBots" brings together players from the fields of agricultural robotics, hardware and drives, sensor technology, IoT, AI, agroecology and agriculture. This results in a unique opportunity to comprehensively follow the development of agricultural robotic solutions across applications. The R&D topics to be pursued by the current 9 companies and 3 research institutions range from sensitive control and robust sensor technology for demanding environments to new machine learning methods for image processing, and swarm robotics. An important role is played by the exchange with the farmers involved in the network in order to incorporate the real needs and requirements from practice into the technical development. ifectis Innovation Promotion guides the cooperation between the network partners. Network manager Tatiana Rothmann from ifectis makes the point that the network is open to further partners. Interested companies and research institutions that would like to be involved in R&D projects and can contribute complementary expertise are just as welcome as potential users of the newly developed solutions.

On December 03, 2020, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) became the first institution of the Leibniz Association and the second non-university research institution in Germany to receive certification for the European sustainability label EMAS. With its environmental management according to the EMAS standard, ZALF is on its way to becoming a sustainable and climate-neutral research institution. In a first step, the site in Muencheberg was certified for this purpose. The European environmental management system EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) goes well beyond legally required environmental standards. It helps organizations and companies reduce their "ecological footprint". As part of the voluntary EMAS certification, ZALF undertakes to systematically measure and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and the consumption of resources in its operations. For this purpose, environmental objectives were defined, a catalog of measures was developed and implementation was started. On December 3, 2020, the Administrative Director of ZALF, Cornelia Rosenberg, received the certification certificate from the Chief Executive Officer of the IHK (the Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Ostbrandenburg, Mr. Gundolf Schülke. Researching sustainability and acting sustainably Sustainability has high priority for ZALF and its employees. Research on sustainable agriculture of the future contributes to finding solutions for global challenges such as climate change, food security, biodiversity conservation and resource scarcity. "With environmental management in accordance with EMAS, we want to ensure that not only our research but also our operating processes are optimized even more intensively in future from a sustainability perspective", explains Rosenberg. "To this end, we have agreed on extensive measures in many areas of operation: Purchasing, the vehicle fleet, facility management, and the canteen are to make even more sustainable use of resources in the future." Nature conservation also plays a major role at ZALF. "We specifically support in-house projects that help to preserve biodiversity on the ZALF site", says Rosenberg. "A lot of potential for reducing the consumption of resources lies in our everyday work," adds Michael Berg-Mohnicke, who accompanied the introduction of EMAS at ZALF as Environmental Management Officer. "That's why we're now also providing all our employees with a sustainability guide that contains lots of advice on how to be more sustainable in their everyday work." Continuously monitoring and communicating progress The ZALF environmental team has developed an environmental statement in a multi-stage evaluation process. It initially records key performance indicators relevant to the main site in Muencheberg, Brandenburg, such as energy, water and material consumption, waste quantities and CO2 emissions. The environmental statement makes ZALF's environmental objectives and necessary measures transparent and assigns responsibilities for their implementation. EMAS-certified organizations are audited every three years by an independent external body. Internally, environmental objectives and measures are revised annually to continuously improve the organization's environmental performance. The other ZALF sites in Dedelow and Paulinenaue are to follow in 2022. Sustainability in all areas ZALF's environmental objectives include, for example, a more economical use of water, the reduction and better separation of waste, the reduction of paper consumption, the expansion of opportunities for in-house energy generation, and the reduction of CO2emissions, for example during business trips. ZALF employees are actively involved in the development and implementation of the measures. For example, a volunteer working group, together with ZALF's facility management, takes care of nature conservation on the ZALF site: Thus, flowering areas are specifically promoted, nesting boxes are set up and in one project solutions for the protection of amphibians are implemented.

On 30 November, the starting signal for the European research project "AGROMIX" was given in a three-day virtual kick-off meeting. The EU Horizon2020 project focuses on research into agroforestry and mixed farming systems.

Agriculture is a key socio-economic sector that both influences climate, and is exposed and vulnerable to climate change, extremes and variability.

BonaRes Centre for Soil Research bio economyevaluation midterm

In different regions and sectors, there is a high interest of conventional farmers to convert to organic farming. At the same time, many organic farmers work on further enhancing the agricultural, environmental and nature conservation performance as well as the societal benefits of their farming systems. The EU needs to address the hindering factors and support further research as well as private initiatives of farmers, organization and market actors in the organic movement to fully utilize the sustainability potential of organic farming. To develop the action plan for the development of EU organic production, ZALF scientists suggest specific areas to focus on.

Marijn van der Meij graduated with distinction

Last week, apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith was re-elected as a member of the ARL Academy for Territorial Development in the Leibniz Association for another 10 years. The re-election took place at the last general meeting and is to be seen as an honour for excellent scientific work and engagement in the Academy. The ARL with its nearly 200 members represents a network of competence for sustainable spatial development. Main research topics are spatial structures and developments, their causes and effects as well as possibilities for their governance on a national and international level.

Kick-off meeting EU Projekt ‘Soil Mission Support’: Towards a European research and innovation roadmap on soil and land management

Covid19 and agriculture: Expert panel of the WG SusLand at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (BMEL)

The joint application from ZALF and Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been approved for funding by the Mobility Programme of the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (SGC). The Programme is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC. The aim of the new Sino-German project is to develop a coordinated, efficient and sustainable management and financing mechanism for ecosystem services considering the contexts in Germany and China. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in Germany and eco-compensation in China face many similar challenges (e.g. insufficient funding, environmental effectiveness and social equity) in creating management mechanism for behavioral change. In both countries, the market-based approaches are still under development, sharing the same constrains of over-relying on governmental payments. In Germany, many attentions have been paid to the management of human behavior through “soft” incentive-based measures combining with participatory management and collaborative decision making. In China, while the eco-compensation is predominantly relying on governmental financing and hierarchy structure, some recent innovative projects showed the promising potentials of digitally-driven approaches in facilitating alternative fund generating and wide participation. In order to study those key innovative components, this project will focus on the contract-based (e.g. result-based, cooperative) and digitally-driven approaches, collaborating with different actors (state and private and civil sectors) to deliver valuable ecosystem services. The ZALF working group of “Governance of Ecosystem Services” will coordinate the German side of the mobility program, while Leibniz University Hannover and Humboldt University of Berlin will make important contributions. The IGSNRR will coordinate the Chinese side, together with Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning and South China Agricultural University. The project is financed for three years between 01.01.2021-31.12.2023.

On 2 November 2020, Ms Meike Weltin defended her dissertation with the title "Sustainable intensification: Farmers' adoption behaviour and environmental outcomes" at the University of Bonn with a "Summa cum Laude".

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), together with international partners, is organizing the Landscape 2021 Conference in Berlin Adlershof from 20 to 22 September 2021. The conference will focus on the question whether and how diversification in agriculture contributes to resilience and sustainability. The event thus addresses current research topics between the conflicting priorities of climate change, food security and sustainability. The event brings together scientists from various disciplines with multipliers from politics, society, and practitioners. Interested parties can still submit proposals for their own “Sessions” and “Masterclasses” up up until 15th November 2020. Ecologically and socially sustainable agriculture is a highly topical issue and touches on a wide range of topics from nutrition, species protection and climate to politics and society. After the cost-cutting competition under the paradigm of world market orientation which has led to specialization and homogenization in the use of agricultural landscapes, the question now is whether and how diversification can better combine ecological, social and economic objectives and make the agricultural landscape more attractive again. Following the successful first edition of the conference in 2018, Landscape 2021 will take place under the main theme “Diversification for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture” on the campus of Humboldt University Berlin in the district of Adlershof. The “Call for Sessions” is open until 15th November 20202020 for the “Sessions” and “Masterclasses” formats. Ideas for “Post-Conference Workshops” and stands on the “Marketplace” can be submitted until 1 March 2021. The registration forms for each format are available for download on the conference website: https://www.landscape2021.org. Contributions to the conference will include research from the natural and social sciences as well as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to issues related to the diversification of plant and animal production systems and which are relevant to sustainable agricultural landscape research. In addition to classical “Sessions”, “Masterclasses” are also planned. This interactive format allows for intensive collaboration in a workshop atmosphere in order to demonstrate new instruments, methods or topics, learn from one another and discuss issues together. In the “Post-conference Workshops” format, workshops aimed at specific target groups can be offered on the day after the actual conference. A “Marketplace” will also be held as part of the support program of Landscape 2021. At this event, research products suitable for use in practice and politics will be presented, such as apps, decision support systems, knowledge systems. The “Marketplace” is aimed at a broad audience and key players from research and agriculture. These include farmers, representatives from politics and industry who develop solutions for practical applications, multipliers, and journalists. This also makes it an excellent platform for networking and new cooperation.

The week from 5 to 9 October 2020 at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) was dedicated to the promotion of young scientists. Supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and organized by ZALF, the “Agroecosystems 2020” Young Researchers Academy was held with a total of 20 participants. An intensive workshop program gave the young researchers an opportunity to network and receive individual advice on the structure, methodology and financing of their research projects. Within the framework of the Academy, the participants can also apply to the DFG for funding for their own research project. For one week, the participants of the “Agroecosystems 2020” Young Researchers Academy met at ZALF for workshops, keynote speeches and individual coaching in order to gather ideas for their own research projects and also to obtain successful funding applications from the DFG. The aim of the Academy is to promote young researchers from various disciplines who, after completing their doctorate, want to implement a project in the field of sustainable, resource-saving and environmentally friendly land use. The Academy’s participants can also apply for project funding from the DFG for their project as part of the program. If they are granted funding, they could lead their own research project for a period of two years and thus take an important step in their career. The Academy was initiated by Prof. Dr. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and Prof. Dr. Steffen Kolb, head of the ZALF working group “Microbial Biogeochemistry” and co-head of the “Landscape Functioning” Research Area. A total of more than 60 young researchers had applied to take part in the Academy. From these, 20 outstanding participants were selected through an evaluation procedure. 16 renowned experts from various disciplines were also invited to the Academy. After presenting their research project, the participants had the opportunity to have individual coaching discussions with some of these experts. Dr. Kathrin Grahmann, a junior researcher in ZALF’s Research Area 2 “Land Use and Governance”, participated in a total of six of these discussions. “This helps me to define my scientific research question more precisely and to focus the framework of my planned project on nitrate leaching in diversified agricultural landscapes. Speaking to one of the experts gave me the idea for the integration and application of a new scientific methodology. It is rare to get such varied feedback from successful scientists”, reports Grahmann. Dr. Christian Kraus, research assistant in the working group “Plant Protection in Viticulture, Mycology” at the Julius Kühn-Institute in Siebeldingen was also able to gather new stimuli: “I want to investigate the influence of mechanical pruning of vines on the roots of the plants. The coaching discussions showed me that the idea for my research question is basically good, but that I could still formulate my hypothesis and the funding application differently.” Professional exchange among the participants and synergy effects are desired in the Academy: “Interdisciplinarity is important in agricultural research and is what distinguishes ZALF. The topic of land use can be approached, for example, from the perspective of a microbiome researcher or an expert in robotics. For some of the Academy’s participants it was new to learn about the perspective of other disciplines with regard to their research topic. We welcome the fact that the young researchers learn from each other and cooperate with each other in their projects and for funding applications”, explains Prof. Dr. Steffen Kolb. Following this workshop week in Muencheberg, the participants of the Academy will apply for project funding from the DFG. “Of the research projects presented here, all of which are excellent, about half can be funded by the DFG for two years following the Academy,” says Kolb. For the young researchers, a funding commitment would be an important milestone for their post-doctoral scientific career: With DFG funding, they would be able to lead their own research project.

Due to current circumstances, the first half of PhD Day 2020 was organized in an online-format on 10th September. The topic of the day was “Many researchers- one vision”: our doctoral candidates and other ZALF-researchers were invited to discuss how their individual research projects complement each other and how they contribute to ZALF's research strategy and narratives.

As of the end of September 2020, companies and private individuals can use the new online-marketplace at www.agora-natura.de to invest in biodiversity and ecosystem services in Germany. Through voluntary, flexible payments they can, for instance, contribute to the preservation of meadow orchards, the development of biodiverse agricultural fields or the implementation of protection sites for certain target species.

Award for the improvement of scientific cooperation between Germany and Uzbekistan. Dr. Ahmad Hamidov received a "Certificate of Honour" for his significant contribution to the development of scientific cooperation between Germany and Uzbekistan. The award was presented by Mr Nabijan Kasymov, Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the Federal Republic of Germany.​

Virtual Workshop as a partnerevent of EU Green Week

The Research Award "Transformative Science" of the Wuppertal Institute and the Zempelin Foundation goes to Dr. Jana Zscheischler. The scientist of the Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V. is awarded for her transdisciplinary and transformative approach as well as her research concept for sustainable land management. The prize is endowed with 25,000 euros and will be awarded on October 6th as part of the "Darmstädter Tage der Transformation“ ("Darmstadt Days of Transformation").

How can land use become more sustainable? And which development processes are required to resolve growing conflicts and competition over land use? These questions are addressed in a new volume entitled “Sustainable Land Management in a European Context – a Co-Design Approach”. The book was edited by current and former ZALF employees Thomas Weith, Tim Barkmann, Nadin Gaasch, Sebastian Rogga, Christian Strauss and Jana Zscheischler. The 350-page volume presents and discusses innovative solutions for land management in the European context. It emphasises and highlights co-creation processes within the co-design approach, reflecting collaboration among academics and other stakeholders in transdisciplinary research processes. The book provides an overview of the current state of different land use practices and the resulting need to manage land resources more sustainably. New system solutions and governance approaches in sustainable land management are presented from a European perspective. Novel approaches to sustainable land management emerge from the co-design of change processes and the development of new knowledge through co-creation processes. New insights and experiences in sustainable land management are presented to a broad readership of land system scientists, environmental scientists, social scientists and geoscientists.

In order to improve the connection between the activities of the BMBF funding measure "Agricultural Systems of the Future" and the European networks and their players, the online workshop "Building Networks" was held on September 3, 2020. It was hosted by the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research Müncheberg (ZALF), supported by the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) and the European network BIOVOICES. The aim of this workshop was to strengthen cooperation between the various research consortia and different actors in the fields of policy making, research funding, research and transfer networks as well as agricultural policy advocacy. At the same time, the consortia are thus given the opportunity to give their research a better European visibility. At the beginning, several keynote speeches provided important initial points for further action. Peter Wehrheim, Head of the Unit "Food Systems and Bioeconomy" of the European Commission in Brussels, gave an introduction to the current developments of bioeconomy strategies at the European level. The National Contact Point Life Sciences/Bioeconomy, represented by Dr. Jill Ebert and Mareike Schmitt from KoWi (Cooperation Centre EU of Science Organisations), highlighted different European platforms for bioeconomy as well as possibilities for participation in the conception of European research and innovation programmes. Susanna Albertini from the European Bioeconomy Network (EuBioNet) presented the work of her network and drew attention to the high relevance of knowledge exchange for promoting bioeconomy. Chiara Pocaterra from the co-organizer network BIOVOICES presented the work of this multi-stakeholder platform together with the opportunities and challenges it presents. Udo Hemmerling, Vice President of the German Farmers' Association, presented the perspective of farmers and outlined current political developments in Brussels. After the initial presentations, there was the opportunity for an intensive exchange and networking in smaller groups with the different actors. The discussion focused in particular on questions of participation in European programs and the visibility of research projects beyond the national level. The current developments and effects of COVID-19 were also part of the discussions of the expert team. According to Chiara Pocaterra, in addition to all the restrictions, these would also bring advantages for scientific exchange. Due to the new online formats more actors could be reached and thus involved in strategy processes in this way. This is demonstrated by the relevance of a diverse range of events, both personal and virtual workshops, in order to address as many different actors as possible. "By exchanging the many different perspectives, the online workshop was an important contribution to expanding the dialogue between the consortia and Europe," stated apl. Prof. Dr. Weith of ZALF. Consequently, it will be important to implement these aspects in future planning and to ensure continuity.

Landscape 2021 - Call for sessions, masterclasses, market place booths, post-conference workshops now open

A study led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) shows that crop failures in agriculture can result from many different extreme and not even not so extreme weather events such as drought, heat, heavy rain or unseasonal temperatures. While large-scale crop failures are mainly caused by drought, regionally occurring crop failures can be the result of a combination of different weather phenomena that can differ between years. The study “No perfect storm for crop yield failure in Germany” was published in the Environmental Research Letters magazine in July 2020. It contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of these interactions and helps to make more accurate forecasts for crop failures in the future. Extreme weather phenomena such as record heat waves, prolonged drought and heavy rainfall are increasingly leading to crop failures. Yield failures not only pose financial challenges for farmers, but in extreme cases, can also contribute to food prices spikes or supply shortages. Most recently, in 2018 and 2019, high temperatures and drought in parts of Germany led to record poor harvests. However, not all yield losses can be explained by such extreme weather events. A study led by ZALF and involving the universities of Potsdam, Bonn and ETH Zurich shows that crop losses can be caused by a range of extreme weather events and in some cases an unfortunate combination of unfavorable but not particularly extreme weather phenomena. For example, a summer drought has a particularly strong effect when the plants have already been stressed by unfavorable weather conditions in winter. ZALF’s research results help to model the complex interplay of these factors with the aim to generate knowledge to better protect farmers from crop failures and the resulting financial losses through the use of forecasts and adapted cultivation methods or plant breeding. Climate change is causing erratic weather patterns Against the background of climate change, the authors of the study assume that extreme weather events will occur more frequently, but that there will also be an increase in unusual combinations of weather phenomena occurring locally. In critical growth phases, even a few unusually hot days or long periods of drought can lead to yield losses. A lot of rain in a short period of time can wash nutrients out of the soil, favor the spread of plant diseases and delay field work. However, weather phenomena that are not extreme, but rather unusual in their combination and that occur regionally can also have a severe impact on yields. As an example, the authors cite the poor wheat harvest in France in 2016, which can be attributed to an excessively warm fall combined with an excessively wet spring. A model to predict the harvest supports agriculture The effects of unusual weather patterns in combination with individual extreme weather events have not yet been sufficiently researched. The present study contributes to illustrating that crop yield failures can be triggered by a number of extreme weather combinations that must be considered in assessing the risk of yield failures. In the long term, adapted cultivation methods, targeted plant breeding, diversification of cropping and farming systems, as well as novel insurance products for agriculture will be needed for farmers if they are to avoid serious losses of income. About the study The study “No perfect storm for crop yield failure in Germany” was published in the Environmental Research Letters magazine in July 2020. It examines the causes of regional differences in the yields of the four most important arable crops in Germany (winter rape, winter wheat, winter barley, silage maize) over the past 20 years.

Save the date: Landscape 2021, 20-22 September 2021 in Berlin, Germany

In June 2020, ZALF working group SusLand (Löhr/Lozano/Morales) in collaboration with Center for Development Research (ZEF) – University of Bonn (UoB) organized an online seminar series on «Environmental and Peacebuilding Practices in Conflict-Affected Scenarios». Main question was how natural resource management can enhance sustainability and peace. The seminars included a presentation of ScalA-PB, as ex-ante-tool to assess agricultural interventions for sustainability and peacebuilding potential. Sustainable land use systems were introduced, as well as different methods to work with stakeholders in conflict affected environments. Presentations were given by representatives of ZALF, ZEF, Oxfam, Alliance Bioversity–CIAT, CIPAV, Instituto de Estudios Ambientales (IDEA), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL) und Observatorio de Conflictos Ambientales (OCA), UNAL. Up to 77 participated per seminar. The Webinar series is available online.

On 12 June 2020, under new regulation and no-contact policies due to coronavirus, Mr. Eufemia successfully defended his dissertation at the Life Sciences Faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin and is now entitled to use the title "Dr. rer. agr.". In his thesis entitled "A Framework for Community-based Governance in Grasslands and Savannahs of South America", Mr. Eufemia presented the conceptual framework for Community-based Governance (CBG) in Grasslands and Savannahs of South America. Through his PhD, the list of publication includes 3 cumulative works of the dissertation and 8 side articles, as both author and co-author, supporting the whole structure of the PhD : Eufemia, L. et al. (2019) Collective perception of anthropic and extractive interventions in the Colombian Llanos. Social Sciences 8, Article 259. (Article 1) Eufemia, L. et al. (2019) Community-based governance and sustainability in the Paraguayan Pantanal. Sustainability 11, 19, Article 5158. (Article 2) Eufemia, L. et al. (2019) Mechanisms of weak Governance in Grasslands and Wetlands of South America. Territory, Politics, Governance. (Article 3) (under review) Bonatti, M. et al. (2019) Social representations of climate change and climate adaptation plans in southern Brazil: challenges of genuine participation. Urban Climate 29, Article 100496. Graser M. et al. (2020) Peacebuilding in rural Colombia - A Collective Perception of the Integrated Rural Reform (IRR) in the Department of Caquetá (Amazon). Land 9(2), 36. Eufemia, L. et al. (2018) Synthesis of Environmental Research Knowledge: The Case of Paraguayan Pantanal Tropical Wetlands. Sustainable Agriculture Research, SAR, 7(4), 125-133. Bonatti, M. et al. (2019) Pathways to improve PAG in a Challenging institutional setting: The case of the Río Negro National Park in Paraguay. Human Ecology (under major revision). Eufemia, L. et al. (2018). Colombia's rural development must honour peace agreement. Nature, 560(7716), 29. Eufemia, L. et al. (2019). Colombia's inadequate environmental goals. Science (New York, NY), 364(6439), 444. Eufemia L. et al. Community-Based Governance Manual. Case Study: Municipality of Paz de Ariporo, Casanare (Colombia) (English/Spanish). ZALF: SusLAND. Müncheberg, Germany (2019) Eufemia L. et al. Fortalecimiento de La Gobernanza Comunitaria en el Pantanal Paraguayo (Distrito de Bahía Negra, Alto Paraguay, Paraguay). Reporte WWF Paraguay. Asunción, Paraguay (2019) Currently, he works at ZALF in two working groups within research Area 2 "Land Use and Governance": Biotic Interactions between Forest and Agricultural Land; and Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries.

Webinar: Partizipation in NFDI4Agri - Community Workshop

The Scientific Director of ZALF, Prof. Dr. Frank Ewert, has been invited to become part of the Scientific Group of the UN Secretary-General’s 2021 Food Systems Summit. The aim of the Food Systems Summit is to raise public awareness for more sustainability in global food systems. In addition, the summit is to initiate commitments aimed at reducing hunger and diet-related diseases worldwide in the long term. The Food Systems Summit contributes to advancing the United Nations' Agenda 2030. The Scientific Group ensures the scientific basis of the Food Systems Summit and resulting political decisions. The researchers contribute to the debates with the latest findings and research approaches that are relevant for more sustainable food systems.

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) invite applications for their international summer school CMRA2021: Modelling approaches for climate risk and climate change adaptations in the context of sustainable intensification in semi-arid West Africa. The summer school is planned for February, 2021 in Bamako, Mali. The summer school will host 26 early- career researchers from West Africa and Germany and international experts to critically assess the role of crop modelling as a tool for climate risk assessments and the identification of climate change adaption strategies to support more sustainable and productive cropping systems in semi- arid West Africa.. The summer school aims to enhance awareness and appreciation of the state of the art in crop modelling for addressing climate risk and sustainable intensification among the region’s next generation of researchers and agricultural policy makers. The training will emphasis recent model developments, methodologies for analysis, as well as key limitations in their use and emerging complimentary data driven approaches. Best practices for stakeholder engagement, study design, data processing, scenario formulation, model selection, model parameterization, and uncertainty analysis will be explored. A second aim is to provide students with experience in designing projects considering transdisciplinary perspectives on how and to which extent CSMs can be applied for impact in decision making processes and sustainability outcomes for a range of actors. These learning objectives will be achieved through a balance of lecture with international experts; group discussions with peers and lecturers; model demonstrations; applied tutorial exercises; group work in designing and implementing model based analyses and student presentations. Lectures will be given in either French or English. The summer school will take place at the ICRISAT headquarters in Bamako, Mali and is scheduled for February 21-28, 2021 with a COVID-19 dependent back-up date of September 5–12, 2021. Applications are due by July 1st, 2020. For details on how to apply please visit the CMRA 2021 website.

ZALF together with ZEF (Center for Development Research (ZEF) - University of Bonn (UoB), organizes four webinars on ‘Environmental and Peacebuilding Practices in Conflict-Affected Scenarios: Concepts and Tools for Assessment’ in June 2020. It is possible to participate in selected or all four webinars. The webinars are part of the research project "Implementing sustainable agricultural and livestock systems for simultaneous targeting of forest conservation for climate change mitigation (REDD+) and peace-building in Colombia,". This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. https://www.international-climate-initiative.com/

With the hot temperatures and drought conditions in the last two years in Germany challenging arable crop production, it is particularly timely that the 4th Agriculture and Climate Change Conference will hosted next spring in Dresden. ZALF’s Heidi Webber will serve as the local co-chair of the conference that will bring together leading international experts to discuss climate change impacts on crop production and the promising adaptation pathways to ensure nutrition quality, yield and stability potential of crops, as well as contributing to mitigation efforts. Topics to be explored include: impact modeling; uncertainties, abiotic stresses; effects of CO2 on plant growth; Food and nutritional security in low income regions; Impacts of climate change on nutrition, quality and resource use efficiency; biotic stress, microbiomes and climate change; reducing the impact of agriculture on climate change; innovative breeding practices; and new crops for a new climate. Abstract submission for oral and poster presentations is now open until 4 December 2020. More details about the program and keynote speakers will follow in the coming months.

Inland waters such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs play an important role in the global carbon cycle. Calculations that scale up the carbon dioxide emissions from land and water surface areas do not take account of inland waters that dry out intermittently. This means that the actual emissions from inland waters have been significantly underestimated – as shown by the results of a recent international research project led by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Magdeburg and the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) and in cooperation with the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Muencheberg. The study was published in Nature Communications. “It all began in 2013, during a measurement campaign in Catalonia in Spain”, says Dr Matthias Koschorreck, a biologist in the Department of Lake Research at UFZ. Together with a Spanish team, he was studying the release of greenhouse gases in the catchment of a small river. "It was summer and parts of the riverbed were dry. On a whim, we decided to take some measurements in those areas too," Koschorreck explains. "The results surprised us – these dry, gravelly areas of the riverbed released unexpectedly high levels of carbon dioxide." Koschorreck and his colleague Dr. Rafael Marcé from ICRA in Girona (Spain), decided to investigate that further. Results from various locations in Spain and Germany all produced the same finding: dry inland waters released readily measurable and sometimes considerable levels of carbon dioxide. “We wondered whether this might be the case in other regions of the world, and whether greenhouse gas emissions from inland waters might be fundamentally underestimated," says Koschorreck. "In studies that scale up emissions of greenhouse gases from land and water surface areas, inland waters that dry out intermittently haven't previously been taken into account." To investigate these questions, in 2016 Koschorreck and Marcé together with a core team of six German and Spanish scientists launched the dryflux research project, with the aim of measuring greenhouse gas emissions from dry inland waters. As part of a workshop held at the UFZ's Magdeburg site, they developed a measurement and sampling concept for their study. They then engaged the help of their international networks. "Every participant at the workshop got in touch with research teams all over the world to see whether they would be interested in taking part in measurement campaigns on freshwater systems in their area," explains Koschorreck. "The response was amazing. Twenty four research teams from all over the world took part, which meant that we were able to collect data from 196 different sites on every continent except Antarctica.” Among them was the ZALF research team integrated by Florian Reverey and Dr. Gabriela Onandia, who contributed to the project with measurements performed in ten kettle holes in the AgroScapeLab Quillow, in the Uckermark region, Northeast Germany. Each team carried out three closed-chamber measurements in dry areas of at least three freshwater systems in their region – a river, lake, reservoir or pond. This involves placing a special measuring container with its open end downwards on the ground, separating the air inside the container from the ambient air. An analytical device is then used to measure the change in the amount of carbon dioxide inside the container. At the same location, the project partners also took samples of the dry sediment and measured its moisture, organic matter and salt content, temperature, and pH. The large, complex dataset was evaluated by Philipp Keller, a doctoral researcher in the Department of Lake Research at the UFZ and first author of the study, who came to some interesting conclusions. "We found significant carbon dioxide emissions from dry areas of inland waters across all climate zones”, says Keller. "So this really is a global phenomenon." The researchers also discovered that these emissions are in fact often higher than typical emissions from water surfaces of the same size. "We were able to show that dry areas of inland waters actually account for a significant proportion of total carbon dioxide emissions from these freshwater systems”, says Koschorreck. "If you take account of this in global calculations for inland waters, the carbon dioxide emissions increase by six percent." But what mechanisms are responsible for the release of carbon dioxide from dry inland water sediments? "Respiration processes of microorganisms", says Philipp Keller. "The more substrate available – the more organic matter in the soil – and the more favorable the conditions like temperature and sediment moisture, the more active they are and the more carbon dioxide is released.” From the results of the study, the researchers concluded that the factors responsible for carbon dioxide release are essentially the same all over the globe. "The interaction of local conditions like temperature, moisture and the organic matter content of the sediments is crucial, and it has a bigger influence than regional climate conditions”, Keller explains. So what do the results of the study mean for the future assessment of carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters? "Our study shows that carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters have been significantly underestimated up until now", says Koschorreck. "We hope that our work will help ensure that dry areas of freshwater systems are included in future calculations. With the progression of climate change, more surface waters are probably drying out and thus, CO2 emissions will likely increase."

As of April 1, 2020, Dr. Claas Nendel, long-time acting head of the research platform "Models & Simulation" and its predecessor institute, has been appointed professor of landscape systems analysis at the University of Potsdam by the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg. The appointment to this position was made jointly with ZALF. ZALF congratulates Prof. Nendel on his appointment and wishes him every success and all the best for his further work at ZALF and the University of Potsdam.

On 4 March 2020, the “House of Agricultural Biome Research” was opened at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Muencheberg. The official ceremony, with around 200 guests, was also attended by Brandenburg’s Minister of Science Dr. Manja Schüle (MWFK) and Dr. Eva Ursula Müller from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). In the new building, the main focus of research is on the influence of micro-organisms on plant growth and climate change. With this laboratory and office complex ZALF is further expanding its international agricultural research. A total of 4 million euros were invested in the construction project by the EU within the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Federal Government and the State of Brandenburg. The world population is growing rapidly. At the same time the demands on sustainable, environmentally friendly and highly productive agriculture are increasing. In order to do justice to both aspects, a further deepening of our understanding of the interactions of micro-organisms and plants on growth, diseases, soil fertility, site conditions and climate is required. With ten new laboratories and eight offices, the “House of Agricultural Biome Research” at ZALF now offers even better opportunities for this research. Scientists from the fields of microbiology, plant physiology, biodiversity research and biogeochemistry come together here under one roof for their transdisciplinary research.

A strong demand from public authorities, agriculture professionals, and society in general, all over Europe, has spurred collaborative research in order to accelerate the agroecological transition. To face a challenge of this magnitude the joint declaration of intent “Towards a Chemical Pesticide-free Agriculture” aims to rethink the way research is carried out and develop new common research and experimentation strategies, not just at a national level, but throughout the whole continent. This declaration was signed yesterday by 20 research organizations from 16 European countries. Driven by the French Institute INRAE and its German counterparts ZALF and JKI, this unprecedented endeavor has brought the European research community together around this ambitious vision of an agriculture free of chemical pesticides. The declaration, formalized on 23 February at the Paris International Agricultural Show, and attended by the French minister of agriculture Didier Guillaume, establishes a European research alliance, aiming to build a scientific roadmap that will soon be presented to the European Commission, as a contribution to the European Green Deal. For almost 18 months, INRAE and its German partners from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and the German Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI) have been building a dialogue among European researchers and stakeholders with the purpose of setting a common research strategy. Their objective was ambitious: to define a new transdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder research strategy that will allow them to offer solutions for the transition towards a chemical pesticide-free agriculture all around the continent. Today, 20 European research institutes signed a declaration of intent to share this bold vision. This agreement echoes the European Green Deal for a sustainable ecological transition in Europe, which was announced by the European Commission in December 2019 to encourage the adoption of ambitious measures. The measures announced involve multiple sectors—agriculture, food, and the environment—with the objective of developing a sustainable agriculture and producing healthy food, while maintaining productive and economically sound agri-food systems. Through their network, the 20 signatory organizations have already drawn up multiple common research avenues, such as establishing a better use of agro-ecological principles to develop disease resistant production systems, exploiting the high potential of plant selection, developing the use of new technologies and agro-equipment, and understanding the levers and obstacles of the socio-economic transition, among others. The roadmap being devised calls into question the current research methods by integrating systemic and multidisciplinary approaches. The new methods must reinforce the links between the production of knowledge and the experimentation process, both in the lab and in the field. The goal is an open science system, where researchers work closely together with the world of agriculture to implement changes promptly, sharing their work and its results all over the continent, including all types of agriculture, and integrating the variety of climates and soils in order to test the alternative solutions at a bigger scale. These 20 research institutions decided to act together to find alternatives to the use of chemical pesticides in Europe and to support national and European public policies.

Silica increases water availability for plants: Bayreuth researchers discover a way to enhance food security

Early Career Investigators "Agroecosystems 2020"

Alevtina Evgrafova, who is currently working in the Research Area 3, has successfully defended her PhD dissertation with the title Spatial patterns of permafrost-affected soil biogeochemical properties at multiple scales at the University of Bern on 14.01.2020.

On 10.01.2020 Peter Weißhuhn defended his dissertation at the University of Potsdam in the discipline of landscape ecology with great success. As a DBU scholarship holder, the studied geoecologist did research at ZALF to assess the vulnerability of biotopes.

An international summer school entitled: “Modelling approaches for climate risk and climate change adaptations in the context of sustainable intensification in semi-arid West Africa”, is planned for the summer of 2020. The summer school will take place in Bamako, Mali and is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation´s ´Knowledge for Tomorrow – Cooperative Research Projects in SSA program.

Another success for Brandenburg’s non-university research institutes: The Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) in Grossbeeren and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Muencheberg were selected as the central coordinating bodies for “Agricultural Systems of the Future”. This underlines the nationwide competence of both institutions in the field of agricultural and nutrition research. Prof. Monika Schreiner and Dr. Philip Albers are responsible for the office at the IGZ and Senior Researcher Thomas Weith and Ulf Weddige are responsible at ZALF. The central coordinating office supports communication and cooperation between the eight successful consortia working on innovative solutions for future-oriented and sustainable agriculture throughout Germany. The Coordinating Office will be funded for five years with almost 1.6 million euros. The core tasks of the Coordinating Office are primarily to facilitate synergies between the eight research consortia through active networking. In addition, it contributes to increasing the national and international visibility of the research projects and to the dialogue on future agricultural systems in society as a whole. This is achieved, among other things, through strategic, target-group-specific technical communication. In addition, the Coordinating Office supports the research and implementation strategies of the consortia in the scientific accompanying projects. Through the “Agricultural Systems of the Future” program, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is setting the course for agricultural production in the sense of the bio-economy and a transformation process for society as a whole on the path to sustainable and resource-efficient agriculture.

On 16 December 2019, FPM doctoral candidate Martin Schmidt successfully defended his dissertation on microclimatic and material gradients in transition zones between forest and field at the University of Potsdam. We congratulate Dr. Martin Schmidt on his achievement and wish him all the best for the future!

Ms Anna Michalczyk, external member of the Working Group Ecosystem Modelling has defended successfully her PhD thesis on modelling nitrogen dynamics in wheat-maize double cropping rotations in the North China Plain on 11.12.2019. She addressed the problem of excessive nitrogen application in chinese agriculture and their consequences for water pollution with nitrate. Above optimum fertilizer application and inefficient irrigation management led to low nitrogen use efficiency. Using a model based real-time recommendation on farmer´s field experiments, Anna was able to reduce N application rates while maintaining the yield level compared to other recommendation methods and farmer´s practice. At county scale she optimised water and nitrogen management with the model and could achieve a significant improvement of resource use efficiency.

Outstanding young researchers in agricultural sciences can participate in the DFG Young Scientists Academy "Agroecosystems 2020" at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Starting at the end of January, participation in the academy will enable experienced experts to provide two years of support up to the point of independent project management in the field of resource-conserving and climate-friendly land use.

In the frame of the SLUS research project at ZALF (PB2 SUSLand), PhD researchers Luca Eufemia and Héctor C. Morales together with 5 master students (HU Berlin, University Bayreuth) went on a research mission to Colombia in November 2019. The purpose was to comprehend governance models, drivers of conflict and deforestation in Caquetá (Colombian Amazon) and Cesar (Caribbean region). Interviews and two workshops were conducted, in Caquetá in cooperation with Universidad de la Amazonía, Red Caquetá Paz and Misión Verde Amazonía; in Cesar with International Centre for Tropical Agriculture and Universidad Popular del Cesar. Among the attendees were governmental bodies and representatives from farmers and indigenous communities. Participants discussed the common environmental challenges that Colombian people face after the peace agreement such as an increment in deforestation and land degradation.

From 11.-13.12.2019 ZALF WG SusLand (Bonatti/Löhr/Sieber) conducted in collaboration with HU-Berlin an international Winter School on theory and methods of sustainability impact assessment at HU. Students from different different universities but also disciplines and countries deepened their knowledge on impact assessment in the context of sustainble development projects. The students were able to practice different approaches presented by different professors from Germany (ZALF, HU-Berlin, ZEF), Brasil (UFRJ, UFSC, Emprapa) and Sweden (SLU). The Winter School is a part of the research project "Implementing sustainable agricultural and livestock systems for simultaneous targeting of forest conservation for climate change mitigation (REDD+) and peace-building in Colombia," which started in 2019 at ZALF under coordination of CIAT Colombia.

BioMove moves on

The “SALBES” project has been launched at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Partners from Germany, Estonia, Austria and Switzerland will work together over the next three years to develop concepts for the protection of biodiversity in four exemplary agricultural landscapes in Europe. Using computer-aided models, the researchers will look into the future of agriculture and calculate how agricultural intensification, climate change and the protection of species and habitats can be better harmonized in the future. The project is coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Agricultural landscapes cover large parts of Europe. In Germany alone, more than half of the land is used for agricultural purposes. However, agricultural land is not only a prerequisite for our food production and a source of income for many people working in agriculture, it is also an important habitat for animals and plants that deserves protection. In order to achieve an even better balance between protection and use in the future, the partners in the “SALBES” project are developing possible future scenarios for agriculture. The aim is to determine realistic operating spaces both for producers and for nature conservation. How big is the safe operating space? What is the impact of climate change and a growing world population on agricultural production? What challenges will arise from this for biodiversity in the fields and in adjacent ecosystems? Using models to assess the impact of climate change and of farm economic decision making on biodiversity as well as interviews and workshops with actors from the pilot regions, the project will develop various scenarios for the future of agriculture over the next three years. In combination with the concept of a “Safe Operating Space”, these scenarios are intended to provide information on where the boundaries of the human use of agricultural landscapes lie and from what point in time biodiversity will be irreparably damaged. The “Safe Operating Space” is an internationally recognized concept that was first proposed by environmental researchers in 2009. Nine “planetary boundaries” define the safe operating space for humanity on earth. If these boundaries are transgressed, it can lead to an irreversible change in our environment. One of these planetary boundaries is the loss of biodiversity, which is considered as having already been transgressed by the founders of the concept. One reason for this is the change in land use in recent centuries, including the intensification of agriculture. However, the relationship between agricultural landscapes and biodiversity still raises many questions. Therefore, the researchers in the “SALBES” project want to determine a “safe operating space” for the interface between agriculture and biodiversity. On this basis, scientifically sound proposals for action could be developed for both policymakers and practitioners. Further information can be found here: https://salbes.eu/ Funding notice: The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

On 6 December 2019, Mr. Charles Peter Mgeni of the working group SusLAND defended his dissertation at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and is now entitled to bear the title “Dr. rer. agr.”

On 10th December 2019, Mr. Festo Richard Silungwe defended his dissertation at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and is now entitled to bear the title “PhD” Globally, there is enough volumes of food produced yearly to feed the entire population, however, 11% of world population dwells in chronic hunger. The Major challenge remains to uniformity in terms of production and food availability spatially. Large percent of the hungry population is found in semiarid sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Large population of SSA are low income small holder farmers who depend on rainfed agriculture, which is performing poorly. Aggravated by lack of good set of farming practices reffered to as crop upgrading strategies (UPSs), the main agricultural production challenges in SSA are frequent drought, scarce and highly variable in rainfall, and degraded soils. Apart from employing suitable UPSs to enhance yield in SSA, biophysical models are required for finetuning their potential in improving food security and for addressing uncertainities under climate change for sustainable production. In his cumulative doctoral thesis, Mr. Silungwe applied a novel methodological approach of combining literature, experiments and modeling to integrate the UPSs in modeling for enhancing yield of pearl millet and improve food security for low income smallholder farmers in semia-arid SSA. At ZALF, Mr. Silungwe has been affiliated with the SUSLAND working group since 2016.

On 12 December 2019, Mr. Cheng Chen successfully defended his dissertation at the Life Sciences Faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin and is now entitled to use the title "Dr. rer. agr.". In his thesis entitled " Governmental Payments for Ecosystem Services Programs in China: The Institutional Settings and Market-based Approach", Mr. Cheng Chen focused on financial incentive instruments for ecosystem service governance. During his PhD, he had published seven peer-review papers. Currently, he works at ZALF in the projects AgoraNatura (BMBF, BMU), Peatwise (EU FACCE ERA-GAS) and InnoForest (EU Horizon2020).

DFG funds the research project CropRhizoSOM

Kakhramon Djumaboev from International Water Management Institute (IWMI)-Central Asia office visited ZALF as guest researcher during 5 November – 7 December 2019 to work with Dr. Ahmad Hamidov in the DFG-funded WEFUz project.

From the 01st of December established official at the Leibniz University Hannover: Prof. Bettina Matzdorf

This year the American Society of Agronomy honors Dr. Kurt Christian Kersebaum as ASA Fellow 2019. The award presentation took place on 12th November 2019 at the ASA Awards Ceremony in San Antonio, Texas.

On 4 December 2019, Mr. Jonathan Steinke defended his dissertation at the Faculty of Life Sciences at Humboldt-University of Berlin, and is now entitled to bear the title “Dr. rer. agr.” The ongoing mobile phone revolution across the developing world offers a diversity of new opportunities for communication between smallholder farmers and agricultural advisory services. With proper methods, the strong heterogeneity among farmers – an important challenge for advisory services – could become a resource. In his cumulative doctoral thesis, Mr. Steinke tested three novel methodological concepts for systematic, mutual information exchange between smallholder farmers and advisory services through the mobile phone. At ZALF, Mr Steinke has been affiliated with the SUSLAND working group since 2016.

On 8 November 2019, Ms. Ina Opitz defended her dissertation at the Life Sciences Faculty of the Humboldt University of Berlin and is now entitled to use the title "Dr. rer. agr.". In her thesis entitled "Interactions in Alternative Networks for Food Supply: Motivations and effects" Ms. Opitz focused on new cooperation models between producers and consumers. She researched this topic with conceptual and empirical work in the context of two BMBF projects (INNSULA and FuFoCo) at the ZALF working group DESCO and published several articles in scientific journals. Dr. Opitz is now working at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

On November 18-20 ZALF researchers Prof. Bettina Matzdorf and Cheng Chen have participated in the international workshop of “agricultural environmental governance in the digital era" in Shenyang, China. The workshop was jointly organized by Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE) of Chinese Academy of Sciences and ZALF. Bettina Matzdorf gave a presentation on the online marketplace for ecosystem services “Agora Natura” and Cheng Chen talked about applying digital technologies in agricultural environmental governance. They had fruitful discussion about research interests and explored potential collaboration with their Chinese counterparts. Beyond the scientific exchange, two excursions to Gaoshan village in Yinkou city and facility agriculture farms in Shenyang city took place. The aim was to give participants the insights into the agricultural practices at the local level with both conventional and modern approaches in China. On 21 November, the ZALF researchers have participated another workshop in cooperation with the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (IGSNRR) of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The topic of the workshop was incentive-based policy and eco-compensation. This workshop brought together experts from different universities and research institutes to exchange ideas and methods. Researchers from IGSNRR and ZALF exchanged ideas on opportunities and concrete mutual activities, such as joint research project, bilateral conferences and joint papers. From 25-29 November, Cheng Chen visited the Sino-German Agriculture center (DCZ) in Beijing, Facility Agriculture Research Center of IAE in Shouguang and Zhejiang Agriculture&Forestry University in Hangzhou. He had conducted in-depth interviews with stakeholders in potential research regions. The trip was financed by the German-Chinese cooperation programme from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), aiming at promoting the bilateral scientific exchange and cooperation between German and Chinese researchers.

In two recently published articles, Ioanna Mouratiadou and colleagues find that the adoption of site-specific integrated agricultural management can assist in resolving trade-offs between agricultural productivity and climate, soil and water protection. Using a spatially explicit approach, they find that such management increases the amounts of residues available for bioenergy, while reducing soil organic carbon losses, greenhouse gas emissions and nitrate leaching. A site-specific strategy integrating optimized fertilization, adaptation of residue removal to the humus balance and winter soil cover performs better than isolated agricultural management measures. The researchers conclude that in order to sustainably intensify crop residue exploitation for bioenergy, residue management needs to be designed in an integrated and site-specific manner. Such an approach can assist us in achieving the goals specified in the Paris Agreement, while protecting soil and water quality.

A new project on transforming the European food system towards a low carbon circular future applies a groundbreaking mechanism for maturing, combining, upscaling and multiplying sustainable food system innovations. The project has received EUR 7.5 million from the EU Horizon 2020 programme.

Indonesia is currently one of the world’s regions with the most profound land use conflicts. Not only is the conversion of tropical rain forests to plantations a major issue but the country is also experiencing substantial land use change from settlement and infrastructure developments, leading to loss of valuable soils, agricultural areas, and forests. From September 7th to 19th, adjunct Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith visited the country as part of the research project ReGerecht in order to engage in an exchange with fellow researchers regarding topics such as regional justice and land use conflicts. The visit to Indonesia consisted of two parts. During the first week, first results from the research project ReGerecht were presented during a session at the international ISOCARP conference (global conference “Beyond metropolis” of the International Society of City and Regional Planners, September 7th to 13th in Jakarta and Bogor). The second week entailed a visit to Hasanuddin University Makassar with, among other things, a public presentation at the faculty of city and regional planning about “land use and regional development in Europe”, attended by 400 students. Later on, a meeting with the Dean of the University’s faculty of Engineering lead to a fruitful exchange about land use conflicts in coastal regions as well as opportunities for active future knowledge management.

Dr. Kurt-Christian Kersebaum, Agricultural Engineer in the Working Group Ecosystem Modelling at ZALF, was named as „Highly Cited Researcher“ for the second year in a row by the Web of Science. Last year he received the award in the category Cross-Field, this year in the category Agricultural Sciences. And already for the third year in a row Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director at ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at University Bonn, was also named as „Highly Cited Researcher“ in the category „Agricultural Sciences“. The Web of Science is one of the world's most important online literature and citation databases. Frank Ewert and Kurt-Christian Kersebaum are two of the few scientists in the field of Agricultural Research in Germany who are listed there. Thereby their research ranks among the most influential in this discipline.

Stefan Sieber, head of the working group SUSLAND, presented in São Paulo at the 8th German-Brazilian Dialogue on Science, Research and Innovation from 30. - 31. October the challenges and solution strategies for a global food security. In addition to the challenges of feeding 11 billion people in 2100, problems such as malnutrition and obesity are globally key challenges within the frame of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mr. Sieber presented innovative research approaches to improve the food security situation at the regional level and discussed together with approx. 130 participants their further enhancement. Members of the Brazilian and German scientific communities discussed two days until 1st of November the potential strategies within interdisciplinary research fields. The goal of the dialogue was to exchange as many disciplinary perspectives as possible, including the social sciences and the humanities, as well as the natural sciences and technology.

Dissertation Merlin Schaefer

An any single location, there are typically more earthworms and more earthworm species found in temperate regions than in the tropics. Global climate change could lead to significant shifts in earthworm communities worldwide, threatening the many functions they provide. These are the two main results of a new study published in Science. The research was led by scientists from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and from Leipzig University. They brought together 140 researchers from across the globe to compile the largest earthworm dataset worldwide, encompassing 6928 sites in 57 countries. Earthworms can be found in many ecosystems. Where the soil is not frozen (permafrost), too wet, acidic, or completely dry (deserts), earthworms substantially shape the way ecosystems function. They dig holes, mix soil components and eat organic debris. By doing so, they drive a wide range of ecosystem services, such as nutrient provision, freshwater supply, carbon storage, climate mitigation or seed dispersal. It is for these reasons that earthworms are considered highly important “ecosystem engineers”. This importance is also reflected by the large amount of biomass that accumulates in earthworms: in fact, the total earthworm biomass is often larger than that of all mammals living in the same area. Although the great impact of earthworms on ecosystems and the services they provide to people are well known, little is known about how earthworms are distributed on a global scale. “Researchers have known for decades that for any given area in the tropics we would usually expect more species than in the same sized area in temperate regions,” says first author Dr Helen Phillips, researcher at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University (UL). “But until now, we had been unable to quantitatively investigate the same global patterns for earthworms, as there was no global earthworm dataset.” Phillips and her colleagues aimed to create a global map using as much data on earthworm diversity, abundance and biomass as possible. Working as part of an international sDiv (iDiv’s synthesis centre) working group, Phillips, senior authors Nico Eisenhauer (iDiv, UL) and Erin Cameron (Saint Mary’s University), as well as members of the working group contacted earthworm researchers from around the world and asked them to provide their data for compiling a whole new global earthworm dataset with open access for everyone. “Initially, we thought this is a crazy idea. But then, we were impressed how many colleagues were highly motivated to share their data for this exciting endeavour,” says senior author Prof Nico Eisenhauer, research group head at iDiv and Leipzig University. “We basically started from scratch in 2016 – only a couple of years later we could publish one of the largest datasets on soil biodiversity. This an amazing achievement of the lead author Helen Phillips and the many scientists that trusted in us.” The results of this huge effort show that patterns of belowground biodiversity do not match those observed for organisms living aboveground. Plant, insect or bird diversity (number of species within any given area) typically increases from high to low latitudes, meaning that the number of species is highest in the tropics. For earthworms, however, the researchers found the opposite pattern. In fact, highest local earthworm diversity was found in Europe, northeastern USA and New Zealand. Similar patterns were found for earthworm abundance (number of individuals per area) and earthworm biomass (mass per area) – also showing highest values in temperate regions. At the same time, earthworm species in the tropics seem to have smaller distribution ranges. “In the tropics, if you drive just a few kilometres, you may find a whole new set of earthworm species, while in the colder regions they remain more or less the same,” says Helen Phillips. “This could mean that while there are few species found in a single location in the tropics, the total number of species across the whole region may in fact be extremely high. But we don’t know yet.” The main reason for this uncertainty is that many tropical earthworm species have not yet been described. Thus, earthworms identified at different locations could belong to the same species or not – a question to be resolved. The researchers also assessed which environmental factors drive the number of earthworm species, as well as their abundance and biomass. They found that factors related to precipitation and temperature had the largest effects. “Based on these strong climate effects, we conclude that climate change could cause shifts in earthworm communities and change the functions and services ecosystems provide,” says Nico Eisenhauer. “Given their role as ecosystem engineers, we are concerned about potential cascading effects on other organisms like microbes, soil insects and plants.” ZALF scientists and co-authors of the publication, Dr. Monika Joschko and Dr. Maria Lee Kernecker, provided relevant data from many years of research, amongst others data of the "Lietzen practical experiment". The extensive data comes from a conventional farm (Komturei Lietzen GmbH) near Seelow. The long-term experiment started in 1996 and is still supervised by the Experimental Infrastructure Platform (EIP) at ZALF. Between 1997 and 2007, earthworms were examined and stocking densities and species composition were determined at 42 measuring points on a 74-hectare field, partly under conventional and partly reduced tillage, at 42 measuring points. There were clear spatial patterns, which were related to the soil properties and above all to the texture as well as the type of tillage. Reduced tillage promotes abundance and diversity of earthworms also on the sandy soils of our region. The results of the study have implications for conservation priorities: Biodiversity is usually an important criterion for the selection of protected areas. However, focusing only on aboveground diversity may result in insufficient protection of earthworms. Thus, belowground biodiversity needs to be included for a complete assessment – enabling conservationists to identify the planet’s true biodiversity hotspots. “It’s time for a paradigm shift in the conservation of biological diversity – because they are mostly dwelling in the soil, we easily forget about the amazing creatures under our feet,” says Nico Eisenhauer. “Earthworms may be cryptic and may not have the charisma of a panda bear, but they are extremely important for other organisms and the functioning of our ecosystems.”

ZALF attaches great importance to environmental protection. In its own environmental policy, the Research Centre now describes the path towards more sustainable use of available natural resources.

More than 700 participants from around the world are expected to attend. Clean water, fresh air, insects pollinating crops so that fruit and vegetables can grow – nature provides many things that are indispensable for our lives. The term “ecosystem services” refers to essential goods and non-material benefits that humans gain from nature. This topic is the focal point of an international specialist conference that will take place between Monday 21 October and Friday 25 October 2019. For the first time, the event will be held at Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). The 10th World Conference of Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) will be guided by the motto “10 years advancing ecosystem services science, policy and practice for a sustainable future”. On Monday at 10.30 a.m., the conference will – among other things – commence with an opening speech by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Wriggers (LUH Vice President for Research), in the main university building “Welfenschloss”, Welfengarten 1, Hannover. The venue for the following days will be Hannover Congress Centre, Theodor-Heuss-Platz 1-3. Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend. A detailed conference programme is available online: https://www.espconference.org/esp10 With more than 700 participants from 62 countries, ESP10 is the largest conference on the subject worldwide. Speakers include Dr. Klaus Töpfer (former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP and former Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety), Prof. Dr. Robert Costanza (one of the “forefathers” of the ecosystem services approach; Australian State University), Dr. Christiane Paulus (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety), Anne Larigauderie (Executive IPBES Secretary), and Hans Bruyninckx (Executive Director of the European Environment Agency). The speakers will share their perspectives on the multifaceted application potential of the ecosystem services concept in the fields of science, politics, and society. The last day of the conference will focus on developing sustainable strategies for the future. For this, a member of the “Fridays for Future” movement has been invited to join a panel discussion. ESP world conferences are held every two years. In addition, regional conferences take place on a regular basis. In collaboration with Ecosystem Services Partnership, this year’s conference is organised by the Institute of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology (led by Prof. Dr. Benjamin Burkhard), the Institute of Environmental Planning (both at LUH), Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e. V., Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IÖR) in Dresden, Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, as well as the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) in Halle-Jena-Leipzig.

Around 18 scientists from ZALF presented current research findings during this year’s Tropentag conference at the universities of Kassel and Goettingen. From the 18th until the 20th September scientists from different working groups of ZALF presented key findings from 20 research studies using poster and oral presentations. ZALF contributions focussed on the topics innovation in agriculture, agronomy, nutrition, crop modelling and governance in countries in Southern Africa and South America. Tropentag is an annual interdisciplinary conference and a central platform for knowledge exchange between scientists at different career stages. Main topics of the Tropentag concern research findings in tropical and subtropical agricultural research, resource management as well as rural development. The Tropentag conference is hosted by different European universities and supported by organisations and institutions under the patronage of ATSAF e. V.

On 18th September, doctoral researchers presented their current research projects to all interested colleagues and invited guests in the annual ZALF PhD Day. 16 doctoral researchers showed their scientific works in many diverse and interesting ways, including oral presentation, hand-on explorer tour and elevator pitches. The topics cover broad geographic sites and research scales, from mosquito to online market platform. The theme of this year’s PhD Day is science communication. Confronting with challenges from climate change and the growing influence of fake news, people need to be much more alert by scientific facts. Dr. Wiebke Rössig gave a speech on the practise of science communication with public in Natural History Museum Berlin. Lara Lahaye from Agrathaer and Hendrik Schneider from ZALF PR had inspired an active discussion with the audiences. One of the new features of this year is the career talk. Participants were invited to express their concerns and describe the challenges they face as they seek a place in today’s scientific workplace. ZALF PostDoc Representatives Dr. Jana Zscheischler and Dr. Meike Grosse host one World Café considering the academic positions to keep researching and publishing. On the other hand, Katharina Luther and Agatha Riehm from the Economic Development of Brandenburg State (WFBB) advised on the working outside of academia, outlining the potentially interesting companies for ZALF PhD Researchers. The joint barbecue was a perfect ending to the day. The PhD Day 2019 is organized by the ZALF PhD representatives Marlen Krause and Cheng Chen.

New Letter in Science: Germany's wolves in the crosshairs

The "Handbook of Soil-Related Impact Assessment," published by the Impact Assessment Working Group at ZALF, provides a collection of methods and guidelines to facilitate sustainability assessments of agricultural crop management and to contribute to a standardisation of assessments

Launch of BMEL Krumensenke project New approach to foster carbon and nitrogen storage in soils - thanks to almost forgotten tillage method

Dr. Ahmad Hamidov acquired a new DFG project on the topic of: “Sustainability assessment of the Water–Energy–Food nexus for irrigated agriculture: Examples from river basins in Uzbekistan (WEFUz)”.

Prof. Frank A. Ewert is the Director of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg, Brandenburg. He is also Professor of Crop Science at the University of Bonn. In the interview he answers questions on the current situation of agriculture and calls for an intensified public discourse on how a sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture of the future should look. Prof. Ewert, we are seeing more and more problems in the fields: extreme weather events such as heat, drought, hail and floods, strongly fluctuating yields, nitrate limits being exceeded and much more. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is currently calling for urgent changes in its Special Report on “Climate Change and Land”. What is the situation with regard to agriculture in Germany and how quickly are these changes possible? The challenges facing farmers today are extremely complex and diverse. The social pressure to act is increasing. But the agricultural sector has not been inactive in the last decades. Stricter national and European requirements have had to be complied with as well as global market fluctuations. However, the pressure has not been as intense as it is today. Society wants food at reasonable prices. At the same time, its ecological footprint, i.e. negative environmental and climate impacts, should be reduced, for example through a reduction in the consumption of fertilizers and pesticides as well as lower greenhouse gas emissions. We also want to maintain and develop ecosystem services and biodiversity that our agricultural landscapes provide for society: these include the pollination via insects, clean air and water, attractiveness for tourists, recreational effects etc. Without the right framework conditions politically and in civil society, without a new way of rewarding such important services, farms cannot overcome these challenges. We will not be able to achieve all our goals immediately; we must agree in a public discourse on what we want to do, in what order and how we want to go about it, and what we are prepared to do without if necessary. The debate about less meat in our diet or the reduction of food waste and losses, as called for in the current IPCC Special Report “Climate Change and Land”, are good examples of this. It is therefore of central importance that we as researchers work together with politicians and interest groups on a common strategy and conduct an objective discussion that also includes consumers. More about this interview on ZALF homepage.

Film Tip: Documentary of ZALF project Scale-N in Tanzania

On 18th of September 2019 it is time again: ZALF warmly invites you to the PhD Day! The PhD Day is an important date of the annual ZALF events calendar. It is a great occasion for cur-rent and recently graduated ZALF PhD researchers to get connected. The PhD Day also explicitly invites interested doctoral researchers of other institutions and students, who would like to inform themselves about agricultural landscape research as well as the career path of doing of a PhD. On that day, numerous ZALF PhD candidates will present their research in a well-understandable way. PhD researchers, who recently joined ZALF, will present their topics in short elevator pitches. Moreover, an Explorer Tour will take the participants to a visit of the Long-term Field Experiments on the ZALF campus. In addition, this year’s PhD Day will focus on the topic of Science Communication. A special session will deal with the importance and potential formats of successful science communication to the public. We are very much looking forward to the keynote presentations of Dr. Wiebke Rössig, Head of Participation and Open Science at the Natural History Museum in Berlin, as well as Mirjam Kaplow, Head of Communication of the Leibniz Association. Another highlight of this year’s PhD Day programme will be the Career Talk that will allow PhD can-didates to inform themselves about job opportunities after completing the PhD. In easy-going discussion groups, participants will get in touch with competent contact persons to talk about possible career steps in academia as well as in companies. At the end of the day we will invite you to join a barbecue on the beautiful ZALF campus.

In the project INPEDIV - Integrative Analysis of the Impact of Pesticides and Land Use on Biodiversity in Germany - it is to be determined whether the biodiversity losses in the German landscape are largely side effects of the use of pesticides. Which animals and wild plants live on the pesticide-treated fields? And what effects do the pesticides have on the nature around them? To answer these questions, Benito Schöpke and colleagues from Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) carry out research in the area close to Eberswalde northeast of Berlin. In the current edition of IQ Magazine, a podcast from BR, he talks about the project and biodiversity in the field.

Dissertation Gabriele Schiro

The project “Agricultural System of the Future: DAKIS – Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System”, coordinated by ZALF, had its kick-off meeting on 14th June in Berlin with 38 participants. Together with nine other research institutions, the scientists are working on a vision of the digital agriculture of tomorrow. A digital decision-making system for practical use will deploy robotics, sensors and computer models to make crop farming systems more economically efficient and at the same time more environmentally sustainable. After a keynote by Dagmar Weier of the Projektträger Jülich (PTJ), Ms. Bellingrath-Kimura presented the visions and goals of the DAKIS project.

Johannes Hafner of the working group “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries“ (ZALF) presented the results of integrated agroforestry systems in semi-arid Tanzania at the World Congress on Agroforestry 2019 at Montpellier. Innovative wood-based cooking systems and integrated agroforestry systems can reduce the dependency of smallholder farmers on off-farm firewood sources. At the 4th World Congress on Agroforestry 19th-22nd May the ZALF Ph.D. student Johannes Hafner represented the working group SUSLAND and presented results of integrated agroforestry systems in semi-arid Tanzania. Together with the ZALF-Fellow Dr. Anthony Kimaro, country director of ICRAF Tanzania, Mr. Hafner demonstrated potentials for smallholder farmers to be energy self-sufficient considering drivers of firewood demand and supply at household level. The World Congress on Agroforestry is a key international conference, which provides the platform for researchers and other stakeholders of agroforestry systems to share latest research findings on agroforestry around the world. The conference is supported by international stakeholders like the CGIAR system, ICRAF and CIFOR.

Prof. Dr. Steffen Kolb

On Tuesday, 11th June, more than 90 participants came to the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg for the Lupine Field Day to find out more about the yield potential of lupine and soy varieties and innovative cropping systems. The field day gave a very good insight into ZALF's legume research. In his speech, the Scientific Director Prof. Ewert emphasised the important role of legumes. In the afternoon, lupin fields were also visited on nearby farms. "The field day was better attended than ever before and there was a lot of positive feedback", Dr. Moritz Reckling was pleased to report. The event was organised by ZALF together with the lupine promoting association "Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Lupine" (GFL). In addition to many farmers from the region and from the Brandenburg Farmers Network accompanied by ZALF, participants came from the Lupine Network, experts from consulting, trade and science, as well as international partners from Finland, Serbia, Romania, Austria and Switzerland from the EU project 'Legumes Translated'.

In June, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) will launch its coordinated project Contracts2.0 within the framework of the EU funding programme Horizon 2020. Over the next four years, the 27 partners from research and practice from 12 different EU countries will work together on innovative contract models to incentivize farmers for the increased provision of environmental public goods. According to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the achievement of the environmental objectives laid down in the European Common Agricultural Policy depends on the implementation of so-called agri-environment-climate measures (AECM), organic farming and animal welfare measures. The new contract models for AECM that are being developed as part of the project are intended to spur the interest and intrinsic motivation of farmers to carry out these AECMs more intensively. However, the project also aims to show what the future framework conditions in agricultural policy will have to look like so that the models developed can also be implemented on a larger scale. “Our aim is to provide farmers with better incentives to integrate environmental measures into their farms. We are therefore developing new contract models that will make it both more effective and simpler to align the profitability of the farms with the sustainability goals”, says Prof. Bettina Matzdorf, who is heading the project at ZALF together with Dr. Claudia Sattler. So far, farmers have generally preferred the production and supply of food or biomass, so-called private goods, for financial reasons, which in turn can lead to negative environmental influences such as soil erosion, nitrate leaching or the loss of biodiversity. The new contract models will be designed to reduce these negative effects. Specifically, four types of new contract models will be examined: result-based environmental payments to farmers, cooperative contract models between several farmers, payments linked to specific land tenuresystems, and contract models that link actors along the value chain. In the coming years, an inventory and analysis of existing contract models will be carried out before new models are developed and finally tested in the field during the project runtime. A total of 11 so-called Contract Innovation Labs will be set up in nine different countries – three of these also in Germany. The new contract models will be developed on-site together with practitioners. A number of additional Policy Innovation Labs will be set up in order to find out how future agricultural policy will have to be shaped to make such models feasible. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 818190.

Srijna Jha from the team “Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries (SusLAND)” at ZALF attended and presented two posters at the 4th European Climate Change Adaptation Conference on 28th May 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal. The first poster was titled “Green Revolution Technologies And Sub-Saharan Africa: Analyzing The Constellation Of Constraints For Scaling-Up Agriculture”, which discussed the adoption, scaling-up and associated constraints for use of fertilizers, improved cultivars and small-scale irrigation in Tanzania. The second poster was titled “Household Adoption Of Water Conservation Technologies In Tanzania”, which provided a conceptual framework and discussed the model for adoption of water conservation technologies in Tanzania.

Researcher Héctor Camilo Morales from the working group "Sustainable Land Use in Developing Countries" from ZALF presented his work about environmental peacebuilding in Colombia at the Latin America-Caribbean Conference in the Federal Foreign Office on 28th May. The panel main subject was about educational and research cooperation between Germany and Latin America. The panel presented and discussed selected findings from collaborative research projects focused on current conflict and violence dynamics as well as experiences in conflict transformation and crisis prevention in Colombia and Central America. Mr. Morales is developing a set of indicators to measure the impact of land use systems interventions on peacebuilding. He undertakes his research within the SLUS research project that started 2019 at ZALF. The SLUS project "Implementing sustainable agricultural and livestock systems for simultaneous targeting of forest conservation for climate change mitigation (REDD+) and peace-building in Colombia," is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.

Improving the efficiency of resource-use is a central topic in agricultural research with strong implications for global food provision and the protection of natural habitats and resources.

The peace agreement of 2016 ended the decade long war in Colombia. To build the peace, it is now necessary to create new livelihoods for people living in rural areas that were heavily affected by the conflict. This is the goal of the new research project “Implementing sustainable agricultural and livestock systems for simultaneous targeting of forest conservation for climate change mitigation (REDD+) and peace-building in Colombia (SLUS)”. It involves researchers of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). To promote the start of the project and discuss its work in Colombia, ZALF is organizing the research event „Colombia Day“ on its campus in Müncheberg on 24th May, 2019.

Deutsch-französische Forschungsinitiative zu Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer pestizidarmen Landwirtschaft in Europa Ist eine Landwirtschaft ohne chemisch-synthetische Pflanzenschutzmittel möglich? Um diese Frage zu beantworten, gehen deutsche und französische Forscherinnen und Forscher jetzt gemeinsam voran: Das Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e. V. hat mit dem französischen Nationalen Institut für Agrarwissenschaften (INRA) sowie dem Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI) eine in dieser Form einzigartige europaweite Forschungsinitiative ins Leben gerufen. Das erklärte Ziel: den Einsatz von chemisch-synthetischen Pflanzenschutzmitteln bis 2050 auf ein Minimum zu reduzieren. Am 17. Mai 2019 treffen sich Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der europäischen Spitzenforschung nun in Berlin, um ein Strategiepapier und eine Roadmap zu entwickeln, Forschungslücken zu identifizieren und sukzessive zu schließen.

Summer School in Tashkent: Sustainability Assessment of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus for Irrigated Agriculture - Interdisciplinary Approaches in Central Asia (WEFCA)

The roundtable "Spatial justice: state, positions and future challenges", was an important contribution of ZALF at the Open Science Meeting of the Global Land Programme on April 26, 2019 in Bern. The session was chaired by apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith (ZALF, AG CCI). Together with Prof. Dr. Köck (UFZ) he gave a short introduction and moderated the discussion. More than twenty participants discussed views on the topic and developed perspectives for research and practice. It became clear that "Spatial Justice" will, as in the future, have a major impact on land use issues. Therefore, new forms of cooperation have been agreed under the GLP and the new ReGerecht-Project, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Reserach.

The international research project SUNEX, funded by Belmont Forum and Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe, aims at formulating sustainable urban FWE Nexus strategies by optimizing the synergies between food, water and energy systems. The applicability will be tested in the four cities Berlin, Bristol, Doha and Vienna.

The project “Agricultural System of the Future: DAKIS – Digital Agricultural Knowledge and Information System” coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) was launched in April. Together with nine other research institutions, the researchers are working on a vision of the digital agriculture of tomorrow. A digital decision-making system for practical use will deploy robotics, sensors and computer models to make crop farming systems more economically efficient and at the same time more environmentally sustainable. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing a total of EUR 7.4 million over a period of five years. Global agriculture is facing major challenges. The world’s population is growing – to over nine billion people by 2050. While available farmland is declining worldwide, particularly due to erosion, desiccation and flooding, climate change is increasing the risk of crop failures caused by extreme weather conditions. Much more will therefore have to be harvested on less fertile soil in the future. At the same time, the use of fertilizers, chemical pesticides, water and energy must be reduced in order to save resources and reduce the environmental impact. How can agriculture meet these challenges, i.e. become more efficient, more sustainable and more adaptable to climate change all at the same time? “In order to produce more food in the long term, we have to strike a balance between intensifying production on the one hand and sustainability aspects on the other”, says Prof. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura, head of the project and agronomist at ZALF. “Digitization now gives us the tools to shape this middle ground.” In the DAKIS project, the researchers want to develop an information and management system that is so far unique throughout the world, and which combines the optimization of production with environmental and nature conservation requirements in new crop farming systems. “With the DAKIS system, the agriculture of the future becomes reality”, says Prof. Bellingrath-Kimura. “We are addressing the solutions to the major challenges facing agriculture: climate change, food security and sustainability, for the first time in a holistic, digital information and decision support system, which combines real-time data with simulation, social requirements and economic factors.” North and South Germany: two types of agriculture as test regions The application is to be developed and tested in two very different agricultural test regions, in Passau in Bavaria and in the Uckermark in Brandenburg. While the Uckermark is characterized by low annual precipitation and a large-scale agricultural landscape on soils with average yield potential, the district of Passau has significantly higher annual precipitation and soils with high yield potential in a very small-scale agricultural landscape. First of all, a status quo of the two regions will be established: What services are currently provided by agriculture, i.e. how much food is produced for humans and animals, how many renewable raw materials are produced? What regulatory services are available, such as floodplains, carbon dioxide release and storage capacities, or the pollination performance of crop plants? Which animal and plant species live in the regions and under what conditions? Finally, cultural aspects will also be covered, such as the recreational function, environmental education and tourist aspects of agricultural landscapes. Of great importance for the later DAKIS system: What effects do cultivation measures have on species diversity and the ecosystem services mentioned above, i.e. services provided by the landscape for the benefit of society? In the next step, the researchers will determine the regional demand for these ecosystem services in society. From the findings they will then derive how a central management and information system can translate this demand into concrete land use strategies and agricultural recommendations for action. These are the demands placed on agriculture. The networked agricultural landscape: sensor technology and real-time monitoring A wireless sensor network comprising static sensors and partially autonomous robots will be set up at the same time in both test regions. The system continuously records important landscape parameters, such as soil composition, plant population or meteorological data, and links these to satellite-based observation. In this way, changes in the landscape can be continuously monitored and fed back into the decision-making system. The ideal farm: from computer model to reality With the help of this data as well as the social demands placed upon agriculture, computer models calculate the “ideal farm” adapted to the region, which perfectly balances the relationship between production maximization, ecosystem services and technical feasibility. The models take economic factors into account: DAKIS is also intended to support, for example, the planning of long-term investments, such as the purchase of irrigation systems or agricultural machinery. At the same time, the cropping systems are examined for their economic efficiency, for example with regard to weather conditions. The use of resources such as water, fertilizers and pesticides is reduced to a minimum. Also, the system should make small-scale cultivation, so-called spot farming cultivation, possible. With this shift in the cultivation system away from increasingly large fields with monocultures and heavy agricultural machinery towards smaller and more diverse field units, two significant developments could be countered: the decline in the biodiversity of agricultural landscapes and the very limited cultivation portfolio leading to the extinction of certain crops. Cross-farm networking in agriculture using DAKIS will also create new opportunities for cooperation and the division of labor. Ultimately, the system should be able to simulate both agricultural yields and ecosystem services in real time. DAKIS in action The results from the monitoring system and the simulations are linked in the DAKIS interface with legal, political and social parameters. Agricultural knowledge is also stored as a building block in the DAKIS decision-support system. All the data streams are brought together on an intuitive user interface, condensed into recommendations for action and visualized in a way that is easily comprehensible for practical use. This will then be tested and further developed in both test regions with a focus on two typical types of use, grassland and arable land. From the outset, the researchers will also be investigating how the measures can be implemented using innovative technology, such as robotics, and how potential acceptance barriers can be overcome in practice.

On 18 April 2019, the new High-Performance Computer Cluster (HPC) at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) will commence operations. Following a 6-month construction period and investments of 1.78 million euros, it was inaugurated today. It has 20 times the performance of the previous computing capacities and replaces an outdated computing infrastructure. In particular, the new cluster will enable complex calculations, such as the simulation of grain yields of entire countries or continents taking climatic changes into account, to be carried out with new data quality and speed

Crop models simulate the growth of agricultural crops and help predicting yields. They are used to estimate the impact of projected climate change on agricultural production and to virtually test possible adaptation strategies. While the direct consequences of climate change are often communicated to the broader public as an increasing sum of hot days and tropical nights, or in the form of prolonged droughts, crop models translate the simulations of climate models into figures relevant for production.

ZALF invites you to “Colombia Day” on May 24, 2019. As part of a new ZALF project in Colombia researchers are investigating to what extent sustainable land use systems and food security can positively contribute to supporting the peace process in Colombia. A delegation from the National University in Bogota, Colombia, will visit ZALF. During this visit there will be a public workshop with lectures and discussions regarding: - the interdisciplinary networking of research activities with Latin America; - exchanges of current research approaches and current political developments; and - further planning of future research initiatives. Colombia Day is a part of the research project "Implementing sustainable agricultural and livestock systems for simultaneous targeting of forest conservation for climate change mitigation (REDD+) and peace-building in Colombia," which started in 2019 at ZALF.

UN Environment report points on linkages between environmental degradation and human health

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is a partner of the project Scaling-Up Nutrition (Scale-N), which is concerned with improving the nutritional situation of people in southeastern Africa. Representatives of the Scale-N project had the opportunity to present the kitchen garden intervention at the top-class breakfast event UNEA 4, which took place on 13th March in Nairobi / Kenya. The UNEA 4 aimed to conceptualize the way humans produce and consume food in the nexus of the greatest global challenges. The year 2020 is dedicated to overcome these challenges by reconnecting nature, prosperity and wellbeing with a global "New Deal for Nature and People". The event brought together senior decision makers from the public and private sectors to discuss integrated solutions and the scaling up potential of nature based solutions. Four speakers were invited and Dr. Hadijah Mbwana presented the Scale–N project outcomes focusing on how kitchen gardens can empower women via establishing sustainable food systems and simultaneously supporting biodiversity.

Four researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) were accepted for funding by the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ (DFG) last year. Dr. Maria Kernecker and Dr. Moritz Reckling have successfully acquired two projects within the framework of the DFG Junior Scientists Academy "Agricultural Ecosystem Research and Plant Production". Dr. Kernecker is researching the forest effects on grassland biodiversity under different management conditions. She investigates the question whether grassland management or landscape composition are more relevant for biodiversity. Dr. Reckling investigates the influence of the climate on the yield stability of grain legumes such as peas, field beans and soybeans. To this end, he will analyse international long-term experiments in Europe using innovative statistical methods and simulation models. Dr. Ahmad Hamidov and Dr. Daniel Puppe were also successfully accepted by the DFG. In his project, Dr. Hamidov investigates the conflicts and interactions between energy production, agriculture and soil salinisation in relation to water use in Uzbekistan. The BiSiAL project, which is led by Dr. Puppe, aims to contribute to a basic understanding of the silicon cycle of agricultural systems by producing detailed silicon deposits of different sites. The highly qualified young PostDocs can continue to focus their research within the framework of DFG funding and thus make an important contribution to agricultural landscape research at ZALF.

Fenland expert of ZALF at the "Ökofilmtour" in Brandenburg

What are the benefits of organic farming for the environment and society? This question was posed by scientists in a recent study published by the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, the Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) was responsible for the topics related to “Biodiversity”. 75 studies from 26 countries were evaluated. Dr. Karin Stein-Bachinger, Almut Haub and Frank Gottwald from ZALF analysed the effects of organic agriculture on arable flora, field margin vegetation, field birds and flower-visiting insects in comparison with conventional farming for their contribution to the current Thünen Report 65. 86 % of the pairs of comparisons described in the studies indicated clear benefits for vegetation. Animal species benefited in 49% of cases. The team sees the main reasons for this in the severe restriction of external inputs, such as the renunciation of mineral nitrogen fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, as well as the optimized recycling. Structural elements in the surrounding landscape, such as hedges and field margins, which are used by many species as partial habitats, also have a significant influence on biodiversity. They can have a significant impact on the effects of land use. However, within the framework of comparative studies between organic and conventional farming, there only have been few studies on this subject until now. For their study, Stein-Bachinger and her team identified 801 studies that appeared on this topic between 1990 and 2017. On the basis of strictly defined criteria, 75 studies were selected and the 312 comparison pairs described were statistically evaluated. The team looked at the species richness and abundance with which individual species occurred. The results show that organic farming can reduce various environmental impacts at the same time and thus makes a relevant contribution to solving current environmental and resource policy challenges. “The studies also show our increased knowledge of the causal relationships between management measures on the one hand and impacts on the environment and biodiversity on the other”, says Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF. However, it is important to continue research on the influence that the surrounding landscape structure, in particular, has on the biodiversity of cultivated areas and the interactions that exist, according to Ewert.

Michael Stübgen (MdB, CDU), Parliamentary State Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), visited a Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) project in the East African country Tanzania on March 1st and 2nd. Since 2015, a team from ZALF and the University of Hohenheim has been working jointly with partners from science and practice on local solutions related to agricultural production in the Scale-N project. The aim is to reduce malnutrition through education and technical innovation.

In February 2019, the Integrated Priority Project (IPP) “Small Water Bodies in an agricultural landscape: Ecosystem services of spatial and temporal within-field transition zones (SWBTrans)” was launched at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). It will fill knowledge gaps about the “Smart Use of Heterogeneities of Agricultural Landscapes”, one of the ZALF’s focal topics. The three-year project is funded by the ZALF budget and combines the expertise of four working groups.

The food security project Vegi-Leg, which is carried out in Tanzania (TS) and Mozambique (MS), has had an excellent start: From 4th to 6th February 2019, project participants mainly from the University of Lurio (MS), the University of Hohenheim as well as the Sokoine University for Agriculture (TS) met in Morogoro, Tanzania. The aim of the project funded by the BMEL is to optimize the processing of African leafy vegetables and pigeon peas in order to avoid processing losses of micronutrients as much as possible. The participants discussed productively the timing and content of the questionnaire, but also defined success criteria and expected output as a team. The three-year project will be conducted in four villages (2 in MS, 2 in TS) and the data will allow four doctoral students to complete their dissertations.

The five fact sheets published by the Scaling up Nutrition (Scale-N) project detail the implemented agricultural innovations. These include 1. the education about home gardens for vegetable production, 2. the implementation of various educational components for healthy food consumption, 3. the expansion of an SMS-based trading system for agricultural products by including nutritional messages, 4. the establishment of a centre for professional vegetable trade and processing, and 5. the implementation of various components for soil improvement through compost production. These initiatives have been undertaken in close consultation with local people and represent in sum excellent ways to address nutritional deficiencies and improve malnutrition. The success of the individual components is still being investigated, but initial results show that the local nutrition status has improved. The Scaling-Up Nutrition project (Scale-N) is concerned with improving the nutritional situation of people in south-eastern Africa. The focus is especially on central and eastern Tanzania, where help is given to self-help through economic as well as nutritional interventions, whereby the results and changes are scientifically recorded and investigated in detail - the project thus follows the action research approach. Initial results now show that in the period of the project, an improvement of various blood parameters of the affected population could actually be achieved and that, above all, the training components promise long-term success. Scale-N is sponsored by BMEL.

Project launch: Microbes strengthen plants’ own defences against extreme weather events

Trans-SEC Documentary on youtube

Summer School WEFCA

On 8th/9th January 2019 the workshop on “Rethinking the governance of European Water protection” took place at UFZ Leipzig. Scientists from various European countries discussed the state-of- the- art in European Water Governance and new ideas for its further development. In four panels on topics like „Rethinking plurality and implementation obstacles“, „Rethinking perceptions and assessment“, „Rethinking sector integration, coordination and public participation“, „Rethinking water protection objectives and instruments“, and „Rethinking Research“ the social scientists exchanged their ideas and research experiences. During the following group working phases they planned joint follow up activities, e.g. various publications of workshop results, a joint project proposal and further meetings.

In January 2019 apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith took part in an one week expert meeting of the programme “Vocational Education in Central Asia” financed by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit) at Almaty / Kazakhstan. He presented and discussed „System solutions for sustainable production in cultural landscapes“. About thirty participants from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan und Kirgizia attended the meeting organized by GWT Dresden. In future new ways of collaboration will be possible based on personal networks developed during the workshop.

European seed companies neglect the resistance to climate change when breeding wheat varieties. Especially in Germany, but also in other European countries, the cultivated varieties are susceptible to weather extremes such as heat, drought or heavy rain, reports an international team of researchers in the "Proceedings" of the US National Academy of Sciences ("PNAS"). The background is the rather one-sided breeding for characteristics such as high yield, stalk stability or disease resistance.

Now Available: The Trans-SEC Book of Participative Research - Approaches for implementing food securing upgrading strategies

The German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has supported six German-African Research consortia with a total budget of 45 M Euro. The projects started early 2013 and will be phased out by end of 2018. 270 participants came to the conference in Naivasha, Kenya on the 3rd and 4th of December 2018. The Conference aims at disseminating these outputs widely in the target regions of the research and beyond the immediate GlobE consortia. These GlobE research networks have yielded a vast number of outputs, including technical, organizational, institutional, and social innovations, resource management and development strategies, indicators to assess innovations and strategies regarding ecological, economic, and social aspects of sustainability, benchmarking frameworks, management recommendations, dissemination materials and strategies, and policy recommendations. The work group SusLAND at ZALF coordinated the Trans-SEC project, which was presented successfully. An additional exhibition demonstrated GIS applications, documentaries and a poster presentation. It was followed up by a dialogue session on science-practices interfaces.

Last month’s 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity discussed the pressing issue of biodiversity conservation and its relation to food security. Brazil was a participant with a right to vote, although it had acted merely as an observer in negotiations on the 2010 Nagoya Protocol, which it had failed to ratify because of its agribusiness and other interests. In our view, Jair Bolsonaro’s incoming government is likely to stand by those interests, despite the need to protect one of the world’s most biodiverse countries (see also Nature 563, 5–6; 2018). The government now taking shape is committed to relaxing requirements for environmental licences and loosening environmental regulations. The newly appointed minister of agriculture has called for measures such as the ‘pesticide package’ (bill number 6.299/2002), which would weaken the criteria for pesticide approval — despite the concerns of United Nations rapporteurs Hilal Elver (on the right to food) and Baskut Tuncak (on toxins). And, in a further blow to biodiversity, Bolsonaro has promised to open up the Amazon for agribusiness, with no indication that he intends to support traditional communities.

Foresight, Assessment und Governance - 9 projects exchanged about socio-economic research in BonaRes: On 26 and 27 November 2018, the sixth workshop of socio-economic researchers in BonaRes was hosted by the BonaRes Centre in Berlin. The meeting aimed at presenting and exchanging results of the BonaRes research achieved during the first funding phase and at discussing research plans for the second funding phase of the BonaRes program.

In the new “Vegi-Leg” project, researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) are working with partners from Germany and Africa to find solutions to improve malnutrition in Tanzania and Mozambique. In particular, new possibilities for the processing of foodstuffs, which will help make them more durable, are to be developed with the local people. The three-year project is coordinated by ZALF and is part of the “Global Food Security” development program of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The number of people worldwide who are malnourished now stands at 815 million, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Report 2018. This includes rural population groups in Tanzania and Mozambique. Those affected often suffer from micronutrient deficiencies as a result of malnutrition. “One reason for this is that nutrient-rich plant foods, such as green- leafy vegetables, can be harvested abundantly during the rainy season, but up until now have either been stored inadequately or not at all during the dry season”, says nutritionist Dr. Constance Rybak, project manager at ZALF. In view of this seasonal food shortage, the research team in the “Vegi-Leg: Implementing innovative processing technologies for nutrient-dense plant foods (African indigenous vegetables and legumes) to safeguard perennial nutrition security– an East African and Southeast African country comparison” project aims to develop new and improved processing technologies to ensure the preservation of nutrient-dense plant foods. This is done in close cooperation with local companies, scientists and, above all, actors from subsistence agriculture, i.e. people who only grow for their own needs in order to secure the family’s livelihood. The project focuses on green leafy vegetables as provitamin A suppliers and pigeon peas as sources of protein. It is also about the transfer into society: In order to assess the initial situation, a basic survey is conducted in which nutritional habits and current options for the cultivation, preparation, processing and storage of nutrient-rich foodstuffs are investigated. Furthermore, researchers are collecting anthropometric data, such as the height and body weight of women and children, who often have a poor nutritional status due to cultural reasons. The jointly developed processing methods will later also be introduced into the communities in training workshops on preparation and processing techniques. Therefore, the project is also addressing methods for transferring knowledge into the local society. The researchers want to evaluate the impacts of the developed processing technologies by conducting a final survey in the participating villages. Additionally, monitoring activities after project lifetime are envisaged in order to continuously further develop and disseminate the solutions developed.

Dr. Kurt-Christian Kersebaum, Agricultural Engineer in the Working Group Ecosystem Modelling at ZALF, was named as „Highly Cited Researcher“ 2018 in the category Cross-Field by the Web of Science. And for the second year in a row Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director at ZALF and Professor of Crop Science at University Bonn, was also named as „Highly Cited Researcher“ in the category „Agricultural Sciences“. The Web of Science is one of the world's most important online literature and citation databases. Prof. Frank Ewert is one of the few scientists in the field of Agricultural Research in Germany who is listed there. Thereby his research ranks among the most influential in this discipline.

The global challenges on food and agriculture are formidable: Climate change, biodiversity loss and migration, pressure on water and nutrient cycles, soil degradation combined with over-, under- and malnutrition. How can around 10 billion people feed themselves in 2050 with a healthy and sustainable diet? Dr. Vandana Shiva, alternative nobel price laureate, author and activist and Norbert Lemken, Director on Agricultural Policy at Bayer Crop Science have never before talked to each other in person about their visions and perspectives. They will sure be different und insightful. Together with the expert for resource efficiency and agronomist Prof. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), and moderated by Benny Haerlin from the Foundation on Future Farming (ZSL), the panel guests will discuss agriculture of the future.

Invited by several scientific institutions of Indonesia, apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith visited Indonesia from 21st October to 2nd November, starting with a keynote address at the first SoRes / SiReS conference in Bandung. The conference brought together scientists from different disciplines to talk about current challenges of sustainable development. Lectures at universities in Bandung and Yogyakarta for Studium Generale could be realized. In addition, the project area of PhD student Roni Susman in Patimban was on the list. In Subang and Bandung talks were held with representatives of planning authorities additionally. In the resource-rich country, where many people fight for their everyday existence, an enormous diversity of land use conflicts can be noticed. Solving them in a complex social context poses a major challenge. Here questions of power, ownership and resource responsibility arise in the context of difficult societal situation. The development of approaches towards sustainable land use therefore will be deepened in cooperation with various scientific institutions as well as within the scope of the supervised doctoral thesis.

PhD-thesis successfully defended

ZALF pursues the open data strategy for research data and is pleased to announce first open access data publication of a long-term field experiment (LTFE) for free reuse

What is the impact of agriculture on insects and what do insect-friendly use systems look like? Researchers in the project “FInAL – Promotion of Insects in Agricultural Landscapes” have been addressing these questions since October. The joint project, funded with around 5 million euros by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and coordinated by the Thünen Institute, is the first to examine large sections of the landscape in order to find out how the diversity and functionality of insects can be selectively increased. The Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is providing a landscape laboratory in the Havelland Luch, northwest of Berlin. A total of three areas, representing the typical agricultural environments of Germany, are to be researched. Over the next three project years, the researchers will develop insect-friendly cultivation systems in the landscape laboratories, which cover several square kilometers. The main focus is on renewable raw materials, i.e. plants and plant residues that are used as materials or to generate electricity, heat and biofuels. The influence of near-natural habitats, such as blossom strips and other biotopes, is also being investigated. The researchers are also looking for ways of achieving greater diversity in vegetation and thus in insect fauna on grassland. The measures will be developed jointly with the farms in order to improve their implementation in practice. As a result, tried and tested proposals are to be developed to identify ways of making agriculture more insect-friendly. The special feature of this research project lies in the long-term perspective of promoting insects in the overall context of landscape structures and agriculture.

Dissertation successfully defended

In the frame of her dissertation project, Katharina Löhr analysed how to optimize processes and functioning of transdisciplinary research projects. This included the design and testing of a conflict management (CPM) system in a transdisciplinary and international research setting. The Viadrina component model on conflict management served as the conceptual frame. As case study served the Trans-SEC project (PB2), which is coordinated by ZALF (Stefan Sieber/Frieder Graef). Results show positive effects of CPM on project members’ communication and conflict behaviour as well as on interpersonal trust and perceptions of work effectiveness. This suggests that CPM-System is a tool that benefits collaborative projects and that can help project managers to facilitate organizational functioning and project success.

Urban areas and the countryside are usually seen as opposites. However, often sustainable landscape development and infrastructure policies can only be realized through joint efforts. For this reason, the new project “ReGerecht – Integrative Development of a Just Balance of Interests between City, Suburbs, and Rural Areas”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, was launched in September. The kick-off meeting was held at ZALF (Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research).

Too hot and too dry: the summer of 2018 saw losses in arable crops of up to 50 percent in some regions of Germany. As such weather extremes are likely to increase in the future, adapting agriculture to climate change is crucial. Important strategies include agronomic management and breeding of more tolerant crops. For plant breeders it is essential to know whether plants are more vulnerable to heat or drought. An international research team led by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) is providing new answers to this question. The team´s current study has just been published in the scientific journal "Nature Communications".

STEP-UP will increase food security through equitable commercial relationships between markets within the frame of sustainable agricultural production. STEP-UP is coordinated by ZALF and will support smallholder producers to access relevant technologies, innovations and management practices for the transition to commercialized production. LEAP-Agri (http://www.leap-agri.com/) is a partnership between 30 partners including 24 funding organisations from nine African countries (i.e. Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda), nine European countries (i.e. Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Nederland, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Turkey) and an international organization (i.e. CIHEAM-Bari based in Italy). This partnership operates under the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, and its EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue on science, technology and innovation, which includes the implementation of the jointly funded EU-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership focusing on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture (endorsed by the EU-Africa Summit 2014).

More than 220 participants from the fields of science, politics and society accepted the invitation of the Leibniz Association and took part in the conference on the United Nations Goals for Sustainable Development on 14 September in Berlin. The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) was closely involved in the organisation and structuring of the conference

First international BioMove Symposium “Bridging Biodiversity with Movement Research“

Excellence Strategy: ZALF involved in the "PhenoRob" Excellence Cluster One of the major challenges in agricultural research is to increase crop production, despite limited farmland, while at the same time reducing the ecological footprint. To achieve this, the Cluster of Excellence "PhenoRob - Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production" is researching new methods and technologies to observe, analyse, better understand and target plants. To this end, fields are monitored from the air and from the ground. Computers process these sensor data in such a way that robots can automatically control and treat individual plants. This should help make agriculture more efficient, gain new insights into plant growth and avoid the use of chemical aids. "This is a great success and will enable us to maintain close ties with cutting-edge basic research in addition to our application-oriented research. We are contributing here to a central future topic in the field of sustainable cropping systems and are thus also strengthening Brandenburg as a science location with a strong focus on environmental and agricultural science," explains Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF. Funding for the new clusters of excellence begins on 1 January 2019. The funding period is seven years, with a second funding period of seven years following a successful re-application. According to the administrative agreement, the 57 clusters will receive a total of approximately 385 million euros in annual funding, 75 percent of which will be provided by the federal government and 25 percent by the respective host state.

The SusLand working group celebrated the successful promotion of Michelle Bonatti on September 3, 2018. Her work on the "Social Learning Tools (SLT) to promote Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" was awarded Magna cum Laude at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The ZALF congratulates the newly-born doctoral candidate! Ms. Michelle Bonatti will work as a post-doc in a new project of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

As of June 1st 2018, Dr. Claas Nendel has been officially appointed a member of the Integrative Research Institute on Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys).

Dr. Claas Nendel (Co-Head of the Research Platform "Models & Simulation") was awarded for his excellent achievement as reviewer on Publons’ global reviewer database. He received the “Publons Peer Review Awards 2018” for placing in the top 1% of reviewers in agriculture science.

Over the next two years, the Robert Bosch Foundation will be supporting 20 young scientists as part of the "Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership" with this year's focus on "Food Systems / Food sovereignty" through various seminars and start-up funding. Despite Europe-wide applications, three young scientists of the ZALF have prevailed and competed on 26th June with 27 other researchers for the available places. In individual interviews, group assignments and so-called "pitches" (the individual presentation in three minutes), the candidate's leadership qualities were analyzed in detail, in order to to assess their skills and knowledge in the areas of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary thinking and research. The announcement of the results is expected in mid-July.

Am 14. September 2018 findet die erste Leibniz-Konferenz zu den Zielen für nachhaltige Entwicklung (Sustainable Development Goals) im Haus der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft in Berlin statt. In 2015 von den Vereinten Nationen beschlossen, sollen diese einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung auf ökonomischer, sozialer und ökologischer Ebene dienen.

Launch of MoPlaSa research project: Controlling the seabuckthorn fruit fly without chemicals

Correspondence in Nature: Land use must abide by peace agreement Colombia’s rural development must honour peace agreement A resolution signed in June to allow agricultural development on 35% (40 million hectares) of Colombia’s land could risk compromising the government’s 2016 Peace Agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces (see also Nature 558, 169–170; 2018). The agreement places strict controls on the transformation of national lands and environmentally important areas.

On the subject of "Utilizing protein plants successfully", a technical discussion and field day with more than 30 participants from practice and research took place at ZALF on 19th June. Dr. Ing. Ruge-Wehling of JKI spoke about the development of innovative breeding strategies in order to increase the cultivation importance of lupins, eg. the development of selection markers (identification of resistance to anthracnose) for lupine breeding.

What is sustainability in science? How to integrate responsible research with the paradigm of freedom or research? What ethical aspects need to be considered? Such questions were addressed at the 4th ‘research for sustainable development’ SISI Symposium in Munich, Germany, 17th July.

What is SMART and why? A view on smart farming in 7 European countries Agritechnica-Forum „crop production live“ on 17.11.2017 in hall 15 The forum focused on presentations and discussions on technologies and trends that reconcile the necessary increase in productivity of arable and crop farming with resource and environmental protection Members of the Smart-AKIS project team of DLG (Dr. Klaus Erdle) and ZALF (Dr. Maria Kernecker, Friederike Borges) with the support of an expert of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lower Saxony (Philipp Bues) contributed a panel presentation on the topic "What is SMART and why? A look at smart farming in 7 European countries".

Long droughts, heavy rainfall, hailstorms, cold and late frost – extreme weather events cause substantial damage in the agricultural sector. Researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) are investigating in a new project to what extent such extreme weather events can be better predicted and damage prevented or limited.

In a keynote speech, Prof. Dr. Katharina Helming explained the multifunctional significance of the soil, which is not only the basis for the production of 95% of food, feed and raw materials for bioenergy worldwide, but also plays an essential role as carbon storage for climate protection, stores water and nutrients and acts as habitat for a myriad of organisms.

After more than 2 years of work, the EU Smart-AKIS Network invited stakeholders, researchers, advisers, politicians and representatives from the European Commission to its final conference presenting main findings on the adoption of Smart Farming Technologies in European agriculture. The conference took place in Brussels on June the 27th.

ZALF at the European IFSA Symposium in Greece From 1st until 5th July ZALF participates in the European IFSA Symposium in Greece. Under the motto “Farming System Assosciation Farming systems: facing uncertainties and enhancing opportunities” the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (Crete) invites experts from the industry and science to discuss, how more sustainable agricultural systems for the future can be designed and implemented.

On June 20th 2018, Dr. Annette Piorr and Dr. Ingo Zasada, researchers from ZALF were invited by the European Parliament (EP) to an expert hearing to talk about Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture to the members of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development.

ZALF leads and presents the S123 session, “Decision Support Tools For Assessment of Interventions for Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation & Food Security ” at the Adaptation Futures conference 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa

On 6th June, the ZALF PhD Day took place: 19 doctoral researchers presented their work in science slams, hands-on tours as well as elevator pitches and showed how science can be presented in an exciting and creative way. Especially the diversity was impressive: Some researchers have study sites at ZALF, others in countries like Iran, Vietnam or Tanzania, while researching at all scales from microscopic fungi and grains of sand to large-scale land use changes. We thank all presenters for their contributions. The keynote speech by Dr. Frauke Schocker on the concept for good scientific practice at the Borstel Research Centre inspired a debate on scientific integrity. The joint barbecue was a perfect ending to an intense day. The PhD Day is organized by doctoral researchers and serves as a platform for exchange between them as well as with colleagues and guests of other research institutes.

Closing Ceremonies of the Trans-SEC Project This short film captures the closing ceremonies of the Trans-SEC Project from 18th -23rd April 2018 in the villages Idifu, Ilolo, Ilakala and Changarawe in Tanzania. The German-Tanzanian co-operation was led by Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) on the German side and Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) on the Tanzanian side. The five year project aimed at improving the food situation of the vulnerable rural population in Tanzania. Throughout the ceremonies both project-participating small holder farmers as well as researchers presented their experiences and research results. Speeches and gestures of reflection and gratitude were given by both project-management and village representatives.

ZALF researcher invited to give a seminar at FAO on “Engaging community voices in the development of food security and nutrition projects: a social learning approach.”

Most of the fens in Germany have dried up and can no longer fulfil important environmental functions. A pilot project in Brandenburg has now for the first time tested their rewetting using purified waste water from sewage treatment plants.

SusLAND organizes German-African PhD student meeting together with the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE) In order to specifically support the young scientists it finances, the BLE organized a conference in Berlin in mid-May with the active support of the Susland Working Group. The goal was to promote the communicative abilities of the 25 PhD students through a two-day presentation course. The 4-day workshop also improved the ability to publish and provided insights into the world of Open Data and Open Science. The aim was also to give the students the opportunity to network among themselves. There was also a reception in the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) with a welcome by MinDirig dr. K. Heider, as well as a Reichstag tour with Harald Ebner (B90 / Greens).

They come to Europe using a wide variety of routes and transports: invasive mosquito species are on the rise, not only in Germany. They are successfully populating new areas, also because climate change provides them with more favorable living conditions. Researchers have been recording these developments since 2012 in the Mosquito Atlas project. With the aid of mathematical models, they are now going one step further and are making computer-aided predictions about their future distribution.

Women in the natural sciences - Tackling the Gender Gap

Millions of people live in big cities. The food they eat, usually has to be transported over hundreds of kilometres. A study is now investigating which metropolitan areas could organize their food supply more regionally.

Without them there would be no apples, no tomatoes, no strawberries: However, there are fewer and fewer polinattors like bumblebees and bees buzzing around. In their search for the causes, researchers are taking a closer look at the ecosystem of arable land.

Foundation stone ceremony for the “House of Agricultural Biome Research” in Muencheberg. On 5 June, the foundation stone ceremony of the new “House of Agricultural Biome Research” took place at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) with guests from politics, science and industry. In the new building, the research on the impact of microorganisms on crop plant production and climate change will be intensified. With the construction of the laboratory and office building on the campus in Muencheberg, ZALF is strengthening international agricultural research in the state of Brandenburg in the 90th anniversary year of the research institution.

Awards: Outstanding Contributions in Reviewing

http://share1int:801/de/aktuelles/BilderAktuellMeldungen/Meldungen/PB1/Vadose.JPG

On 9th May 2018, the Research Platform “Models & Simulation” celebrated the successful promotion of Evelyn Wallor to PhD. Her work on the modeling of drained and cultivated fen soils was awarded with a "Magna cum Laude" certificate at the Humboldt University in Berlin. ZALF congratulates its freshly graduated scientist.

The death of insects is very much on everyone's lips and was also the topic of this year's "Day of Insects", which was held on 22nd March for the nationwide networking of biodiversity and insects. On the eve of the event, Dr. Doreen Walther put the participants and the public in the right mood for the conference with her presentation "Insects: annoying or useful?". The narrow line between "useful" and "harmful" as well as "annoying" and "dangerous" insects was discussed using the example of blood-sucking mosquitoes, potentially threatening humans and animals in Europe by carrying pathogens.

Shoes, travel, cars – there is now an online marketplace for almost everything. Researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) want to transfer successful, Internet-based business models to previously largely unexplored territory: nature conservation. At the Hanover Fair from 23-27 April, at the joint Berlin-Brandenburg stand, Hall 13 Stand C10, they are presenting the “AgoraNatura” project, their idea for an online marketplace in which companies and private individuals can invest in nature conservation projects whose benefits have been scientifically proven.

Four Leibniz institutions met at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) on 23th of March to discuss migration related to Climate Change, Food Security and Violence. The scientific consortium leaded by ZALF is working to bring together an interdisciplinary expertise network in order to apply for a research project to understand the drivers of migration in terms of crisis and related policies. The project, called “M3 Multidimensional Framework and Response Matrix for Migration”, has been financed in a pre-phase by the Leibniz Association through “Leibniz Research Alliance Crises in a Globalised World”. The objective of this fourth meeting was to get an overview of what has been done and to plan the next steps. Five Master Students of three differents universities in Germany are conducting field work in three different pilot countries: Colombia, Tanzania and Myanmar. The objective is to generate data for a research proposal on migration. The institutes involved are Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) and German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) as external cooperation partner.

European joint study in the scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution: Standardizing experimental environmental research

Second Cohort of Doctoral Candidates for DFG Research Training Group BioMove

Dr. Daniel Puppe from the WG “Si Biogeochemistry” raised a DFG project on the role of biogenic silicon in agricultural landscapes (BiSiAL, own position for 3 years).

Marcus Herbrich defended his Dissertation at U Potsdam

Dr. Dilfuza Egamberdieva, ZALF-associated scientist (guest scientist) has been elected as a member of the committee "High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, Committee on World Food Security, UN". http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/news-archive/detail/en/c/1103100/

An international group of experts has positively evaluated the BonaRes Centre.

A new research project on ecosystem services of grassland has been launched at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg. The focus is on satellite data, which has recently been made available free of charge through the Copernicus programme. This data, which has a high temporal and spectral resolution, will be used to feed modern simulation models which in turn provide decision support for grassland management through simulations.

Kurt Christian Kersebaum, agricultural scientist at the Research Platform “Models & Simulation” at ZALF, has been appointed as vice leader of the “Model Applications in Field Research“(MAFR) community of the American Society of Agronomy (ASA). Kersebaum is an expert for agro-ecosystem modelling with focus on water and matter dynamics, crop growth and climate change. In 2019 he will take the community chair for one year.

For more than five years (2011-2016), German and Brazilian universities, the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) have developed sustainable land management strategies for the southern Amazon as part of the research project CARBIOCIAL. The results of the research project have now been compiled in a special issue of the science journal "Regional Environmental Change".

A new research project kick-off meeting titled “Resources management in the salinized and drought stress-endangered irrigation areas of Central Asia for adapting to climate change (BioWat)” was held in Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers (TIIAME) during 4–5 December 2017.

Lecture about "Knowledge in regional development processes" at ZALF presents current views on regional development in China. It combined conceptual ideas with implementation options and showed practical examples from Chinese regions.

The employees of the experimental infrastucture platform prepare themselves with great commitment for the new year.

New International Science Conference in Berlin Landscape 2018: Food Security, Climate Change, Sustainability From 12 to 16 March 2018, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in cooperation with international partners will be organising the “Landscape 2018” conference for the first time in the Berlin Adlershof Science and Technology Park. With the leading topic of “Frontiers of agricultural landscape research”, the week-long event provides a platform for leading international scientists and scholars from a wide range of disciplines and facilitates interdisciplinary exchange with multipliers from politics and society. Three parallel specialist sessions, more than 75 lectures and 70 posters address the current state of research on the central challenges of globalised agriculture: climate change, food security and sustainability. Three technical excursions, a workshop day and a campus tour at ZALF round off the conference programme.

At the EIP site in Dedelow, preparatory work begins on the development of an innovative, automatic measuring system. For this purpose, on the CarboZALF-D area a gantry crane facility will be constructed, which will enable the automated measurement of gas flows of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) in conjunction with the continuous recording of plant growth parameters.

Leibniz Institutions are engaged in various initiatives in Africa: Whether it’s about development aid, technology and knowledge transfer or capacity building. In order to better visualize the collective commitment the initiative “Leibniz in Africa” was introduced on 28th November. As part of a gala during the 23rd annual conference Prof. Kleiner, president of the Leibniz Association, presented four best practice protagonists, who are exemplary for the engagement of “Leibniz in Africa”. Along with their projects they will be presented on a new Website and in a new brochure. Among them is the ZALF scientist Dr. Stefan Sieber of the Institute of Socio-Economics.

Listen to researchers discuss their challenges and experiences when applying QCA methodology. The panel discussion was organised in the frame of the Berlin Young Researchers' Workshop on the Study of Cooperatives (27-30 March 2017). The Workshop was organised by the Berlin Institute for Co-operative Studies (BICS) of Humboldt-Univestität zu Berlin in partnership with the German Interdisciplinary Working Group of Institute for Co-operative Studies (AGI).

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), the start-up CybeleTech and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) join farmers in the development of a software app for agriculture. The EU project “BARLEY IT”, launched on 1 October 2017, aims for helping farmers in determining the optimum amount of fertilizer for the final spring application, which farmers use to control the final quality of malting barley.

Dawit Ashenafi Ayalew aus Äthiopien begann seinen Forschungsaufenthalt am 1.November für drei Monate.

In the project Trans-SEC ten agricultural innovations have been identified, tested and evaluated towards scaling up of success stories for small-scale farmers in Tanzania. Now each agricultural innovation has been summarized in a comprehensive fact sheet on 4 pages with pictures for better visibility and serve as a guide from objectives, implementation requirements towards lessons learnt.

The 2017 BRAGFOST in Potsdam opens the opportunity for cooperation with Brazil. About fifty participants from both countries discussed the chances and challenges for cooperation. Topics like governance of land use, forms of urban-regional cooperation, knowledge management as well as urban agriculture were highlighted. The meeting was realised as the Brazilian-German Frontiers of Science and Technology Symposium (BRAGFOST 2017) by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Real evapotranspiration (ETr) is an important part of the water balance equation. In situ measurements of ETr are carried out by using weighable lysimeters, soil water budget method, Bowen ratio method, scintillometers, surface renewal (SR) and eddy covariance (EC) method. From all these techniques, the EC method is currently considered to be the most appropriate technique for a precise determination of ETr at field scale.

Dr. Rafael Battisti was recently selected as awarde for the Brazilian national prize "CAPES de TESE 2017" in the area of agricultural sciences for his dissertation, which he completed in 2016.

Waldfragmente

Call: Master thesis for food security projects in Tanzania

Scientists from LSA attended the international conference Trends in Agrophysics that took place in Saint Petersburg from 26th to 29th September. Associated with the festivities of the 85th anniversary of the hosting Institute for Agrophysics scientists from Germany, Poland, Israel, Switzerland, Serbia, Moldavia, Belarus, Tadzhikistan and Russia exchanged their research results on new technologies in agriculture, e.g. precision agriculture, dynamic modelling and decision support, and discussed future prospects.

IGA talk, organised by the Berlin / Brandenburg Regional Group of the Association of Urban and Regional Planners (SRL) in Germany with apl. Prof. Dr. Thomas Weith (ZALF). Topic: urban-rural interrelations and options for cooperation.

On 22nd June 2017 the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research celebrated its 25th Anniversary together with around 250 guests from research, politics and the professional world. During midmorning, a scientific symposium took place on the campus in Müncheberg. Additionally, projects, laboratories and technology were presented as part of a campus tour. In the afternoon, co-workers, sponsors and partners with the ZALF executive board and guests viewed a revue of 25 years of agricultural landscape research during the festive opening ceremony in the ZALF greenhouse and looked together into the future of the research site.

China - again. Prof. Thomas Weith held one of the opening lectures at the conference "Global Transformation and China's Reform of Urban and Territorial Planning" with the other lectures hold by Professor David Harvey and Professor Joris Scheers on May 21st at the Nanjing University (China). On invitation he talked about "Changes in spatial planning knowledge in Germany - connecting local and global views". The two-day conference dealt with the consequences of the United Nations' new Sustainable Development Goals and the related HABITAT process. About thirty speakers from ten countries also discussed the question of how to solve current regional and land-use problems in China. In addition to scientific exchange at the conference, apl. Professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith also held talks with representatives of the Academy of Sciences and the Southeast University on the agenda to deepen the long-standing cooperation. To be continued...

"We can learn a lot from each other and should continue our exchange." After his two-week stay in May at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research WSL, this positive result was drawn by apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith. With an own presentation on "Governance of Land", the participation in a workshop on "Governance research at the WSL", as well as in many discussions, current findings have been exchanged and possible connecting links for future research activities were identified. Questions such as the emergence and solution to diverse land-use conflicts, or the transdisciplinary inclusion of different knowledge stocks in problem solving processes in agricultural landscapes, ought to be discussed in an international context. The cooperation should be continued.

Kai Nitzsche defended his dissertation at the Humboldt-University Berlin and will proceed his career in Japan supported by a Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship.

On April 27, 2017, PhD candidates of the theme cluster "Transformation Research" of the Heinrich Böll Foundation met with experts from ZALF e.V. in Müncheberg to discuss the role of agriculture in the transformation process towards a more sustainable society. At the end of the day, the research group of the Heinrich Böll Foundation discussed the general conditions and possibilities for a more sustainable use of cropland and how agriculture can contribute to the mitigation of climate change.

Co-Production of Knowledge in Agricultural Landscape Research, ZALF-Colloquium, April 11, 2017 with discussion about knowledge, agricultural landscape, sustainable land use, transdisciplinary

The German Council of Science and Humanities appoints Dr. Egamberdieva to a member in a working group on Internationalisation of German Research

Initiated by the Japanese-German Research Exchange Program with support by Prof. Dr. Sonoko Bellingrath-Kimura and Prof. Dr. Yayoi Kaneko, Hannes König took the opportunity to visit TUAT on behalf of our institute and ZALF for one week. The aim of this visit was to strengthen the collaboration between ZALF and TUAT and to discuss concrete plans for mutual research activities.

The farmers of the neolithic

Is grassland with high levels of biodiversity more resistant to adverse environmental changes such as drought? Scientists from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) want to investigate this hypothesis using remote-controlled drones. For this purpose, the DFG project “pETchy: Patterns of Evapotranspiration Changing throughout the Year” is launched on 1 March 2017 as part of the DFG “Biodiversity Exploratories” priority programme.

This January, associate professor Xin from the Southeast University of Nanjing and Dr Li from the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences visited the Institute of Socio-Economics at ZALF. In intensive talks with extracurricular professor Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith, opportunities for intensifying cooperation were discussed, especially with the research area „Co-design of Change and Innovation“. „By cooperating with China“, professor Weith said, „We have the unique opportunity to exchange experiences and solutions for land use challenges and to mutually discuss new perspectives“.

The aim of the joint research project is to better understand nitrogen elimination in grassland soils, particularly on which microorganisms are present, how they act in the soil, and a basic understanding of connections and interactions that occur with plant physiology. Microorganisms are essential to understand the conversion of nitrate to ammonium. This process of the nitrogen cycle creates a soluble form of nitrogen for plant nutrition.

The Research Training Group BioMove funded by DFG got together in November 2016 in Bad Belzig to discuss the one-year results of the 12 PhD projects.

DFG funds two new projects on N and methane cycling in managed landscapes at LBG starting in 2017.

Listing of upcoming colloquia in LBG

China is not just a nation with a long and great tradition, but also a nation with multiple challenges regarding land-use, land-use governance and land-use impacts. That is one of the reasons to - once again - getting in touch with our Chinese colleagues, getting an idea of the situation on-site and exchanging ideas. Therefore apl. Prof.Dr. Thomas Weith, Prof. Dr Katharina Helming and Dr. Katrin Daedlow from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) attended the "Global Land Project 3rd Open Science Meeting" and further events in China from late October until November 2016.

The ”Ecosystem Services Conference 2016” took place from the 19th till the 23th of September at the Belgian University of Antwerp. The conference brought together 600 participants from science, politics and the professional sector to discuss topics of ecosystem services and natural capital.

"Solidarity in a competing world - fair use of resources" was the primary subject of this year’s TROPENTAG. Approximately, 730 scientists from over 62 countries met from the 19th to 21st of September, 2016 at Tropentag, held at the University of Agricultural Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. The annual Conference on Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural and Natural Resource Management (TROPENTAG) dealt this year with prospective procedures for solidarity and the fair use of increasingly scarce natural and non-renewable resources around the world.

In our workshop, we would like to discuss our research approach with those actors who are various ways involved in land use management and its development. Our aim is to fit our research strategy to their experiences, views and concerns.

A resilient development of river basins faces increasing water-borne challenges such as securing water quality and provision, mitigating the effects of droughts, and protecting against flooding. Nature-based solutions, understood as actions which are inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature, can help societies address ecological, social and economic challenges in sustainable ways. In April 2016, the “PlanSmart” research group got started to explore innovative approaches for addressing water-borne challenges through planning and implementing nature-based solutions in river basins and urban regions.

Dr.-Ing. Christian Strauß, Scientific Coordination Project Sustainable Land Managament – innovative system solutions, chairs the special session “Governance of land use: between place and flows” which will be part of the 2017 Annual conference of the International Academic Association on Planning, Law and Property Rights. The conference will be held in Hong Kong from February 19th till 24th 2017. Scientists and practitioners are invited to contribute to the call for papers which runs until October 14th 2016.

The research project “NatApp“ at the Institute of Land Use Systems is engaging with the question: How can this digitalisation be actively applied in assisting measures for nature- and environmental protection? A survey aims to monitor individual options of farmers about opportunities in digital operation management and agricultural funding which will be integrated into the research work.

Researchers of german-french consortium CHLOROFILTER meet at ZALF from 17 to 18 November 2016.

From Juli 22 until September 2016 Dr. Shajeste Gholami, Assistant Professor at the University of Razi, Kermanshah, Iran, is guest at LBG. During her stay, they are working on several collaborative publications, e. g. on the spatial variability of biogeochemical parameters, and also on soil biological results from the long-term experiment V140/00 in Müncheberg.

For several years there has been close cooperation between ZALF and ICRAF in Kenya and Tanzania. ICRAF belongs to the group of international CGIAR Consortion Research Centres. The collaboration began in 2007 with the BMZ/GIZ /BEAF projects ReACCT and Better-IS. After these successful projects (Resilient Agro-landscapes to Climate Change in Tanzania (ReACCT) and Biofuel Evaluation for Technological Efficiency Using Renewables Integrated Strategies (Better-iS)) the cooperation continues within trans-SEC.

Nitrogen budget calculator (a tool to calculate Nitrogen budgets in organic forage systems), Legume estimation trainer (a learning tool for a better estimation of the legume proportion in forages​), ROTOR (a tool to plan crop rotations in organic farming systems​), SOLID DSS (diet planning tool for organic and low-input dairy farms)

On 6 July 2016, Meike Weltin and Dr. Jens Rommel from the Institute of Socio-Economics of the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) were honored with the Albrecht Daniel Thaer Award. Ms. Weltin received the award for the best master's thesis in which income diversification strategies of European farm households are examined. Dr. Rommel was awarded for the best dissertation on the use of economic experiments for institutional analysis in an environmental context.

A new research project has begun at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V. which relies on the cooperation of citizens: scientists are using a Smartphone application of the technology start-up PEAT. With the aid of the app, “Plantix“, it is possible to discover crop diseases quicker and to fight them more efficiently. The “software“ identifies crop diseases and pests based on photos and provides tips on how to treat or control them. The database currently includes 175 frequently occurring crop diseases and pests as well as 40,000 photos. The identification algorithm of the app improves with every image which records a success rate of over 90 per cent as of approx. 500 photos per crop disease.

On July 11, 2016, scientists from all over Brandenburg and Berlin presented their research results at the “Long Night of Science” to thousands of visitors. The Institute of Land Use Systems had prepared something special. In the house of the Leibniz Association guests were invited to join hands-on experiments in order to answer the question: Why soya beans and lupines are considered to be fertilizer factories of nature?

On May 30, 2016 the certificate of appointment was handed over to Dr. Christoph Merz by the vice president of Freie Universität Berlin, Prof. Dr. B. Schütt. Since 1994 Dr. Merz is cooperating with the working group for Hydrogeology at FU Berlin. Since 2010 he has the licence to teach in the special field hydrogeology at the Department of Earth Sciences.

On May 19, 2016, the Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e.V. together with agrathaer GmbH and Komturei Lietzen in Märkisch Oderland organized a field day on the occasion of 20 years „On-Farm Experiment Lietzen“, focussing on reduced tillage.

On July 23rd the PhD day at Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) offers the opportunity for students and young scientists to gather, exchange and discuss information on various research topics around sustainable land use and agricultural landscape research.

Soil degradation caused by erosion is one of the major environmental threats in agricultural land use. In contrast to soil erosion by water and wind, the scientific knowledge about erosion caused by tillage operations is still limited. Therefore, leading international scientists were invited for a worldwide unique field experiment planned and organized by Prof. Fiener (University Augsburg) and Prof. Sommer (Institute of Soil Landscape Research, ZALF) from April 4th to April 7th 2016.

For three days more than 300 scientists from 47 nations have exchanged ideas in Berlin-Adlershof, scientists who are using computer models to understand agricultural systems. The symposium has brought together two major research networks standing for the latest modelling approaches and extensive knowledge in that field. It was hosted by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Müncheberg, Brandenburg (Germany).

In “AgoraNatura“, ZALF’s Institute of Socio-Economics and Institute of Land Use Systems develop a web-based market for ecosystem services (ES) and biodiversity. “AgoraNatura“ is a science-based project that aims at developing and establishing a German internet platform to connect providers and beneficiaries/demanders of biodiversity and ES. In particular, Prof. Dr. Bettina Matzdorf, Carolin Biedermann, Dr. Claas Meyer, Dr. Claudia Sattler, Sarah Schomers, and Michaela Reutter (Institute of Socio-Economics) analyse the demand of business and citizens for biodiversity and ES as well as institutional aspects of designing a web-based market. Dr. Gert Berger and Holger Pfeffer (Institute of Land Use Systems) focus on the development of tenders, their operationalization, and the monitoring of implemented measures.

The Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) has signed a Partnership Agreement with the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) on 3 March 2016. The TUAT is a governmental university specializing in the field of agriculture and technology which is recognized with its internationally oriented research and education of young scientists (no. 7 of the universities in Japan and within the 100 best agricultural universities in the world). Six Professors of TUAT visited ZALF and exchanged research approaches and opportunities for cooperation with ZALF staff members. Actual cooperation projects such as the exchange of scientists and students are planned for the next few years.

The presented physical model shows the water cycle of a landscape. The model was jointly developed by PhD students and senior scientists of the Institute of Landscape Hydrology of the ZALF to illustrate hydrological issues. Using an aquarium enables to visualize the different ways of water flowing through a landscape in a limited space. In this way, important hydrological basics can be comprehended and understood. The model shows, how water behaves on and under the Earth’s surface. The landscape in the aquarium captures elements of landscapes that can be found in Northern Germany.

Aiming at building a German multi-stakeholder community of practice on ecosystem services, the founding meeting of the Innovation Network Ecosystem Services Germany was hosted by the Deutsche Umwelthilfe in Berlin on November 5th 2015. The organizers from Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research Centre (ZALF), the German Centre for Integrated Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, the Leibniz University Hannover, and the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) invited interested stakeholders from science, politics, economy and civil society to discuss common interests and potential activities for the implementation of the ecosystem services approach and the development of solutions for protection and sustainable use of ecosystems in Germany.

Dr. Steffen Kolb is the new head of the institute LBG