Agriculture sciences

Field robots that weed and determine the nutrient content in the soil, or drones that detect plant diseases: modern field technology with highly sensitive sensors and cameras have already made work in agriculture more efficient and sustainable. However, the technologies used in so-called precision crop farming usually operate in isolation. Due to such isolated solutions, data is lacking and the actual benefits are difficult to evaluate. The DigiMax-PA project aims to change this.

Besides France, Italy, Serbia and Romania, soy is also cultivated in Germany. In the 1980s, there were just 1,000 hectares of arable land for soy; in 2022, according to the Deutschen Sojaförderring ("German Soy Promotion Ring"), there were around 51,400 hectares - an increase of almost 50% compared to the previous year. In the long term, soy production in Europe could continue to increase significantly, as more and more arable land is suitable for cultivation. This is the result of a recent study by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF).

Plants have several protective strategies against insect pests: They can mechanically make it difficult for them to pierce or eat the leaves. They can make their taste or nutritional value unattractive. Or they can go one step further and produce substances that harm predators. But sometimes, in the course of evolution, insects fight back and bypass these defense methods. The cabbage white butterfly is a case in point.

From vanilla crescents to pepper nuts: Cookies and pastries are very popular at Christmas time. Many of these treats contain imported spices that only grow in faraway countries like India. As an alternative, vanilla and pepper could soon also thrive in domestic indoor farms. Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences has now paved the way for this. After two years of construction, the "Indoorfarm - Agricultural Systems of the Future" research center was officially opened at the Haste campus at the end of November.

Agricultural and forestry raw materials and residues have enormous potential for a sustainable bioeconomy. These include waste such as bark, wood residues, straw or grass, but also plants that grow on meadows and pastures. The utilization of grassland cuttings for the bioeconomy in the sense of a circular economy is the focus of the ProGrün project. Researchers at the University of Hohenheim want to establish the proteins contained in grassland cuttings as a new resource - for example, for animal feed, food or platform chemicals.

The DFG has been supporting cutting-edge research at German universities for years. In the coming year, more than a dozen new collaborations will again be funded: The research organization is making a total of 166 million euros available for 13 Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs), initially for the next four years. Bioeconomy research will also benefit from the millions in funding.

More than half the world's population lives in cities, and the numbers are rising. Climate change and its consequences, including heat waves and heavy rainfall, make life in major cities increasingly stressful. There has long been research into how metropolises can protect themselves from such weather extremes in the future. Experts see one way of improving the quality of life for city residents in the greening of facades.

Hemp is one of the oldest crops in the world. The various parts of the plant are used to produce textile fibers, building materials, fuels, medicinal products and foodstuffs. As many uses hemp has, as numerous are the residual and waste materials that are produced during processing. Leaves and blossoms, hemp hurds, hemp dust or even extraction residues from hemp oil production are hardly ever used. Researchers at the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) and Hanffaser Uckermark eG want to change that.

Fertilization practices, monocultures or animal husbandry are to blame: With a share of 8% of Germany's greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture is a major contributor to climate change. At the same time, the agricultural sector is feeling the consequences of global warming among the hardest. Thanks to the breeding of new varieties, agricultural productivity has been demonstrably increased. However, it was previously unclear what effect the advances in plant breeding in recent decades have had on the carbon footprint.