Agriculture sciences

Former dumps from landfills or mining operations often resemble moonscapes and revitalization of such areas can take nature decades. A research team has now shown that it can be done more quickly: Using biogenic residues, the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) and its partners have brought a landfill site in the Leipzig area back to life within a short period of time. The project involved landfill operators, sewage sludge recyclers, special machinery manufacturers and agricultural experts.

When people see a farm today, only few think of agriculture's actual task of producing vital food. Instead, younger people in particular associate it primarily with problems relating to animal welfare, nature conservation and climate protection. The RESPECTfarms project aims to change this - by developing concepts for how farms can produce cultured meat instead of traditional livestock farming in the future. Cultured meat is produced by multiplying animal cells in a bioreactor. Animals do not have to be kept or killed for this purpose.

Known as Chinese reed, Miscanthus grass is a hardy and undemanding plant. Once introduced to the field, it grows for decades - even on contaminated and abandoned soils. The plant also produces a great amount of biomass, which is suitable for the production of sustainable chemicals or building and insulation materials, as well as for energy use. Such use of miscanthus for bioenergy production was the focus of a project involving researchers from the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Forschungszentrum Jülich and Hunan Agricultural University in China.

Large quantities of climate-damaging greenhouse gases are released in agriculture every year as a result of livestock farming and fertilization practices. Criticism focuses on the introduction of excessive nitrate levels into the soil through nitrogen fertilizers and the import of feedstuffs such as soy from abroad. According to the German Federal Environment Agency, agriculture was responsible for about 8% of greenhouse gas emissions in this country in 2021, according to initial estimates. The cultivation of industrial hemp could reduce this problem.

Food security is the most important task of agriculture. However, the sector is responsible for a large proportion of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions, which are mainly due to livestock farming. This also leads to the loss of biodiversity through monocultures and fertilization practices. Experts have long called for a rethink on meat consumption. But what would be the impact on agriculture in Germany of cutting out schnitzel, steak and the like? Researchers at the Öko-Institut have investigated this in a study commissioned by Greenpeace.

On land, agriculture urgently needs to become more sustainable for environmental and climate protection; in the water, many marine regions are considered overfished. But humanity's demand for food will continue to rise. One hitherto little-used source that can be both healthy and sustainable is algae, among which are marine grapes. Researchers at the University of Bremen and the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) have now discovered a way to significantly increase their nutritional value.

Weeds are a problem for many farms. In conventional farming, heavy equipment and pesticides are used to try to kill the unwanted plants or keep them in check. In organic farming, no chemicals are used. Here, the weed problem is solved mechanically or thermally. But even this method is not ideal: it is often expensive and can also disturb soil organisms and promote erosion. Researchers at the University of Rostock have now taken a closer look at weed vegetation in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV) in a large-scale field trial. Eleven organic farms from MV were involved.

Fruit pits from plums, cherries, peaches or apricots usually end up in the trash. In fruit processing, over 500 million kilos of pits are thrown away every year in Europe alone. For Austrian start-up Kern Tec GmbH, this is a source of raw materials for new foods. The potential of this upcycling idea has also convinced the system service provider BayWa. Through its investment arm, BayWa Venture GmbH, the Munich-based company is now joining the food tech start-up as a partner and investor.