Agriculture sciences

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development established a number of agricultural goals regarding eco-friendly economic practices. However, especially the developing world is faced with decreased cost-efficiencies during the implementation of the environmentally-sound production processes. In order to address these issues, 40 ministers, CEOs, high-level representatives of UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations and trade unions, as well as more than 300 sustainable development experts gathered in Berlin.

Forests as a resource and ecosystem offer countless opportunities and possible applications. Unfortunately, oftentimes many of these are not compatible. Therefore it is particularly important to develop intelligent plans and policies in order to protect the forest as an ecosystem and as a home for numerous animal- and plant-species, while simultaneously being used as a sustainable resource.

Agricultural enterprises oftentimes accommodate several hundred cows that all need to be fed and taken care of healthwise.  The healthier the animals, the higher are the yields.

GPS and sensor technology have been a part of agriculture for quite some time now. But not just the cultivation of fields can be simplified by the digitization. Radio chips and the likes are also useful to optimize animal husbandry by monitoring animal health and thus increasing revenue. Last fall a survey by Germany's Digital Association bitkom together with the German Farmers’ Association (DBV) revealed that the majority of farmers are already using or would like to use digital technologies in the near future.

Approximately 100 million people live in Ethiopia, making it the second most densely populated African state south of the Sahara. Over the last two years the “El Niño“ phenomenon has caused the worst drought in decades. The “Welthungerhilfe” estimates that 10 million people are threatened by malnourishment and starvation.

You need to have a great deal of stamina and specialised knowledge to study biodiversity on agricultural land. The 'Jena Experiment' is a prime example of biodiversity research in a field laboratory. It was initiated in 2002 by the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU). It is not only the longest-running biodiversity experiment in Europe, but also the largest.

Cultivating tomatoes in space — it all sounds rather alien! Yet that extra-terrestrial mission is central to a project currently being developed by the researchers from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Preparations for the mission: Eu:Cropis (Euglena and Combined Regenerative Organic Food Production in Space) are in full swing. Scientists hope to send a satellite carrying tomato seeds into space before the end of the year.

Preventing deforestation

However, land ecosystems have changed. Forests are being felled for agricultural purposes or existing arable land is being cultivated in new ways.

According to research consultancy HFFA Research, the European Commission decision of 2013 to largely restrict the use of neonicotinoids has clearly had negative environmental impact and resulted in severe economic losses for the European oilseed sector.