Agricultural, Environmental and Food Systems
The Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Systems engages in research projects in the context of development, in thematic fields such as current or future challenges and opportunities. Our research addresses agricultural, environmental and food systems, especially in relation to resources, public goods, climate change, sustainability, resilience, multifunctionality, value chains and market structures, as well as society's appreciation of land cultivation and food. We analyse system elements (e.g., production factors, actors, subsystems) that are interacting with each other, as well as their functions, structures, information flows, processes, characteristic dynamics and interfaces.
Our department team encompasses scientists from various disciplines (especially economics, natural and social sciences). This allows for a view that is – depending on the research question – systemic, disciplinary, inter or transdisciplinary and also allows the identification and analysis of synergies and conflicting goals as well as the identification of possible solutions. A variety of quantitative, qualitative and combined methods are used in our research work. The results of the scientific research, which are prepared for different target groups (e.g. politics, society, science, experts), can be used as a basis for information and decision-making.
Exemplary current and possible future research topics (partly in cooperation with external project partners):
- Effects of agricultural production on the environment and assessment of climate change impacts on e.g., crop yield stability;
- Economic impacts and land-use changes due to various factors that affect agriculture (e.g., factors such as changes in the legal framework and in agricultural policy measures, price and yield fluctuations);
- Economic, environmental and social impacts of agricultural activities (e.g., environmental services, impacts on food security);
- Experiences, needs, knowledge and behaviour of actors in the considered systems;
- Analysis of system-relevant factors to generate opportunities for conflict resolution and the social coexistence of generations, genders and cultures in rural areas;
- Various forms of knowledge, knowledge transfer systems and innovation processes as well as their role in transformation processes;
- Developments in agricultural, environmental and food systems (e.g., effects of structural change in agriculture, sustainability in value chains, effects of competition in sectors upstream or downstream of agriculture, changes in consumer behaviour, changes in political framework conditions);
- Conflicts of objectives (e.g., sustainable production, security of supply, social justice, economic efficiency) between the elements of the agricultural, environmental and food systems as well as the existing synergies.
Federal Institute
Agricultural, Environmental and Food Systems