3rd Status Seminar of "Agricultural Systems of the Future": On the Way to Transformation

12.10.2022
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The 3rd status seminar of
The 3rd status seminar of "Agricultural Systems of the Future" took place as a digital conference.

The third status seminar of the BMBF funding program "Agricultural Systems of the Future" took place on October 5th and 6th 2022. At the online conference with over 180 participants, the eight consortia and the Central Coordination Office presented the progress of their work. A special focus this year was on the cooperation of the consortia for the implementation of the developed transformation pathways.

At the opening of the event, Dr. Klaus-Peter Michel from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) emphasized the importance of the systemic approach of "Agricultural Systems of the Future," which focuses on long-term and sustainable solutions.

Impulses for changes in the agricultural sector were then provided by transformation expert Dr. Boelie Elzen from Wageningen University & Research in his Keynote Speech, in which he shared insights from more than 20 years of transformation research in the agricultural sector. "The big challenges are not technological, but economic, political and social," Elzen said. Success factors for transformation include combining different innovations ("smart combinations"), breaking down transformation paths into individual, manageable steps, involving people in processes from the beginning, and working with farmers with a pioneering attitude, he said.

Following the keynote, all eight consortia presented their progress:

  • SUSKULT consortium, which is researching a sustainable cultivation system for food in metropolitan regions, reported on the opening of its demonstration plant, among other things.
  • RUN presented progress including the opening of a pilot plant in southwestern Germany, where a nutrient community for sustainable agriculture will be tested.​​​​​​​
  • CUBES Circle presented, among other things, the development status of the three production units (Plant Cube, Insect Cube, Fish Cube) of their emerging urban modular production system.​​​​​​​
  • food4future gave, among other things, insights into the app for collecting nutritional and vital data, which supports the consortium's research on a nutrition of the future.​​​​​​​
  • NOcsPS reported, among other things, on the results of its field trials in Baden-Württemberg and Brandenburg. They are testing an agricultural system that does not use synthetic chemical pesticides.​​​​​​​
  • GreenGrass shared insights from its LivingLab on innovative grassland use, among other things.​​​​​​​
  • Onfield presented, among other things, the demonstrator of the new type of drivers' cab on which the consortium is conducting research.​​​​​​​
  • DAKIS provided insights into the prototype development of its Digital Knowledge and Information System for Agriculture, among other things.

The presentations of the consortia were accompanied by Young Talent Talks and Focus Talks, in which scientists from the consortia presented individual topics of their work in greater depth. The two-day event concluded with an agreement on further strategic cooperation between the consortia in order to advance the technological and social transformation of agricultural systems. For this purpose, "Agricultural Systems of the Future" works along four transformation pathways: integrative indoor production systems, sustainable land management systems and management, local and regional (material) circulation systems, healthy and attractive work systems in agribusiness.

In summary, Prof. Dr. Monika Schreiner and apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Weith from the Central Coordination Office emphasized the importance of the event, as concrete steps for the transformation of agricultural systems are now starting to be implemented together beyond the individual projects.

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Dr. Klaus-Peter Michel (BMBF, r.) and Prof. Dr. Monika Schreiner (Agricultural Systems of the Future) opened the status seminar.
In total, over 180 people attended the two-day conference. Part of the status seminar took place in parallel sessions.