Prof. Dr. Christoph Gornott

Prof. Dr. Christoph Gornott is chair of the department Agroecosystem Analysis and Modelling at the University of Kassel and leader of the working group Adaptation in Agricultural Systems at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). He investigates the impacts of climate, land use and agronomic management on agricultural production and its resilience. His research focus is on analysing and modelling agricultural systems in the tropics and sub-tropics. He has vast experience in acquiring and managing third party projects and longstanding practice in supervising master and PhD students. He is in the expert panel of the Clearing House for Risk Transfer from the Executive Committee of the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage (UNFCCC), invited member of Global Risk Assessment Framework (GRAF) Working Group by UNDRR and active in giving policy advice in the field of climate change impacts on the agricultural sector for several ministries and international organizations. Prior, he worked as a farmer on dairy farms in northern Germany.

• Analyzing implications of climate change and environmental factors on agroecosystems to understand the measures needed for a resilient development and sustainable land use.
• Evaluation of agricultural adaptation options to climate change according to bio-physical, socio-economic and institutional indicators to help farmers stabilize their food production and food security.
• Designing insurance solutions as climate adaptation options which support a resilient agricultural development.
• Developing agricultural forecasting approaches which provide information on crop yields within the current growing season and give recommendations for sustainable agricultural interventions by considering system boundaries.

• Jansen, Undorf, Gornott, 2025: Current and future adaptation potential of heat-tolerant maize in Cameroon: a combined attribution and adaptation study, Environmental Research Letters.
• Becker, Schauberger, Schulz, Merz, Gornott, 2025: The vulnerability of winter wheat in Germany to air temperature, precipitation or compound extremes is shaped by soil-climate zones, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.
• Maskell*, Shukla*, Jagannathan*, Browne*, Ulibarri, Champbell, Franz, Grady, Joe, Kirchhoff, Madhavan, Michaud, Sharma, Singh, Orlove, Alverio, Ajibade, Bowen, Chauhan, Galappaththi, Hudson, Mach, Musah-Surugu, Petzold, Reckien, Schauberger, Segnon, van Bavel, Gornott *shared first authorship, 2025: Dichotomy or Continuum? A global review of the interaction between autonomous and planned adaptations, Ecology & Society.
• Abigaba, Chemura, Gornott, Schauberger, 2024: The potential of agroforestry to buffer climate change impacts on suitability of coffee and banana in Uganda, Agroforestry Systems.
• Murken, Tomalka, Abigaba, Amoah, Amougou, Anaba, Arumugam, Awori, Baek, Below, Cartsburg, Chemura, Cronauer, Didovets, Gizaw, Gleixner, Gloy, Grams, Habtemariam, Hampf, Hauf, Heckmann, Ibrahim, Jansen, Jarawura, Kagonbé, Kaufmann, Kephe, Klockemann, Lange, Laudien, Liersch, Lipka, Lüttringhaus, Neer, Neya, Noleppa, Ostberg, Pollig, Romanovska, Röhrig, Schauberger, Shukla, Staubach, Tchindjang, Undorf, Vetter, von Loeben, von Stechow, von Witzke, Weituschat, Wortmann, Yalew, Zouh, Gornott, 2024 : The need for evidence-based climate risk and adaptation assessments: Lessons learned from the AGRICA project, Environmental Research Letters.
• Romanovska, Undorf, Schauberger, Duisenbekovam, Gornott, 2024: Human-made climate change has decreased wheat production in northern Kazakhstan, Environmental Research: Climate.
• Murken, Mager, Laudien, Krähnert, Gornott, 2024: The impact of weather risk on tenure security – Evidence from smallholder farmers in Tanzania, Land Economics.
• Chemura, Gleixner, Gornott, 2024: Dataset of the suitability of major food crops in Africa under climate change, Scientific Data.
• Murken, Krähnert, Gornott, 2024: Is this land for sale? The effects of drought on land ownership in Uganda, Ecological Economics.
• Romanovska, Schauberger, Gornott, 2023: Wheat yields in Kazakhstan can successfully be forecasted using a statistical crop model, European Journal of Agronomy.
• Romanovska, Gleixner, Gornott, 2023: Climate data uncertainty for agricultural impact assessments in West Africa, Theoretical and Applied Climatology.
• Arumugam, Chemura, Aschenbrenner,  Schauberger, Gornott, 2022: Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies: an assessment on sorghum for Burkina Faso, European Journal of Agronomy.
• Chemura, Kutywayo, Hikwa, Gornott, 2022: Climate change and cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) production: Assessing impacts and potential adaptation strategies in Zimbabwe, Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change.
• Chemura, Nangombe, Gleixner, Chinyoka, Gornott, 2022: Changes in climate extremes and their effect on maize (Zea mays L.) suitability over Southern Africa, Frontiers in Climate.
• Murken, Gornott, 2022: The importance of different land tenure systems for farmers’ response to climate change: a systematic review, Climate Risk Management.
• Laudien, Schauberger, Waid, Gornott, 2022: A forecast of staple crop production in Burkina Faso to enable early warnings of shortages in domestic food availability, Nature Scientific Reports.
• Will, Backes, Campenni, Cronk, Dressler, Gornott, Groeneveld, Habtemariam, Kraehnert, Kraus, Lenel, Osgood, Taye, Müller, 2021: Improving the design of climate insurance: Combining empirical approaches and modelling, Climate and Development.
• Maskell, Chemura, Nguyen, Gornott, Mondal, 2021: Integration of Sentinel optical and radar data for mapping smallholder coffee production systems in Vietnam, Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 266, 112709.
• Vinke, Rottmann, Gornott, Zabre, Schwerdtle, Sauerborn, 2021: Is migration an effective adaptation to climate-related agricultural distress in sub-Saharan Africa, Population and Environment.
• Volk, Gornott, Sieber, Lana, 2021: Can Tanzania’s adaptation measures prevent future maize yield decline? A simulation study from Singida Region, Regional Environmental Change.
• Chemura, Mudereri, Yalew, Gornott, 2021: Climate change and specialty coffee potential in Ethiopia, Nature Scientific Reports.
• Arumugam, Chemura, Schauberger, Gornott, 2021: Remote Sensing Based Yield Estimation of Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Using Gradient Boosted Regression in India, Remote Sensing.
• Habtemariam, Gornott, Hoffmann, Sieber, 2021: Farm production diversity and household dietary diversity: panel data evidence from rural households in Tanzania, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
• Shukla, Gleixner, Yalew, Schauberger, Sietz, Gornott, 2021: Dynamic vulnerability of smallholder agricultural systems in the face of climate change for Ethiopia, Environmental Research Letters.
• Chemura, Yalew, Gornott, 2021: Quantifying agroforestry yield buffering potential under climate 1 change in the smallholder maize farming systems of Ethiopia, Frontiers in Agronomy.
• Laudien, Schauberger, Makowski, Gornott, 2020: Robustly forecasting maize yields in Tanzania based on climatic predictors, Nature Scientific Reports.
• Arumugam, Chemura, Schauberger, Gornott, 2020: Near real-time biophysical rice modeling to support crop insurance implementation in India, Agronomy.