2023: Climate Change and Perspectives for the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences.

On the occasion of the annual symposium of the Hochschulverband Witzenhausen e.V. (HVW) on Friday, June 30, 2023, the six new professors of the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences (FB 11) of the University of Kassel presented their future focus topics in Witzenhausen. In all future research fields, the focus was always on the adaptation of agriculture and food production to climate change and the sustainable use of the resources used for this purpose. The series of lectures was opened by Prof. Dr. Miriam Athmann from the Department of Organic Agriculture and Crop Production, the current research projects at the Frankenhausen domain and beyond. Prof. Dr. Fenja Klevenhusen, Department of Environmentally Compatible Animal Nutrition, spoke about: Research for animal health, product quality and ecological sustainability and Prof. Dr. Tobias Weber from the Department of Soil Science on models as abstractions and research tools in the agroecosystem. Prof. Dr. Christoph Gornott from the Department of Agroecosystem Analysis and Modelling is also a scientist at the renowned Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research PIK and spoke about climate adaptation in agriculture: strategies for resilient agroecosystems. Prof. Dr. Katrin Zander from the Department of Agricultural and Food Marketing took a closer look at consumer demand for organic food in difficult times and Prof. Dr. Andreas Braun from the Kassel Institute for Sustainability, Department of Human-Environment, highlighted agroecology and agroforestry as two fields of perspective for the newly created Kassel Institute for Sustainability, at which 17 professorships will each deal with one of the 17 sustainable development goals of the United Nations in the medium term.