Dr. Rüdiger Graß

In Witzenhausen, I had formative encounters with Prof. Dr. Engelhard Boehncke, Department of Organic Animal Husbandry, and Prof. Dr. Konrad Scheffer, who taught conventional crop production. Both impressed me, as they pointed out that it was more important to feel connected to the overall system of agriculture, to recognize interrelationships and to question systems than to learn only detailed knowledge. They themselves raised many interesting and far-reaching questions, which often led to exciting technical discussions, with the lecturers responding very well to impulses from the students. I studied the major in crop production in my main course of study, as there were many exciting questions open for me in this subject area that I wanted to explore in more depth. During my diploma period, the consecutive study model with diploma I and II was introduced, so I decided to continue studying in diploma II. After a summer on an alpine pasture in Switzerland, where I was able to intensively pursue my interest in animals despite my focus on plant cultivation, I continued my studies in Diploma II with Konrad Scheffer and completed my doctorate in 2003. This involved the development of innovative crop production systems for organic and conventional agriculture in forage and energy crop production. These concepts quickly met with lively interest in the field, and I began to give many lectures outside the university while still working on my doctorate. I also became involved in teaching at an early stage. I enjoyed both very much. This was a smooth transition from my studies to the working world.

In my work environment, I particularly liked the great freedom to work independently, to question problems and to further develop new solutions and ideas in discourse. This resulted in exciting, practical projects and collaborations with diverse partners from research and practice, such as in the project "The rediscovery of winter peas" together with Dr. Christian Schüler and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heß, which laid the foundation for the fact that winter peas are nowadays widely cultivated again in Germany. Such direct implementations from the own scientific activities confirmed the meaningfulness of practice-oriented research.

There were many opportunities to take up other job options, especially since there were few permanent prospects as a scientific employee at the university. But no job, nor any other university, promised such an interesting versatility of research with active field work, teaching and knowledge transfer in such a diverse environment, so that after the doctorate, one temporary employment contract followed the next. Fortunately, there was initially sufficient research funding for the chosen topics. With Prof. Dr. Michael Wachendorf, there was also a successor to Prof. Scheffer, who retired in 2005, with whom I was able to continue and further develop my research work in the field of grassland science and renewable resources. Here, too, the diversity and autonomous freedom in research and teaching determine the work to this day, and with the filling of a half-time permanent position since 2013, has made it easier for me to remain at the university in Witzenhausen.

With all its changes over time, the university location in Witzenhausen, with its diversity and its efforts to take up future-oriented topics in the systemic approach to organic farming and to develop solutions - also for the entire agricultural sector - is the right place for me and I have never regretted staying here, even though that had never been my original plan.