Matthias Middendorf

Title of PhD thesis: Organizing Food Sovereignty (working title)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Christian Herzig (Giessen University) and Prof. Dr. Franz-Theo Gottwald (HU Berlin)

• Alternative forms of organization and ownership
• Food sovereignty
• Sustainable entrepreneurship
• Community-based approaches (e.g., community-supported agriculture)
• Succession and handover processes
• Social innovations

• Middendorf, M., Rommel, M. 2024. Understanding the diversity of Community Supported Agriculture: a  transdisciplinary framework with empirical evidence from Germany. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 8:1205809. doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1205809.

• nascent & Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft. 2023 (Hrsg.): Handbuch Solidarische Landwirtschaft. Solawis erfolgreich gründen & gestalten (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeit).
• Grenzdörffer, S., Kaiser, J., Mainz, F., Middendorf, M. 2022. Interdisciplinary perspectives on the diversity of property: potentials for a social-ecological transformation. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society
• Middendorf, M. 2021. Gemeinschaftsgetragenes Wirtschaften: Mit dem CSX-Ansatz aus der Nische zur Ernährungswende?, Schweisfurth Stiftung (online).
• Middendorf, M. 2018. Soziale Innovationen brauchen ein passendes Umfeld, SzeneAlpen Nr. 103 Alpwil, CIPRA Internationale Alpenschutzkommission (Hrsg.), Schaan.

Matthias is a PhD candidate and joined the unit in August 2017. He is receiving a PhD scholarship from the Heinrich Böll Foundation since October 2019. There he is member of the theme cluster Transformation Research. Before the scholarship he has been working in our unit as a research assistant in research and teaching within the international master programs. In his thesis, he uses the concept of food sovereignty and studies actors in the food system from an organizational perspective. One focus is on alternative forms of organization and ownership. In addition to actors in food processing, he is researching the diversity of the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model. Currently he is a visiting scholar at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

He complemented his interdisciplinary studies in social and political sciences (Ludwigs-Maximilians-University of Munich) with focus on sustainability by attending the two-year Certificate program on social innovations of the Social Entrepreneurship Academy, a network organization of the four Munich universities. Besides his academic education, Matthias gained knowledge and experience in agriculture and food industry, development cooperation, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, journalism and foundations. He has work experience in Germany, Rwanda, Israel and others.

Since 2015, he works for the Munich Schweisfurth Foundation where he established the new program area ‘Town – Country – Table’. Today he supports the work of the Foundation as research assistant and project manager at the interface between practice and science. His work includes the support of projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Research seminar2022. Mine? Yours? Ours? Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Importance of Property for the Socio-Ecological Transformation. For the theme cluster Transformation Research in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Collaborative Research Centre "Structural Change of Property" (University of Jena and Erfurt):

Middendorf, M., 2023. Participation in panel discussion about Community-supported agriculture, Living lab Regional & Cooperative Economy in the Werra-Meißner district, Witzenhausen.

Klerman, A., Middendorf, M., 2023. Webinar: Starting a community-supported agriculture organization (online).

Middendorf, M. 2021. Radio ballet " Human-Environment" with reflection workshop, Future for All Congress, Leipzig (as part of the AckerEnsemble collective)

Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management of organic pioneers during succession processes. Practical workshop with young entrepreneurs of the AöL - Organic Food Processors, Brixen, Italy.

Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management during succession processes of organic pioneers of the food processing sector. Perspectives and challenges for partnerships with the organic farming sector, Science Conference Organic Farming, Kassel, Germany.

Herzig, C./Middendorf, M., 2019. Value-based management of organic pioneers during succession processes, Biofach Congress, Nuremberg, Germany.

Middendorf, M., 2017. Social Innovation Theory. Lecture for CIPRA International (The International Commission for the Protection of the Alps), Valle Maira, Italy.

Middendorf, M., 2017. Current developments in the area of alternative food movements. Lecture for Bioland, Munich, Germany.

Middendorf, M., 2017. Civil society participation of our food system. Summer school workshop, START-Foundation, St. Peter-Ording,l Germany.

• Middendorf, M., 2019. Food is political: where to find the transformation of the food system? Discussion with Priska Hinz, Hessian Minister of the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Youth Festival, Bad Vilbel, Germany.
• Middendorf, M., 2019. Tapped! Clean groundwater for all! Panel Discussion, Viva con Agua network meeting, Elsdorf, Germany.
• Middendorf, M., 2019. Pressure from the right on agricultural associations. Panel Discussion on right influence on organic farming and peasant agriculture, Witzenhausen, Germany.