Prof. Dr. Andreas Bürkert

Andreas Bürkert is head of the Section of Organic Plant Production and Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics at the University of Kassel. His research focuses on carbon and plant nutrient cycling in agroecosystems to analyse management effects on system sustainability, the role of organic amendments and mineral fertilisers on plant nutrient availability and product quality, and on nutrient acquisition by plants in marginal and intensive environments. He also uses non-destructive methods such as GIS-based aerial photography for the quantification of plant growth in crop-livestock systems.

Date of birth       29 August 1961, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany

Nationality          German

Position               Full professor (chair) Organic Plant Production and 
                              Agroecosystems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics

Address               Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences
                              University of Kassel
                              Steinstraße 19, 37213 Witzenhausen
                              +49 5542-98-1228 (Office)
                              +49 5542-98-1230 (Fax.)
                              buerkert[at]uni-kassel[dot]de

Academic education

Universities:         U. Hohenheim, Germany & U. California Davis

Degrees:               2001 Habilitation and Venia Legendi in Plant Nutrition
                               and Plant Production in the Tropics and Subtropics,
                               U. Hohenheim

                              1995 U. Hohenheim, Germany
                              Dr. sc. agr. in Agricultural Sciences

                              1989 MSc. International Agricultural Development,
                              U. California Davis, USA

Professional career

since 2004           Professor (C4) of Organic Plant Production and Agroeco-
                              systems Research in the Tropics and Subtropics,
                              University of Kassel, Germany

2008 – 2011       Vice-Dean of the College of Organic Agriculture
                              at University of Kassel

2002 – 2004       Guest lectureships at Kabul University, Afghanistan,
                              Yezin Agricultural University at Pyianmana, Myanmar
                              and at China Agricultural University (CAU), Beijing, China

1999 – 2002       Temporary professorship of Tropical Crops,
                              University of Kassel, Germany

1995 – 1999       Post-doctoral scientist in the DFG-funded research project
                              'Effects of site-factors on the efficiency of organic and
                              inorganic soil amendments and nutrient fluxes in
                              agricultural systems in the West African Sahel', ICRISAT
                              Sahelian Centre, Niger and University of Hohenheim,
                              Germany.

Scientific activities

2008 – 2011        Evaluation Board DFG ‘Agriculture, Forestry, Vegetable
                               Production and Veterinary Medicine’

2001 – 2008        DAAD Reviewer panel: ’Graduierte nach Übersee’

since 2005           Chairman of the scientific advisory board of DITSL GmbH

since 2001           Regular reviewer of the Journals ‘Field Crops Research’,
                              ‘Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science’ and ‘Journal of
                              Arid Environments’

Expertise

Sustainability, soil fertility, nutrient management and matter fluxes in drylands of Africa since 1991, the Middle East since 1998 and Central Asia since 2000. Analysis of the effects of landuse systems, management practices and climate change on carbon and plant nutrient cycles in marginal (agro-pastoral) and intensive (urban and peri-urban) agro-ecosystems. Quantification of the effects of organic amendments on plant nutrient availability and product quality and to study nutrient acquisition by plants in crop-livestock systems.