Institute of

BW Farm Economics

Cash Crop Farming

buffer strip and hedge at the edge of a grain field

"Our daily bread….” How can it be produced more sustainably and what does it cost?

German and other European arable farmers are much more exposed to global competition than they were 20 years ago. At the same time, arable production systems are facing major changes. This is driven by agronomic challenges, such as increasing pesticide resistance issues, as well as rising society requirements to reduce the environmental impact of arable farming.

Therefore, it is important for policymakers, the public and, especially, entrepreneurs, to know what consequences changes in the political, technological and legal framework have for arable farming. We provide the necessary analyses.

For our research, we use technical production and economic data of typical crop farms, which we collect within the context of the agri benchmark network on national and international levels. This network is coordinated by the Thünen Institute and by the non-profit company (gUG) global networks. In addition, we evaluate data from official agricultural statistics, farm advisory services as well as the farm accountancy data network (FADN). In this way, we develop policy- and practice-relevant answers to the following questions:

How do changes in the legal framework, such as the EU agricultural reform, affect German arable farms?
How can production systems be further developed in an economically viable manner in order to overcome agronomic challenges and meet social expectations?
How do changes in production systems impact the international competitiveness of German arable farms?
What potentials do new technologies offer and what is necessary to realise them?
How and at what cost can the use of pesticides and fertilisers be reduced?
How can biodiversity-enhancing measures be considered and established in conventional arable farming?
What priorities should policy-makers set in shaping climate protection in agriculture?
What are the interactions between energy production on arable land and crop farming?

Ongoing Projects Finished Projects

Ongoing Projects

Economics of arable crop production

Policy makers very often are faced with the challenge to access the implications of changes in the political, legal or technological framework conditions on arable production. This may for example referr to the ban of individual crop protection products. This project is providing ready-to-use answers to such questions - both on the national as well as on the international level.

HumusKlimaNetz

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, which is why agriculture also has a responsibility to become more climate-friendly. One option is to keep soil organic carbon stocks in the soil and increase them if possible. We are investigating the climate impact and economic efficiency of SOC measures on 150 conventional and ecological farms. The HumusKlimaNetz is set up by the German Farmers' Association (DBV) and the Bund Ökologische Lebensmittelwirtschaft (BÖLW).

International competitiveness and further development of production systems in arable farming

Globally, arable production systems in developed countries face new, substantial production related and thus economic challenges. They are a consequence of changing legal, agronomic, and climate conditions as well as the lack of established adoption strategies. This requires the design and evaluation of agronomically and economically feasible new production systems.

Photovoltaic systems on agricultural land

In order to implement the energy transition, more electricity from renewable energies is needed. Photovoltaic systems on agricultural areas are becoming more and more important in this respect. In order to produce food and electricity on the same area, we are investigating new photovoltaic concepts.

Production costs sugar raw materials

The sugar market will be liberalized more and more. As a result of the EBA agreement, the least developed countries (LDC) had been able to export unlimited amounts of tax free sugar to the EU since 2009. Additionally, the EU aims a free trade agreement with the Mercosur States. If sugar will not be classified as a sensitive product, this could lead to additional sugar imports into the EU. As a result, the increasing sugar imports could substitute European beet sugar.

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Finished Projects

Autonomous agricultural machinery

Arable farming is losing more and more social acceptance. Problems are (a) increasing soil pressure because of heavy machines, (b) the use of plant protection as well as (c) environmental pollution resulting from nitrogen fertilization. At the same time, new developments in automation can help to reduce the mentioned problems in fully automated production systems. We analyze if autonomous agricultural machines enable more sustainable plant production systems.

Greenhouse gas mitigation strategies in arable farming -An international comparison

On a global scale, agriculture is estimated to contribute 18 % of human-made greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Arable cropping systems account for over one-third of the sector’s GHG emissions, with the largest share originating from the application of nitrogen-based fertilizers. Given this large share, the sector should play an active role in the global challenge of climate protection, which will require an enormous effort to limit global warming to 2°C. In this context, effective climate protection research is essential to identify the most efficient ways to mitigate GHG emissions. Therefore, ...

Networking and Transfer Project for Digitalization in Agriculture

The large number of research activities in the field of digitalization in agriculture initiated by the Federal Government within the last few years are evaluated in this project, involved researcher are networked with each other and the results are prepared, evaluated and published.

Possibilities for reducing the use of pesticides in arable farming

Common crop protection strategies in arable farming are increasingly losing their effect as resistance to grass, insects and fungi spreads in many intensive arable areas. This leads to rising costs and changes in production systems. At the same time, the benefits and dangers of plant protection are critically discussed in society. Alternatives to chemical crop protection such as mechanical weeding are already available but are usually associated with higher costs. Against this background, the project aims to find out how the use of pesticides can be reduced as efficiently as possible.

Regional research workshops for arable farming

Crop farmers face major challenges: On the one hand, they are struggling with resistance problems, the loss of crop protection products and new fertilizer regulations; on the other hand with loss of species and loss of biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. This project investigates how farmers can deal constructively with these problems.

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