Fields of Activity

Improving organic food production systems from perspectives of the environment, animal welfare and efficiency is the core of our research. Within that, animal husbandry is our main focus. Our research aims to reach the goals set out in the EU Regulation 2018/848 for organic production by using state of the art scientific methods and with that contribute to a refinement and improvement of the principles of organic production.

Our research is interdisciplinary and system-oriented, embedded in the work in the Thuenen topics of #Soil, #Climate and Air, #Biological Diversity, #Plant Production, #Organic Farming, #Livestock farming and Aquaculture, #Consumer and Society, #Long-term Policy Concepts, #Global Food and Resources.

At the Institute of Organic Farming we look at the complete production chain, from the soil to crop production, animal husbandry and product quality. We analyse and improve production systems and look at the future and current challenges of organic farming. The focus is on cattle, pig and poultry production systems. At the same time improved crop production and multifunctionality are integer parts of the systems. Arable and grassland farming act as the base for feed production and play a central role in circular systems (bedding, nutrients, soil organic matter, emissions). Organic animal husbandry systems focused on animal welfare and management concepts optimised for animal health and well-being, increasing amounts and innovations in the use of regional feedstuffs as well as producing feeds and animal products (milk, meat and eggs) of the highest quality are main aspects of our research. Within the process of developing improved production systems we also consider and comply with measure neccessary for protecting our climate and biodiversity. With our research we show possible conflicts and trade-offs with i.e. animal welfare, environment protecion goals and ressource use efficiency and develop and evaluate possible solutions.