Field Trip 1

In the federal state of Brandenburg there is one million ha of arable land available for farming activities. However, the fields are mainly characterised by sandy soils with comparatively low fertility and limited yield potential. This field trip explores potentials and limitations of arable land use in these environments and in anticipation of climate change conditions.
The destination of the field trip is the region of Teltow-Fläming about 50 km South of Berlin. Due to glacial genesis, soils there show large heterogeneity. Structurally, land use is dominated by large-scale arable farms producing animal feeds and bio-energy.

Agricultural cooperative Trebbin

(http://www.agt-eg.de/agriculture_start.php?lang=en)

The agricultural cooperative Trebbin was founded in 1991 and is nowadays among the largest agricultural companies in Germany. The total farm area amounts to 4,100 ha agricultural land, of which 2,900 ha are arable fields and 1,200 ha are grassland. The main farm products are cereals, oil crops and cattle feed. The enterprise also operates an AD (anaerobic digestion) plant for biogas production, several servicing centers for vehicles and building machinery as well as a hotel.

Thyrow Agricultural Education and Experimentation Station

The teaching and research station is part of the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture. The station was founded in 1937 and amounts to 13 ha. Experiments concentrate on long-term field trials, the earliest of which were started in 1938. Aspects of crop rotation, mineral and organic fertilization, and irrigation are investigated. Here researchers focus on the development of soil fertility on poor sandy soils.

(picture source: www.agrar.hu-berlin.de/fakultaet/departments/daoe/bk/forschung/informe/bilder/, by courtesy of Humboldt Universität Berlin)