Agriculture

Agriculture in Brandenburg faces a great challenge due to precipitation poverty and generally poor soils. The expected changes in climate will further exacerbate these problems.

Climate change adaptation measures must take into consideration cropping systems as a whole. INKA BB is exploring both integrated and organic farming and their respective problems. Climate-flexible integrated farming focuses on multi-cropping systems and adapting soil tillage techniques to respond to increasing aridity. The quantity of land use-dependent particulate emissions is also influenced by soil tillage. Adaptation tools for organic farming have been designed to respond to changes brought about by the climate. These are the product of on-farm experiments investigating how to optimise farming methods and crop rotation systems.

Together with plant breeding partners, INKA BB is developing variant strategies for agricultural and horticultural crops, promoting adaptation to climate change. Innovative techniques to improve the efficiency of irrigation in crop production and asparagus cultivation are being tested, examining their economic benefits under changed climate conditions.

Over a quarter of the farmland in the project region consists of permanent grassland. Here, INKA BB is devising climate change adaptation strategies for pasture utilisation systems that take into account both changed fodder growth and the stress to which grazing animals are exposed due to aridity and heat. An advisory tool called HYDBOS for using and protecting hydromorphic soils will be made available for phreatophytic locations.

Additionally, weather-related insurance policies that are akin to insurance cover against hail are currently being developed and tested.