For the 15th time, the Hans Eisenmann-Forum (HEF) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) hosted the agricultural science symposium on October 7-8, 2024. This year, over 100 participants from science, agriculture and industry discussed alternative land use systems for agricultural land.
Beyond presentations and discussions, participants could use the event for networking as well.
The symposium was led by Claudia Luksch (managing director HEF), Prof. Dr. Senthold Asseng (scientific director HEF) and Petra Bindl (host; listed from right to left).
At the end of the first day, the winner of the start-up pitch event, Karevo, was chosen.
(from left to right: Prof. Dr. Senthold Asseng (scientific director HEF), Benedikt Keßler (Karevo), Claudia Luksch (managing director HEF), Dr. Roman Werner (TUM Venture Labs))
Interactive: after each presentation, participants and lecturers had the opportunity to discuss their topics.
(from right to left; Dr. Philippe Hinsinger (INRAE), Dr. Felix Herzog (Agroscope), Petra Bindl)
Dr. Marie Gosme (INRAE) presents the project DigitAF that aims to support agroforestry in Europe.
The lecturers of the first day (listed from left to right):
front row: Claudia Luksch (managing director HEF), Dr. Adrian Renner (feld.energy), Prof. Dr. Klaus Müller (ZALF), Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs (TUM), Prof. Dr. Heinz Bernhardt (TUM), Prof. Dr. Senthold Asseng (scientific director HEF)
back row: Prof. Dr. Thomas Hamacher (TUM), Malte Stöppler (TUM), Prof. Dr. Bernhard Bauer (HSWT)
The lecturers of the second day (listed from left to right):
Dr. Philippe Hinsinger, (INRAE), Dr. Marie Gosme (INRAE), Prof. Dr. Eike Lüdeling (University of Bonn), Dr. Felix Herzog (Agroscope), Alma Thiesmeier (ZALF), Prof. Dr. Thomas Knoke (TUM), Elisa Ramil Brick (Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh), Prof. Dr. Bohdan Lojka (Czech University of Life Science Prague)
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Renewable energies, biodiversity, sustainability - these are the challenges the global community, including agriculture, are facing. This year's symposium focused on alternative land use systems that enable farmers to meet these challenges on a local and global level and create added value for their own operations.
Renewable energies and food: Agri-PV
Using agricultural land twice at a time - that is the basis of agriphotovoltaics (agri-PV). In addition to food production, renewable electricity is generated on the same land using photovoltaic systems. This enables agricultural businesses to generate diversified sources of income and, in the future, may contribute fuel to charge their own e-mobility in agriculture. Biodiversity can also be supported by creating species-diverse green strips under the agri-PV systems. Beyond the farm itself, agri-PV enables sustainable, resilient and efficient energy production for the local energy grid.
Increasing biodiversity and reducing agricultural costs through agroforestry
On the second day of the symposium, the opportunities and challenges of agroforestry, the combination of woody and arable crops on agricultural land, were discussed. The combination of different types of land promotes biodiversity, soil quality and the water balance of the land, which in turn can increase soil health, climatic resilience and the productivity of the land. This interaction leads to an optimized use of the ecological and economic potential of agricultural land. Experts from international institutions presented past experiences, current research and future scenarios for agroforestry. In particular, the current hurdles in the practice of agroforestry were highlighted.
Start-Ups in agricultural science and business
In the pitch event in cooperation with TUM FACIT and the TUM Venture Labs, Karevo was chosen as the winner at the end of the first symposium day. The Karevo team has developed a fully automated retrofitting process for detecting and sorting potato damage. The aim is to save working hours and costs while increasing precision. The project convinced the jury compared to the following other pitches:
The TADUS tractor is a battery-electric tractor that can be used for a wide range of agricultural work in the field.
Reverion has developed a container-based system that makes its mission of carbon-negative power generation accessible to farms and industry.
The start-up Feldwerke supports farms in establishing renewable energies on their land.
In Germany, around half of the available land is used for agriculture. Agricultural land is therefore a key factor in addressing the ecological and economic challenges of our time. As an interdisciplinary interface within the agricultural sciences, the HEF plays a special role in the integrative approach to solving these challenges. The speakers at this year's symposium presented new approaches to multifunctional land use and the HEF provided the international agricultural community with an opportunity to exchange knowledge, network and discuss.
