As the Climate Changes, How Are German Scientists and Farmers Finding a Path Forward?

On 12 June, at Gut Wilmersdorf, an organic farm an hour’s drive from Berlin, a group of young agricultural students and their lecturers were guiding farmers and scientists through the trial plots.

The day marked the annual Trial Plot Open Day at the University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde (HNEE) in Germany. Here, researchers have to leave their academic jargon at the gate and let the results from the field do the talking. Their aim is to help farmers optimise their management practices and better mitigate risks. Over the past decade or so, the greatest challenge confronting German agriculture has undoubtedly been climate change.

Earlier in June, heavy downpours had triggered floods across Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. In Brandenburg, where the farm sits, summer would normally have set in by now. This year, however, temperatures have defied the norm; daytime highs have lingered around 20 °C, punctuated by gusty winds and passing showers. Jackets were drawn tight as the group stood in the palpably unseasonable weather, listening to German farmers and scientists explore pathways for adapting agriculture to a shifting climate.

I. Summer Crops or Winter Crops?

As Germany’s driest region, Brandenburg bears the brunt of climate change more visibly than anywhere else.

Annual rainfall here is thirty per cent below the national average, at just 557 millimetres. A clear trend towards warmer, drier conditions has intensified summer droughts, placing severe strain on crop development.

Yet new opportunities are emerging too. As winters grow progressively milder and wetter, scientists from HNEE have introduced legumes such as chickpeas, soybeans, and broad beans into the trial plots.

Should they survive the winter successfully, the next phase will involve breeding more cold-hardy varieties from these crops.

To capitalise on the benefits and mitigate the risks, farmers will need to cultivate winter crops in greater measure. How to select crops suited to individual holdings and adapt cropping patterns is precisely the discussion this open day aims to spark.

“Let me quiz you: which crop field is most prone to wild poppies? And does anyone know which crop makes the best rotation partner for broad beans?” Professor Knut Schmidtke, a crop rotation specialist, warmed up the room with a few quick-fire questions.

Holding plants he had just uprooted from the trial plots, he animatedly walked the assembled colleagues and farmers through the team’s latest research findings.

Crop rotation—the practice of alternating crops on the same plot of land—is well illustrated by the rice–wheat/rapeseed wet-dry rotation widely practised across the Jiangnan region of southern China. Carefully planning the rotation sequence not only replenishes soil fertility but also suppresses weeds, making it particularly vital for large-scale organic farming.

Within the rotation systems commonly found in the Brandenburg region, broad beans are traditionally grown as a summer crop, sown in spring and harvested in autumn. However, recent field trials have shown that broad beans can successfully overwinter locally. Their robust root systems efficiently draw moisture from the soil, yielding results that exceed expectations.

Consequently, Professor Schmidtke recommends shifting broad beans to a winter crop. He also proposes gradually transitioning the local rotation model from the conventional “three summer, two winter” pattern to “three winter, two summer”—alternating three winter crops with two summer crops—to better accommodate shifting climate patterns.

Beyond broad beans, the trial plots are also evaluating the suitability of various lupin, chickpea, and soya bean cultivars as winter crops. These legumes not only hold potential for climate adaptation but can also serve as nitrogen-fixing crops or green manure, enhancing soil health within organic farming systems. Furthermore, they are well-positioned to capitalise on the growing trend of plant-based consumption in Germany.

As plant-based eating has gained widespread traction, half of the German population now reports a desire to reduce meat intake, with the number of vegetarians surging from 100,000 in 2012 to 1.5 million in 2022.

Although traditional German cuisine features relatively few dishes that cook pulses directly, these legumes can be transformed into processed plant-based foods. Consequently, over the past year, students at HNEE have compared the protein content of four soya bean varieties across the trial plots. Higher protein levels not only improve processing yields but also make the crops more viable for the plant-based market.

Shifting strategies and increasing winter sowing have clearly become the consensus. Yet, what new challenges does winter sowing bring? Among these overwintering crops, which varieties are more cold-hardy? Will local varieties prove more adaptable? How effective would mixed-cropping methods from mountainous regions be? … Scientists and farmers engaged in a lively discussion, while we briefly stepped away from the trial field to visit Gut Wilmersdorf Farm.

II. Land Sharing: An Organic Farm in a Protected Area

“Look over there,” he says. “Beyond the wind turbines is where the reserve ends.”

Our guide, agricultural biodiversity expert Rudi Vogel, head of the non-profit Vern, points out the massive blades turning slowly in the distance. We find ourselves within the Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve, a site under the United Nations Man and the Biosphere Programme.

Established in the year following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Rudi describes the reserve as “a stroke of historical luck”. The Man and the Biosphere Programme seeks a careful balance between conservation and sustainable use; nearly eighty per cent of the reserve’s area is designated for sustainable activities. For instance, in the 1990s, thirty per cent of the arable land within the reserve was converted to organic farming, much of it formerly state-run collective farms from the East German era.

Rudi himself relocated here during those years of sweeping change. While working for the government, he helped steer the privatisation of the collective farms within the reserve. The farm we are visiting once covered more than 2,000 hectares (over 30,000 mu), operating as a mixed crop and livestock enterprise. The dairy sheds from that era stood right at the entrance.

Following privatisation, livestock farming gradually phased out due to prohibitive costs and a shortage of skilled labour. Of that land, 1,100 hectares (approximately 16,500 mu) were transformed into an organic arable farm, known today as Gut Wilmersdorf.

“As an organic farm without an integrated crop-livestock system, our challenge is to ensure a long-term supply of soil nutrients.” This statement appears on the farm’s official website. In recent years, the average annual temperature in northern Germany has risen from 8.3°C to 9.5°C, further heightening Gut Wilmersdorf’s sense of urgency.

In 2005, the farm entered into a formal partnership with HNEE, designating six 0.46-hectare crop rotation plots as university trial fields. The aim was to create a bridge linking organic agriculture education, research, and practical application. In 2009, Gut Wilmersdorf also joined the action research programme under Germany’s Climate Adaptation Strategy and a regional climate change network, exploring the potential of direct-drilling oats under cover crops to build drought resilience.

It is worth noting that the goal of this action research is not to find a universal climate adaptation blueprint. Rather, it focuses on building farmers’ own adaptive capacity, strengthening regional networks, engaging more farmers, and exploring farm-specific adaptation measures. The annual trial field open days have proven to be the ideal opportunity for the network to expand its membership.

At this open day, we met 34-year-old organic farmer Fabian, who had been drawn to the event by its reputation. He lives in the Potsdam area, less than a two-hour drive away. Three years ago, Fabian took over Gut Kienberg, a 15,000-mu (approximately 1,000-hectare) farm belonging to his father-in-law, which primarily cultivates organic cereals such as rye and oats.

Fabian is keen not only to learn about climate adaptation but also to explore new market avenues. Because bulk cereals can only be sold to organic wholesalers and supermarkets, profit margins are extremely tight. At present, the farm relies on supplementary income to cover operating costs, and the only viable path forward is to forge direct links with consumers.

To that end, the farm grazes 15 head of free-range beef cattle of a local breed, keeps chickens in mobile coops, and has set aside a small vegetable plot, delivering vegetables, eggs, and beef to consumers in Berlin once a week.

Business has been sluggish these past two years. “On a lean week, the weekly deliveries only bring in €300 to €400 (less than RMB 3,000), so it’s hardly worth making the trip. It’s nothing like the pandemic years, when everyone was willing to spend more on quality food,” says Fabian. Yet Fabian remains optimistic. We, too, believe that younger farmers like him—well-educated and open to new ideas—will always find a way forward.

III. Where will agricultural talent come from?

Although some young people are eager to return to the land, the steady decline of Germany’s agricultural workforce remains an undeniable reality. Over the past two decades, the number of full-time farmers in Germany has fallen by 160,000. Brandenburg, the state where Gut Wilmersdorf is located, was once part of East Germany. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, large-scale emigration from the former East German territories left rural areas particularly ravaged by decline and hollowing out.

It is hardly surprising, then, that the Open Day featured an AI-powered weeding robot specifically developed for organic sugar beet. Ralph Bloch, Professor at HNEE and head of the experimental fields, explained to us that organic beet sugar is a rare commodity on the German organic market. Weeding beet crops is highly labour-intensive, and the combination of agricultural labour shortages and high hiring costs has led to a steady decline in local organic beet supply, prompting the trial of a weeding robot tailored for beet cultivation.

We ultimately missed out on seeing the robot in action. Just a day before the Open Day, the weeding machine was rendered unusable due to a software update failure. Ralph candidly admitted that the robot weeds too slowly, struggles in wet conditions, and comes with a steep price tag… there are still numerous issues awaiting resolution. I suspect what he really meant was that the true foundation of sustainable agriculture lies in nurturing the right people.

For various historical reasons, family farms are scarce in Brandenburg, and there is no tradition of sons following fathers into farming, creating an urgent need for young talent. Two days later, we visited the HNEE campus to see how a university with just 2,300 students is dedicating itself to training talent for organic agriculture.

As a university of applied sciences, HNEE moves beyond traditional paradigms of knowledge production by tightly integrating teaching with organic farming practice, co-creating knowledge alongside producers. In addition to collaborations with farm trial plots, students in the Organic Agriculture programme must complete practical placements lasting between 12 and 20 weeks on organic farms or at relevant companies. The annual summer school also invites farmers to deliver lectures, bringing fresh insights straight from the fields.

The ethos of sustainability also permeates every corner beyond the classroom: the university dining hall serves exclusively organic rice, and the institution has forged strong ties with local organic supermarkets and bakeries. Here, organic principles and sustainability are unwavering values. Ralph proudly declared, “While student enrolments are falling across German universities, ours are steadily rising.” Upon graduation, these students will become the backbone of Germany’s organic agricultural sector. They will drive research that better serves farmers while applying the latest scientific breakthroughs to their own farms. This virtuous cycle between technology and practice—human-centred, locally grounded innovation—is exactly what we need most today.

Foodthink author

zeen

Foodthink editor. Inspired by the trip to Germany, zeen’s new dream is to set up a stall selling portions of liángpí (chilled wheat noodles) for 10 euros.

 

 

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Sino-German Agricultural Centre for their “Agrobiodiversity for Climate Change” bilateral exchange project. We invite you to follow the Sino-German Agricultural Centre, the Farmer Seed Network, Foodthink, and stay tuned for future outputs from the project.

Unless otherwise stated, all images in this article were photographed by HNEE

Edited by: Tianle