Justus Liebig University Giessen

The priority research theme of ‘Organic Farming with focus on sustainable soil use (OF)’ is to apply the concept of ecological intensification to farming systems. This means to develop low-input farming systems via the systematic integration of internal, natural processes into soil-plant systems by combining state of the art technologies with traditional knowledge. This is performed in on-station as well as in on-farm trials to allow for a fast dissemination of results and knowledge. Intensive and low-input farming can be distinguished by significantly different impacts on soil characteristics (i.e. nutrient and mineral availability) – giving priority to organic farming considered more sustainable.