The 2nd Sino-German Agricultural Science Conference on 7 September 2024 marked the final highlight of a DCZ-led study visit to institutes of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in China by a German delegation from departmental research institutes of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and German universities.
The conference was hosted by the Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA) of CAAS in Chengdu, Sichuan province and provided a platform for IUA scientists and the German delegation members to present their research and engage in academic exchanges. Themed “Innovative Approaches for Agriculture and Food Systems”, it was attended by high-level representatives of CAAS, including Party Secretary Yang Zhenhai and Vice President Liu Xianwu. On the German side, Julian Lasinger, German Deputy Consul General in Chengdu, attended the event and gave opening remarks.
Eva Sternfeld, Head of Science Dialogue at DCZ, introduced the Science & Technology Platform that DCZ has been operating in partnership with CAAS since 2015. She highlighted the importance of the platform for promoting exchange in agricultural science and research between Germany and China.
Delegation leader and Head of Institute at Julius Kühn Institute (JKI), Henryk Flachowsky, introduced the delegation members and presented the breeding research undertaken at his institute. He showed how JKI is enhancing resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases in fruit species such as apple, pear, cherry, and strawberry.
Yang Qichang, chief scientist at IUA, presented the institute’s vertical farming practices. He highlighted the potential of vertical farming to produce more food with less land and fewer resources. For example, land use efficiency is up to 1,000 times higher than in traditional farming while growth cycles can be shortened by 40%, Yang emphasized in his report.
German urban agriculture expert Katrin Bohn introduced the concept of Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes, which involves integrating urban agriculture into the design and planning process of cities to enhance urban sustainability. Bohn called for cities planner to integrate food production into urban infrastructure and develop urban food strategies. In a similar vein, IUA scientist Fei Shulang presented the city region food system approach piloted in Chengdu. The approach seeks to enhance the capacities and resilience of Chengdu’s urban food system by integrating food security into city planning.
Zhang Mingming from the Biogas Institute of MARA (BIOMA) spoke about the challenges that China is facing with the recycling of straw and manure. Smallholders, which make up 98% of China’s farming population and farm 70% of the country’s arable land, lack economic incentives and management capacity to reuse organic farm waste, Zhang said in her report. Her examples highlighted the beneficial impact of government subsidies and organic waste management cooperatives in increasing the recycling rate amongst smallholders.
The impact of rising CO2 levels on plant health was the focus of the report by Lorenz Kottmann from Julius Kühn Institute. Presenting experiments with different wheat genotypes, Kottmann showed that elevated CO2 concentrations in the air increase yields but make plants more vulnerable to diseases while also lowering grain quality.
German nutrition scientist Bertrand Matthäus from Max Rubner Institute presented research on new edible oil sources from plants that are better adapted to climate change and more environmentally friendly. Using a case study from Morocco, his report showed how oil produced from Argan trees increases rural incomes and provides nutritional benefits for humans compared to more widely used palm oils.
Li Qirui from the University of Hohenheim presented trans4num—an EU Horizon-funded project focused on nature-based solutions for sustainable nutrient management in agriculture.
Andrea Büttner from the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging presented scenarios for a future global food supply landscape. Her report highlighted innovative food processing and packaging solutions as an integral part of the sustainability transition the food industry is undergoing.
The conference ended with a panel discussion involving Yang Qichang (IUA), Henryk Flachowsky (JKI), Andrea Büttner (Fraunhofer), and Lu Hongyan (Sichuan University), moderated by DCZ expert Michaela Boehme.
