Climate change and extreme weather have far-reaching impacts on agriculture. They do not only affect agricultural production, but also fundamental assets that shape agricultural livelihoods. In this dissertation, I study the relation of weather and climate with agricultural land tenure in low- and middle-income countries. Secure access to land is of vital importance for farmers, but insecure tenure is a reality for millions of farmers around the globe. They are unsure whether they will be able to continue farming ...

Changing climate and weather patterns increase the pressure on food production systems worldwide, significantly impacting livelihoods and economies at various scales. Understanding and adapting/mitigating climate change are essential to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. Biophysical crop modeling offers a unique way to assess the pros and cons of different adaptation strategies because they integrate physical and biological principles to simulate the use and allocation of captured resources mechanistically. ...

Bei der maschinellen Holzernte mit schweren Holzerntefahrzeugen wird der befahrene Waldboden deformiert und damit potenziell in seiner forstwirtschaftlichen Produktivität eingeschränkt. Mögliche Lösungsansätze für diese unerwünschte Nebenwirkung des Technikeinsatzes sind die Beschränkung der Befahrung des Waldbodens auf permanenten Rückegassen und die Verwendung tragender Bogiebänder. Es besteht jedoch eine Forschungslücke zur Veränderung der physikalischen Eigenschaften von vorverdichtetem Boden bestehender Rückegassen ...

Agro-processing is key to reducing post-harvest losses. Agro-processing is defined as a set of techno-economic activities applied to all the products originating from the agricultural farm, livestock, aqua cultural sources, and forests for their conservation, handling, and value-addi-tion to make them usable as food, feed, fibre, fuel, or industrial raw materials [12]. Processing can be sophisticated (relying on industrial plants and machinery) or simple (depending on the sun or indigenous small-scale processes). The ...

Myanmar's forests are rich in biodiversity and have significant potential for carbon reduction. Kyunsu Township in southern Myanmar is still covered by biodiverse tropical evergreen rainforests on the highlands and mangroves on the coastline, conserving carbon stocks. However, the expansion of croplands into these forests to meet the growing demand for food and crop income is a major driver of deforestation and loss of carbon sinks. Thus, balancing agricultural land use and natural resource conservation is vital for ...

There is great interest, not only in technologically advanced societies, in developing innovative sources of raw materials, especially lignocellulosic biomasses such as cereal straw, which do not interfere with food production. In Germany, 4 – 9 million tons of cereal straw, mainly wheat, are utilized annually, corresponding to an energy potential of 57 – 129 PJ/a. Lignocellulose, found in plant cell walls, consists of hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin, and it requires complex fractionation to enable its polymers ...

Maize is among the three most important crops worldwide, while its multifunctional nature allows a diversified use. However, the traditional (silage) maize production often has negative side-effects related to the unprotected soil surface — e.g., erosion, weed pressure and related mechanical weed control. There are several alternative management systems to enhance the sustainability of (silage) maize production. However, the means and strength of influence are still unclear in some cases. Therefore, the current thesis ...

Urbanization leads to effects on many aspects of ecosystems and societies. Among the affected are agricultural systems and, specifically, soils. One of the most evident pathways of urbanization effects on agricultural soils is through an increased demand for agricultural commodities requiring agricultural intensification, hence, changes in management practices that alter soils. In this context, the purpose of this study was to understand how the main agricultural management practices taking place in urbanizing ...

This study investigated strategies applied in drying technology to produce an optimised quality of plant-sourced food while considering environmental and sustainability aspects based on a case study of celeriac and powder, respectively. The I-optimal design of response surface methodology with 30 experiment runs was applied for process optimisation. Pre-drying treatments (blanching at 85 °C, 3 min; dipping in 1% citric acid solution, 3 min; no pre-drying treatment), drying temperatures (50, 60, and 70 °C), air ...

Beschreibung der Forschung zu Agroforstsystemen als Bestandteil der wissenschaftlichen Erforschung und Entwicklung von resilienten und nachhaltigen Pflanzenbausystemen.