Organic farming systems, cropping system, dry regions, water stress, water-use efficiency, climate change mitigation, resilience, soil cultivation, hedges, mulch transfer
Our main interest is the development of water-saving, resilient organic cropping systems. We want to develop a practice-oriented strategy for minimizing the risk of water stress in dry regions like the Pannonian region of Eastern Austria by adapting soil cultivation and integrating (i) hedges or biomass stripes and (ii) mulch transfer from on-farm produced biomass. The strategy can be applied also in non-organic farming systems. Realized over a wide area, it can contribute to climate change mitigation and to alleviating the climate-change induced water shortage in dry regions.
We are specialised in conducting field and greenhouse experiments in organic arable farming and focus on the Pannonian dry region of Eastern Austria. We would like to contribute to a consortium that is developing strategies for improving water and nutrient efficiency in cropping systems and for enhancing their resilience to climate change.
The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), the Alma Mater Viridis, perceives itself as a teaching and research center for renewable resources, which are necessary for human life. It is BOKU's objective to help make a considerable contribution to the conservation and protection of resources for future generations by providing diversity in its fields of study. Connecting natural sciences, engineering and economic sciences, we wish to increase knowledge of the ecologically and economically sustainable use of natural resources, to provide a harmoniously cultivated landscape.
The Division of Organic Farming sees its mission in contributing substantially to the advancement of organic farming and nutrition in Austria and beyond. The systematic holistic approach of organic farming is the basis for developing theoretical and methodological foundations and applications of science and teaching for organic farming. Research questions are developed in their systemic context. Results of disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature are evaluated based on their effects for the overall system.