Landscape 2021 - Diversity for Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture
20 -22 September 2021, online
Further information of Landscape 2021: Book of abstracts, special issues, photos and video
Diversification is seen as a cornerstone towards a resilient and climate neutral transformation of the agricultural system. More than 400 participants from 42 countries therefore accepted ZALF's invitation to discuss the opportunities and challenges of diversification in agriculture over three days between 20 and 22 September at the Landscape2021 conference, which featured 175 presentations and 83 posters.
Across scales and system levels, from cropping systems to farming, landscape, governance and food systems, diversification strategies were presented and their impact on ecosystem services and resource efficiency analysed. Contributions from all continents highlighted regional specificities. A key finding emerged that all system levels need to interact for diversification to be tangible and actually deliver a cornerstone towards sustainable transformation. To achieve this, research must be able to integrate across scales and system levels. New scientific methods for this were presented and discussed in depth in the 10 master classes. With their interdisciplinary methodological competence, the ZALF scientists made a relevant contribution to the success of the conference.
Landscape 2018 -
Frontiers of agricultural landscape research
12-16 March 2018, Berlin, Germany
Participants of the first international “Landscape 2018” conference in Berlin (© Tony Haupt)
Impressions of Landscape 2018: Link to the YouTube video
From 12 to 16 March 2018, around 250 participants from 25 countries met for the first "Landscape 2018" in the Berlin Adlershof Science and Technology Park. The conference, organized by the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in cooperation with international partners, focused on the central challenges of globalized agriculture: Climate Change, Food Security, Sustainability. More than 75 key note and session presentations, 70 posters, 4 thematic workshops and 3 field trips focused on the networking of diverse scientific disciplines and actors under the thematic umbrella of Agricultural Landscape Research.
Prof. Frank Ewert, Scientific Director of ZALF and one of the Chairs of the Conference, emphasized in his opening speech the importance of the agricultural landscape research for the implementation of these sustainability goals. "The central challenge of our disciplines is that of finding a balance between food security for a growing world population by increasing productivity on the one hand and the demand for sustainable agriculture adapted to climate change and other sustainability goals on the other", said Ewert. "Agricultural landscape research can and must build bridges here: between disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, between application orientation and basic research." This would make it possible to respond even better to major trends such as digitization, globalization and sustainability, and to meet the global challenges more effectively.
Prof. Mark Rounsevell from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT, IMK-IFU), as one of the Conference Chairs, also pointed out the central role of agricultural landscape research in achieving the UN sustainability goals: "How can the balance between individual goals be achieved and how can conflicts be mediated", was one of the central questions of his introductory note. "If we reforest forests to combat climate change and grow crops to produce energy, will there be enough land remaining for food production or for the all-important conservation of biodiversity?", says Rounsevell.
The conference was divided into three parallel sessions: Session I - Landscape Processes, Session II - Land Use and Governance and Session III - Landscape Synthesis, and ended with a final plenary discussion on the role and future agricultural landscape research on the last day.
Yiqi Luo, Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology at the University of Oklahoma, opened the first day with a keynote speech on "Microbial Modeling and Beyond".
Sandrine Petit, Research Director at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA, UMR Agroecologie), introduced the participants to Session II with her keynote speech "Landscape, biodiversity and agroecological services".
"Landscape science: the role of models, data and theory" was the keynote address delivered on the last day of presentations by Marcel van Oijen of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH).
"The management of land use in terms of sustainability goals requires more interdisciplinary knowledge about the interactions between natural and social processes and factors related to landscape use. Sustainable measures and concepts for their implementation can only be developed in close interaction between the most recent research findings and intensive exchange with all relevant stakeholders", summarized Conference Host Prof. Katharina Helming from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in the concluding discussion. ZALF wants to establish longer term formats of exchange on these issues. Landscape 2018" was in important step in this direction.