Research Group on Policy and Markets in the Agri-Food Sector

We aim to help make agricultural and food systems resilient, equitable and sustainable – so that they can continue to provide a good basis for life for future generations.

To this end, we combine inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches with impact-oriented process support and draw on the diverse methods of qualitative and quantitative empirical social research.

We create formats and spaces in which stakeholders from the agricultural and food sectors, academia, consultancy, politics and civil society can work together. Together, we identify gaps and challenges in the agricultural and food system, develop and test solutions, integrate scientific findings and generate new knowledge.

For example:

• Resilient value-added chains and business models, e.g. for new cultivated plants in the region or animal-welfare-oriented livestock farming
• Valorisation of agroecological innovations and sustainable land-use systems, e.g. paludiculture, agroforestry systems, etc.
• Food environments that promote sustainable dietary patterns, e.g. in communal catering  
• Social and institutional innovations, e.g. through the establishment and further development of competence networks and living labs, the development of advisory concepts and methods to support transformative research processes
• Policy-relevant evidence, e.g. through the evaluation of policy measures to strengthen sustainable agricultural and food systems

This is how we in Brandenburg are helping to shape the transformation of agricultural and food systems: in a transdisciplinary, impact-oriented manner and within planetary boundaries.