The Institute for Crop and Soil Science addresses fundamental and applied questions of primary agricultural production and is dedicated to the protection of soil, water and biodiversity as resources required for this purpose.

Our research focuses on the efficient use of nutrient and water resources and on future-oriented approaches to site-specific crop production in arable farming and grassland as well as on aspects of soil fertility.

With our research, we aim to promote sustainable production of high-quality human food, animal feed, and energy crops.

A particular challenge is to adapt agricultural production to changing climatic conditions.

Therefore, it is an important task of the institute to provide reliable and robust data for political consulting, for scientific and field advisers and for research and agricultural practice. The numerous research tasks are addressed by laboratory, greenhouse, field and on-farm trials under the use of drone-based remote sensing.  

At the institute, the following specialized units are located:

• Coordination unit arable farming,
• Coordination unit grassland,
• the working group for national nutrient balances,
• expertise unit and helpdesk for biometrics.