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Agriculture needs innovations to ensure the competitiveness of
farm production on the world market. It is not only the site-specific
disadvantages encountered by farming in many regions of Germany that present a
problem here, the many and varied laws and regulations, especially in the fields
of consumer, animal and environmental protection, make it imperative to develop
new ideas. This is attributable to a growing public interest in environmentally
sound production methods that conserve natural resources.
In a global context, innovations are necessary to secure food supplies for the
inhabitants of our earth. A population of eight billion is expected by the year
2025, but the worldwide reserves of agriculturally usable land are limited.
Along with available farmland, other resources, such as water, are also in
decline.
It must also be taken into account that "quantity" of produce is not the sole
criterion. As global affluence increases, demands regarding quality are also
growing.
In this connection, innovations are aimed not only at improving the genetic
potential of crop plants and productive livestock, but also at optimising
technologies and management systems that will in fact make it possible to
exploit enhanced genetic potential.
This is an extreme challenge for all disciplines connected with agriculture,
such as breeding and nutrition, economics and social science – and not least for
agricultural engineering.
The ATB is meeting this challenge via the development of new technical solutions
and procedures that cater to the demands for ecological production methods,
while at the same time helping to keep German agriculture competitive by
minimising costs and optimising the quality of products and services.
Today traditional approaches are revised in the ATB's interdisciplinary research.
Findings from the fields of information and biotechnology are used, and sensors
are developed. Modelling and simulation techniques are applied and technology
assessment methods are used, not least to ensure at an early stage that the
processes are feasible.
In this complex process ATB scientists cooperate closely with farms, as well as
their upstream and downstream branches of industry, especially with the
agricultural machinery industry, and to a growing extent with firms in the
fields of bio- and information technology.
Cooperation arrangements with research facilities and universities at national
and international level expand the ATB's sphere of competence, just as
scientific competition with the best in the fields of agricultural and
bio-systems engineering promotes the performance of our scientists.
Our research results include livestock management methods with minimised
emissions that are in line with animal needs and at the same time more
productive, or high-tech processes for precision farming that bring economic
advantages, as well as reducing environmental pollution. Further developments
aim at avoiding the spoilage of grain, feed, fruit and vegetables, as well as in
bio-fuels. This not only reduces losses, but also largely avoids danger for
consumers due to toxins. Methods of quality assurance in storage and transport,
partly extending as far as product displays in the retail trade, aim at
conserving value and achieving fair prices.
Research into the production and use of renewable raw materials and energy
sources is not only justified on ecological grounds. It also creates the
preconditions for additional sources of income for farmers. The same applies for
processes developed at the ATB for the care of cultivated and natural landscapes.
Effective processes for treating residual substances and wastewater, on the
other hand, are primarily aimed at reducing costs. They also make it possible to
return nutrients to operational or regional material cycles.
Our work aims to make a substantial contribution to the farm of the future that
produces safe products demanded by the market, that provides high-quality
services, that produces in an environmentally sound manner and in line with
animal welfare – virtually "transparent production". The modern farm has thus
become competitive, and presents a confident public image, using both
contemporary management methods and progressive technologies.
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