DCZ Forum provides Sino-German Exchange in agricultural sciences

On the 13^th of December 2022 the 4^th Exchange Forum on Sino-German Collaboration in Agricultural Sciences took place online. The Sino-German Agricultural Centre [Deutsch-Chinesisches Agrarzentrum] had invited several experts to discuss the potentials of collaboration projects between China’s Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA) and German research institutions. The Sino-German Agricultural Centre [Deutsch-Chinesisches Agrarzentrum], located in Beijing, China, and Leipzig, Germany, is a joint initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture [BMEL] and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) of the People’s Republic of China.

Participants from China and Germany presented and exchanged on current work in the agro-scientific field such as researchers of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, of the Association for Vertical Farming and the EU China International Urban Regional Cooperation (IURC). Further experts from German and Chinese universities presented their work on biobased resources in Bioeconomy, Synthetic Biology, Plant Cell and Molecular Biology, Technology in Crop Production and Urban Horticulture. As an expert in the field of integration of agricultural solutions into urban design and planning, Katrin Bohn was invited to give insights in the Continuous Productive Urban Landscape (CPUL) concept. She highlighted the special role of green infrastructure in several countries interlinked with the CPUL concept, how to make food production part of the urban landscape and how vertical farming can be an opportunity for multi-dimensional urban agriculture.

The Forum did not only help for establishing new contacts but also enabled a direct exchange with other participants on the topics discussed. Taking into account the diverse fields of agricultural sciences, it increased the knowledge about the situation and solutions in the partner countries, f.e. the work of Chinese academics on questions related to their large population.

Another insight gained through the workshop is that a more integrated view is needed: We need to understand how import it is to tackle urban agriculture solutions connected to sustainability, ecology, environment, urban development and food policy. The disciplines need to work together instead of thinking in ways of ‘silo-mentality’. This might be realised in the continuing series of the  DCZ Sino-German Exchange Forum series in 2023.

+++ researched and written by our colleague Antonia Humboldt +++

More information on the 4th Exchange Forum can be found here.

Information on the Deutsch-Chinesisches Agrarzentrum are here.

For information on the Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA) within the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences see here.

Image: The Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA) has recently embarked on an ambitious productive urban landscape project on its own site. (source: IUA www 2022)