ÖkoBoden4Resilienz

Dealing with increasing drought, which can cause total losses due to a lack of quality, was identified as one of the most pressing issues and a major challenge for the farms in the vegetable growing project group. Increasing the water retention capacity of the soil increases the resilience of crops, which can counteract extreme heat and drought and ensure more stable yields. In practice, increasing soil organic matter (OBS) improves the water uptake of the soil and thus the availability of water for plants. The core questions of the cultivation trials focus on the effects of using green manure compost and manure in combination with catch crops. The trial is being carried out on three practical farms and on the experimental farm of Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU). In addition to the cross-project objectives, farm-specific questions regarding the use of coal, different legume catch crops and soy pellets are also being investigated.