EUBCE 2025 - Moritz VON COSSEL - Strip-Intercropping of the Industrial Crops Miscanthus, Fiber Hemp, Crambe, and Yellow Melilot on a Marginal Site in Southwest Germany - A Review of the First Two Growing Seasons

Strip-Intercropping of the Industrial Crops Miscanthus, Fiber Hemp, Crambe, and Yellow Melilot on a Marginal Site in Southwest Germany - A Review of the First Two Growing Seasons

Short Introductive summary

Industrial crops must not only thrive on marginal land with various agronomic limitations but must also contribute positively to biodiversity and climate resilience. Therefore, as part of the EU project MIDAS, we address this challenge in a large-scale field trial in which industrial crops are strip-intercropped on shallow and stony soil in southwest Germany since 2023. Here, we investigate both the biomass yield and quality of the industrial crops, as well as their joint impact on biodiversity, including the species abundance and diversity during the vegetation seasons, and we work closely with farmers and other stakeholders within a regional advisory board to optimize this innovative cropping system and its associated value chains/webs. Based on the first yield observations from 2023 and 2024, it appears that this innovative cropping system is economically sustainable. In addition, the results of the biodiversity analyses indicate that the ecosystem services of the cropping system appear to complement those of the reference scenario very well. At the EUBCE2025, detailed information on the biomass performance and other ecosystem services of the industrial crops will be presented.

M. Von Cossel, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
E. Berwangener, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
M. Brucker, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
B. Elbersen, Wageningen University & Research, THE NETHERLANDS
M. Herre, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
T. Konrad, University of Hohenheim Experimental Station Oberer Lindenhof, Eningen, GERMANY
G. Krausse, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
L.-S. Loew, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
M. Neuberger, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
V. Schlecht, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY
I. Lewandowski, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GERMANY