Digital Technologies for Sustainable Crop Production

The development of digital technologies for sustainable crop production is a central research focus of the Faculty of Agriculture. The aim is to reduce the negative environmental impact of agricultural land use while maintaining yields to ensure global food security. New technologies combine sensors, artificial intelligence and automation. They enable demand-oriented management at the level of individual plants and promise to drastically reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. At the same time, automation allows the management of crop type combinations with potentially positive effects on biodiversity and yields. This research focus has developed over the last 10 years in a series of coordinated collaborative projects and reached its preliminary peak with the acquisition of the Cluster of Excellence “Phenotyping and Robotics for Sustainable Crop Production” (PhenoRob), the only Cluster of Excellence in the agricultural sector in Germany. The Centre for Robotics at the University of Bonn was established as a result of these research activities.

This thematic focus is closely linked to TRA Sustainable Futures.