Newest publications
Dairy farmers’ market choice, food safety and production efficiency in rural Bangladesh
(2025) Happy, Fardous Ara; Hess, Sebastian
The dairy sector in Bangladesh is a cornerstone of rural livelihoods, functioning not only as a vital source of food and nutritional security but also as a powerful vehicle for poverty reduction through the productive engagement of surplus family labor and the generation of household income from milk product sales. As the most economically pivotal component of the agricultural sector, the dairy value chain (encompassing production, processing, marketing, and food safety) relies fundamentally on the contributions of smallholder dairy farmers. These producers, primarily resource-constrained and operating small-scale enterprises with limited access to improved cattle breeds, are predominantly situated in geographically isolated regions. Such structural limitations hinder their market connection. Consequently, farmers typically earn less than half of the final consumer price, while national milk production remains insufficient to meet the rising demand for safe, nutritious, and high-quality dairy products. Understanding the existing farming conditions and market dynamics is therefore essential for designing effective policy interventions and management advice that could improve the dairy sector in rural Bangladesh regarding production, productivity, food safety, and market access.
As a starting point for this, a systematic literature review examines the market attributes of the dairy value chain in Bangladesh and compares them to the dairy sector in India. Despite rising demand for dairy products, particularly in urban and high-income areas, the traditional dairy markets (TDM) continue to dominate in both countries, accounting for about 80 percent of milk production. The weak linkage of milk producers to the commercial dairy market (CDM) is driven by the combined influence of CDM limitations and the continued appeal of the TDM. CDM lacks adequate promotional services to attract producers, while TDM systems offer proximity and familiarity with rural producers. Nevertheless, TDM supplies dairy products of inferior quality that are primarily consumed locally. These products have limited value addition and a shorter shelf life. Additionally, perceived unfair pricing and bargaining pressure within TDM often lead to malpractices, including adulteration. In contrast, CDM - especially through cooperative and private sector contractual models - offers better market access, value-added product diversification, and wider geographic distribution which tends to benefit both producers and consumers.
Beyond this systematic review, a stratified survey was conducted in 2023 in three different agro-climatic milk-producing regions of rural Bangladesh. Data were collected through farm visits, interviewing N=511 milk producers using a structured questionnaire. Respondents in the sample were active sellers of milk either in commercial dairy markets (CDM) or traditional dairy markets (TDM).
According to the results, market structures at dairy villages determine dairy farmers’ self-selection into different markets. Access to commercial markets (CDM) is influenced by physical infrastructure, particularly the availability of paved roads. Where such infrastructure exists, farmers are more likely to choose cooperative or private processors over the available local market (TDM). Interestingly, despite offering better prices, the nominal value of raw milk appeared to have limited explanatory power in farmers' market choice decisions. Instead, household-specific factors such as the shadow value of milk play a more influential role. Even more notably, a distinct subgroup of farmers who adhere to high food safety and hygiene practices prefer selling in local or informal markets, despite having access to commercial alternatives.
As food safety practices are important for farm sustainability and safe milk sales, the key drivers influencing the adoption of food safety practices (FSPs) at small-scale dairy farms have also been analyzed based on the survey data: Farmers' knowledge and attitude towards food safety management has a strong influence on the adoption of FSPs. However, farm-level high compliance costs for FSPs, limited market incentives at the milk collection stage, and shortcomings in milk pricing policies significantly hinder the adoption of FSPs. These effects are particularly pronounced among untrained farmers, as they are less likely to show a positive attitude of farmers towards food safety implementation. Furthermore, the presence of these barriers has a negative impact on resource utilisation and farm inspections—eventually slowing progress towards safer dairy practices.
Regarding productivity, results show that variations in milk production are largely explained by the number of lactating cows per farm. The mean technical efficiency (TE) peaks in the river zone, but is mostly uniform across market types. Intra-household milk consumption increases TE in coastal and dry regions. Moreover, the distance to food markets is inversely correlated with TE. The relatively high TE among cooperative-linked farms is facilitated by the provision of training and extension services. In general, household education, consumption of home-produced milk, diversified income sources and experience in dairy production serve as significant factors in driving the TE of dairy farms in Bangladesh. Although food safety practices are empirically correlated with lower TE, they remain essential for long-term farm sustainability and consumer health.
Therefore, promoting a synergy between the efficiency of the CDM and the accessibility of TDM for producers should be a central goal of dairy sector interventions, enabling the transformation of rural dairy markets into high-value, CDM-like systems. This transition supports the growth of smallholder farming and therefore requires the development of strong producer associations and the provision of improved training, extension services and rural infrastructure. CDM frameworks also need to incorporate more effective price incentives for milk from farms with high food safety standards. In combination, these measures will strengthen the CDM by enhancing productivity, farm safety, income stability, and the delivery of safe milk to consumers. It is vital that implementation of such policies will be adapted to region- and market-specific contexts.
Practicing the pot culture: pursuing sustainable agronomic management techniques for indoor medicinal cannabis cultivation
(2025) Massuela, Danilo Crispim; Graeff-Hönninger, Simone
With the legalization of cannabis cultivation in Germany, the country took an important step into becoming one of the major economies to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for personal use in the EU. In addition, the demand for cannabis products in different sectors is constantly increasing, and further rapid growth is forecasted. The institutionalization and representation of cannabis cultivation in the scientific literature are paramount to enabling efficient, secure, sustainable, and equitable good cultivation practices in the German cannabis industry and governmental decision-making processes. While exploring the potential of medicinal cannabis production, there is also the necessity to cultivate significant amounts of inflorescences to supply this craving demand. Indoor cultivation systems are the preferred method. The system is characterized by the highest degree of control over environmental variables of light (intensity, spectrum, duration), carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, air (humidity and distribution), water and nutrients (irrigation regimes and fertilizer – composition and concentration), and management techniques. Besides the mentioned advantages above, these systems are discussed to be the most unsustainable form of cannabis cultivation, with a high carbon footprint, energy demand, and resource utilization.
Considering the absence of peer-reviewed scientific information in the cannabis industry, many businesses rely on management techniques from non-peer-reviewed sources, like commercial datasheets or gray literature. Much of the research in this field is conducted privately by companies in the cannabis industry. This thesis aims to contribute to the scientific knowledge of cannabis cultivation. The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate the production of medicinal cannabis in indoor cultivation systems. The specific focus was on applying agronomic management techniques to optimize yield components of medicinal cannabis. More precisely, emphasis was given to the balancing act of inflorescence biomass accumulation and the concentration of CBD in the inflorescences over time under abiotic stress induction, such as pruning, nutrient, and water deprivation. The effect of each tested agronomic management technique on yield components is presented in publications Ⅰ-Ⅲ.
Publication I investigated the optimum harvest time and canopy management based on the total accumulated CBD yield. The findings highlighted that nine weeks of flowering was considered the optimum harvesting time for the tested genotype, as no significant enhancement in CBD yield was found after that. Additionally, it was demonstrated that pruning techniques can modify plant architecture and growth, leading to different inflorescence allocations in plant height. Inflorescences at the top position have significantly higher CBD concentrations. Thus, applying pruning techniques like topping can enhance CBD yield due to optimized canopy formation and area utilization in indoor cultivation systems.
Publication II examined the impact of induced nutrient deprivation on plant biomass and CBD yields and the nutrient use efficiency of N, P, and K for three fertilizer concentrations of organic and mineral fertilizers. The results highlighted the dynamics of nutrient accumulation and re-mobilization among plant organs over time and the efficiency of nutrient utilization when plants are exposed to nutrient deprivation during flowering. Finally, inducing nutrient stress at the flowering stage could increase plant nutrient use efficiency and reduce fertilizer inputs without penalizing yields. The re-mobilization of already acquired nutrients presents this compensation.
Publication III evaluated drought stress treatments' influence on CBD concentration and plant biomass production. As water and irrigation techniques are of paramount agronomical importance, the impact of moderate and severe drought treatments for two high-CBD genotypes with significantly different growth characteristics and water demands was tested. The drought events occurred at three phenological stages of inflorescence formation and maturation. Results highlighted different genotypic reactions and the adverse effects of applying severe stresses, significantly affecting photosynthesis, respiration, and plant water status. On the other hand, applying moderate stress can enhance water use efficiency by reducing water inputs without penalizing yield.
Furthermore, the findings of this work showed that harvesting at the optimum time, pruning plants, and inducing moderate nutrient and drought stress during the flowering stage could be beneficial to enhance CBD yields while reducing resource input and increasing time, space, fertilizer, and water use efficiency. Overall, this thesis provided a broad dataset and findings that can support growers in investigating the effect of interventions on yield components, the effectiveness of agronomic management techniques like improved canopy and root zone management, and the effects of abiotic stresses on the overall optimization of cultivation systems.
This thesis further expands on the critical questioning of the sustainability of indoor systems, highlighting major environmental issues of cultivation, such as the high amounts of energy and water utilization, waste generation, air pollution, and GHG emissions. This led to the reflection on alternative cultivation systems to supply the growing demand for medicinal cannabis in Germany. It is worth saying that indoor cultivation is possibly still the best system to provide medical – GACP/GMP pharmaceutical grade – cannabis due to the high level of environmental control, safety, and contamination protection. Nonetheless, there is still much to be improved in those systems, and future developments should aim either at (I) “high-tech” systems with efficient lights, soilless hydroponics or DWC under closed water and nutrient cycles, improved sensors and automation systems for less human interaction to avoid contamination and minimum energy and resources deployment. Future systems should possibly include the verticalization of cultivation areas and the use of AI to guarantee fewer variations in climate conditions and, therefore, higher standardization of inflorescences in production batches and/or (II) a shift towards “soil-sun grown” cannabis and protected environment production, especially using greenhouse and tunnels in outdoor conditions. As demonstrated, those systems have higher yield potential and improved sustainability of cultivation while using the sun as a primary energy source and the soil as the basis for cultivation. At the same time, regenerative practices would be the preferred form of soil fertility management, organic nutrient cycling, and crop nutrition. It is essential to note those systems' limitations in acquiring pharmaceutical-grade certification of medical inflorescences. However, inflorescences per se might not be the best medical product as the standardization of cannabinoid concentration in inflorescences is challenging and subject to natural variation. Nonetheless, “soil-sun grown” can be a primary significant cultivation system to produce medicinal cannabis – cannabis plants that can be used for medicinal purposes – as practiced for most medicinal plants and other crops of medicinal value (herbs, teas, essential oils). These systems can be scaled up more easily than indoor cultivation and can yield large harvests to provide inflorescences and biomass to extract cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, etc., which can later be used to generate medical products. Observing the experience of other countries, it is expected that a tremendous demand for cannabis in Germany will not be medical pharmaceutical inflorescences from the pharmacy (as before the legalization) but rather medicinal/recreational inflorescences from individuals, cultivation clubs, and model projects.
In summary, this thesis explores the dynamic field of cannabis cultivation driven by societal demands and recognizes the crucial role of adapting cultivation systems to market needs. As suggested in the discussion, categorizing medical and medicinal cannabis products is necessary to fit cultivation systems to meet consumer demand. Furthermore, the moment permits historical reparation and the insertion of marginalized groups in a transformative landscape of cannabis cultivation. If we want to pursue socially equitable cannabis, we cannot simply ignore what has been done to smallholder farmers in traditional cannabis-producing regions through the war on drugs. Enabling the import of cannabis inflorescences and extracts from regions under ecologically and socially sustainable cultivation practices with certification labels can be a milestone in promoting fairer agricultural trades, providing legal livelihood opportunities, and developing strong value chains, like other delicacies such as tea and spices, cocoa, and coffee. Thus, certified imports from traditional producers can be vital, given the global climate and energy crisis challenges.
Lowering acquisition costs with a commission cap? Evidence from the German private health insurance market
(2023) Braegelmann, Kylie A.; Schiller, Jörg
When consumers are neither particularly financially literate nor price sensitive, insurers have a strong incentive to pay high commissions to intermediaries for profitable new business. As a part of cost reduction regulation in the German private substitutive health insurance market, a commission cap and a minimum cancelation liability period for insurance intermediaries were introduced in 2012. Despite the fact that the commission cap lowered commissions paid to intermediaries, we provide evidence that the reform was only partly effective, as it led to a decrease in reshuffling of new business in the substitutive market, but did not significantly reduce total acquisition costs of health insurers. Our findings confirm that cost regulation is tricky and can be easily circumvented by insurers, as commission payments are only a part of total acquisition costs.
A global database of soil microbial phospholipid fatty acids and enzyme activities
(2025) van Galen, Laura G.; Smith, Gabriel Reuben; Margenot, Andrew J.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Crowther, Thomas W.; Peay, Kabir G.; Jackson, Robert B.; Yu, Kailiang; Abrahão, Anna; Ahmed, Talaat A.; Alatalo, Juha M.; Anslan, Sten; Anthony, Mark A.; Araujo, Ademir Sergio Ferreira; Ascher-Jenull, Judith; Bach, Elizabeth M.; Bahram, Mohammad; Baker, Christopher C. M.; Baldrian, Petr; Bardgett, Richard D.; Barrios-Garcia, M. Noelia; Bastida, Felipe; Beggi, Francesca; Benning, Liane G.; Bragazza, Luca; Broadbent, Arthur A. D.; Cano-Díaz, Concha; Cates, Anna M.; Cerri, Carlos E. P.; Cesarz, Simone; Chen, Baodong; Classen, Aimeé T.; Dahl, Mathilde Borg; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel; Eisenhauer, Nico; Evgrafova, Svetlana Yu.; Fanin, Nicolas; Fornasier, Flavio; Francisco, Romeu; Franco, André L. C.; Frey, Serita D.; Fritze, Hannu; García, Carlos; García-Palacios, Pablo; Gómez-Brandón, María; Gonzalez-Polo, Marina; Gozalo, Beatriz; Griffiths, Robert; Guerra, Carlos; Hallama, Moritz; Hiiesalu, Inga; Hossain, Mohammad Zabed; Hu, Yajun; Insam, Heribert; Jassey, Vincent E. J.; Jiang, Lili; Kandeler, Ellen; Kohout, Petr; Kõljalg, Urmas; Krashevska, Valentyna; Li, Xiaofei; Lu, Jing-Zhong; Lu, Xiankai; Luo, Shan; Lutz, Stefanie; Mackie-Haas, Kathleen Allison; Maestre, Fernando T.; Malmivaara-Lämsä, Minna; Mangelsdorf, Kai; Manjarrez, Maria; Marhan, Sven; Martin, Ashley; Mason, Kelly E.; Mayor, Jordan; McCulley, Rebecca L.; Moora, Mari; Morais, Paula V.; Muñoz-Rojas, Miriam; Murugan, Rajasekaran; Nottingham, Andrew T.; Ochoa, Victoria; Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl; Oja, Jane; Olsson, Pål Axel; Öpik, Maarja; Ostle, Nick; Peltoniemi, Krista; Pennanen, Taina; Pescador, David S.; Png, G. Kenny; Poll, Christian; Põlme, Sergei; Potapov, Anton M.; Priemé, Anders; Pritchard, William; Puissant, Jeremy; Rocha, Sandra Mara Barbosa; Rosinger, Christoph; Ruess, Liliane; Sayer, Emma J.; Scheu, Stefan; Sinsabaugh, Robert L.; Slaughter, Lindsey C.; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.; Sousa, José Paulo; Stanish, Lee; Sugiyama, Shu-ichi; Tedersoo, Leho; Trivedi, Pankaj; Vahter, Tanel; Voriskova, Jana; Wagner, Dirk; Wang, Cong; Wardle, David A.; Whitaker, Jeanette; Yang, Yuanhe; Zhong, Zhiwei; Zhu, Kai; Ziolkowski, Lori A.; Zobel, Martin; van den Hoogen, Johan
Soil microbes drive ecosystem function and play a critical role in how ecosystems respond to global change. Research surrounding soil microbial communities has rapidly increased in recent decades, and substantial data relating to phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and potential enzyme activity have been collected and analysed. However, studies have mostly been restricted to local and regional scales, and their accuracy and usefulness are limited by the extent of accessible data. Here we aim to improve data availability by collating a global database of soil PLFA and potential enzyme activity measurements from 12,258 georeferenced samples located across all continents, 5.1% of which have not previously been published. The database contains data relating to 113 PLFAs and 26 enzyme activities, and includes metadata such as sampling date, sample depth, and soil pH, total carbon, and total nitrogen. This database will help researchers in conducting both global- and local-scale studies to better understand soil microbial biomass and function.
Weaving knowledge, innovation, and learning: a transdisciplinary pathway to circular bioeconomy through BioBeo
(2025) Buruleanu, Claudia Lavinia; Chléirigh, Laoise Ní; Nic an Bhaird, Máire; Curran, Thomas P.; Reinmuth, Evelyn; Bîzoi, Mihai; Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L.
The bioeconomy represents a new way of life for people, but also a responsibility towards the future of the planet. Generating a significant socio-economic impact, it could be viewed as a key element of sustainable development, as the current and future solution for economic processes, based on new development models compelled by climate changes and the economy’s resilience to potential crises. In this context, the paper presents in its first part the Circular Economy description and the Circular Bioeconomy discussion from an interdisciplinary perspective. The second part of the paper aims to explore education as a tool for facilitating systemic changes supporting a real transition to a sustainable bioeconomy. The key aspects discussed refer to the following: (1) European policies, strategies, and action plans for bioeconomy; (2) Circular Economy as a solution for sustainable food systems; (3) main requirements and challenges for developing a (Circular) Bioeconomy, including indicators of sustainability; (4) the links between Circular Bioeconomy and the Sustainable Development Goals; (5) possibilities for integrating the agri-food industry’s needs into bioeconomy education; and (6) pathways for teach bioeconomy concepts effectively.