Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Agricultural and Food Policy

A new article co-authored by Nicolai Goritz, Maria Proestou, and Peter H. Feindt at the Agricultural and Food Policy Group has been published in Environmental Management. The study conducts a systematic content analysis of 78 national bioeconomy policy documents from 50 countries published between 2005 and 2020, investigating the extent to which governments recognize and address resilience challenges in their bioeconomy strategies.

The findings show that while two-thirds of documents mention at least one resilience challenge, the average text share devoted to these issues remains limited at 3.3%. Where challenges are articulated, they are predominantly framed in economic terms, with environmental, social, and political stresses receiving comparatively little attention. Nearly two-thirds of challenge-related text proposed no concrete policy instrument to enhance resilience. Agriculture and bioenergy emerged as the most salient sectors associated with resilience concerns, reflecting a strong influence of the bioresource vision of the bioeconomy.

The study concludes that resilience thinking remains unevenly integrated into bioeconomy policymaking globally, and calls for stronger anticipatory capacities, cross-sector stakeholder dialogue, and more explicit consideration of environmental and societal risks in strategic bioeconomy governance.

Citation:
Goritz, N., Proestou, M. & Feindt, P.H. (2026). Resilience Challenges in Bioeconomy Policies: A Global Comparative Analysis. Environmental Management, 76, 145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-026-02432-1

Hier der Link:

https://www.zdf.de/video/magazine/heute-19-uhr-102/heute-19-uhr-vom-06-april-2026-100

Hier der Link:

https://www.zdf.de/video/magazine/heute-journal-104/heute-journal-vom-6-april-2026-100 

A new article co-authored by Maria Proestou, Nicolai Goritz, and Peter H. Feindt at the Agricultural and Food Policy Group has been published in Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy.

The study develops a framework that identifies 13 analytical criteria of neoliberal states relevant for understanding the extent to which a state is neoliberal concerning bioeconomy matters. The authors apply these criteria to the case of the German bioeconomy and find mixed evidence of neoliberalism. The study contributes to deepening our understanding of the nature of the state in bioeconomy matters, which is essential to achieving the bioeconomy transformation.

Citation: Proestou, M., Goritz, N., & Feindt, P. H. (2026). Assessing the neoliberal state in the bioeconomy: evidence from Germany.

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 22(1). 

https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2026.2640761

On Tuesday, March 24, Dr. Harry Hoffmann presented initial findings from the RI-ProT project at the BUA Grand Challenges Conference.

Under the title “Alternative Food Proteins in Germany: An Integrated System and Policy Analysis”, the presentation introduced preliminary results from the project’s internal policy lab. Dr. Hoffmann highlighted:

1. insights into the German protein innovation system, analyzed using causal loop diagrams;
2. an overview of the national actor landscape, based on seven expert interviews and one focus group discussion; and
3. findings on the German policy environment, developed by project team member Patricia Jankowski.

The presentation sparked lively discussions on how systemic analysis can inform future innovation and policy strategies for sustainable protein alternatives in Germany. It also established a valuable connection to the work of the Fraunhofer Center for Responsible Research and Innovation which will enrich the future research foci of the project. 

Im Rahmen der Tagung "GAP, ELER & Umwelt 2026" der Deutschen Vernetzungsstelle Ländliche Räume (dvs) im Umweltforum Berlin hat Dr. Pascal Grohmann am 17.3.2026 einen Vortrag zu den Legislativvorschlägen der Europäischen Kommission für die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik (GAP) 2028-2034 gehalten. Auf der zweitägigen Tagung mit über 120 Teilnehmenden boten Fachvorträge und praxisnahe Workshops Raum für den Austausch zwischen Akteuren aus Verwaltung, Beratung, Landwirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Naturschutz, um die geplanten Änderungen und ihre Auswirkungen auf die Agrarumweltförderung zu diskutieren.

Informationen zum Programm und der Dokumentation der Tagung:

https://www.dvs-gap-netzwerk.de/service/unsere-veranstaltungen/bevorstehende-veranstaltungen/gap-eler-umwelt-2026/

Diskussion des RI-ProT-Projektes und des Innovationsradars im Rahmen des Future Thinking Impact Fields des Bosch Alumni Networks.

Als ehemaliger Stipendiat der Robert Bosch Stiftung (Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership) hat Dr. Harry Hoffmann sich erfolgreich dafür beworben, das RI-ProT Projekt und besonders das Kernelement des Innovationsradars im Rahmen eines Präsenz-Workshops des „Future Thinking Impact Fields“ zu präsentieren und mit den anwesenden ExpertInnen zu diskutieren. Das von Dagmara Weckowska, Cornelia Rauh, Luise Lallinger und Rosalyn Old konzipierte und realisierte Radar-tool hat laut den Teilnehmenden großes Potential, wobei auch die Herausforderungen der technischen Umsetzung im Zentrum der Diskussion standen. 

Artner-Nehls, A., Feindt, P. H., & Uthes, S. (2026). The evolution of discourses on livestock farming in Germany: a text mining analysis of parliamentary debates (1949–2021). Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 1–21. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2026.2631540 

This study investigates the evolution of political discourses on livestock farming in Germany from the post-war period to 2021, using a corpus-assisted discourse analysis combining structural topic modeling and lexicometric analysis of parliamentary speeches. The topic model revealed four themes: structural change, animal welfare, environmental degradation, and consumer safety. Semantic analysis revealed changing concepts and priorities, from livestock farming as an exclusively economic activity, to criticism of declining family farming with growing attention to animal welfare. The analysis reveals that while the discourse on livestock farming has diversified to include environmental, welfare and consumer concerns, new topics were often adopted through recombination with established discourses.

The new article “Pathways to strong and weak resilience orientation in bioeconomy policies: A global configurational analysis of policy design space conditions” has just been published in Environmental Challenges.

Goritz, N., Proestou, M., & Feindt, P. H. (2026). Pathways to strong and weak resilience orientation in bioeconomy policies: A global configurational analysis of policy design space conditions. Environmental Challenges, 22, 101425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envc.2026.101425

The paper analyzes 78 bioeconomy strategies from 50 countries to explain why some exhibit strong resilience orientations while others remain weak. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), we identify distinct combinations of governance, economic capacity, land-use patterns, and resource dependence that shape resilience in bioeconomy policymaking. We show that wealth and low corruption are key conditions for strong resilience orientation, whereas low income, oil dependence, and certain land-use structures are often linked to weak resilience. Overall, the findings highlight that resilience-oriented bioeconomy policy depends on specific policy design spaces and combinations of enabling conditions rather than isolated measures.

See the paper here:

Strengthening farmers’ voices in food systems transformation: an analysis of the Governor’s Day with Farmers in Western Kenya  

https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2025.1495949

In this paper we analyze the bioeconomy policy mix in Italy and conduct an integrative assessment of the resilience orientation of both nominal bioeconomy and agricultural policies. We find that agricultural policies are oriented toward robustness and adaptability, whereas bioeconomy policies predominantly address transformability but mostly at later stages in the supply chain. 

Varanini, G., & Feindt, P. H. (2026). Policy design for resilience? An assessment of the bioeconomy policy mix addressing the maize bio-based production system in Italy. Ecological Economics, 242, 108881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108881 

... hier ist der Link:

Thomas Vogelpohl, Desirée Hetzel, Daniel Johnson, Lena Masch, Jesko Hirschfeld, Thorsten Faas, Peter Feindt, and Jörg Niewöhner (2025): Shrinking Lakes, Growing Concerns: Exploring perceptions of lake level decline as a prism for understanding socionatural hazards, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/25/4731/2025/.

Hier ist der Link dazu:

https://www.enfasysproject.eu/beyond-the-status-quo-co-designing-policy-mixes-to-foster-the-transformation-towards-sustainable-agri-food-systems/

Heute ist ein neuer Artikel aus dem ENFASYS-Projekt erschienen. In dem Paper diskutieren Pascal Grohmann, Diane Kapgen und Peter Feindt die Erfahrungen mit dem Co-Design Prozess zur Entwicklung von Policy Mixen, den die Autoren im März letzten Jahres mit Akteuren aus der Schweinewertschöpfungskette in Brandenburg durchgeführt haben. 

Grohmann, P., Kapgen, D. & Feindt, P.H. (2025): Co-designing policy mixes to overcome lock-ins towards sustainable agri-food systems: the case of the pig sector transformation in Brandenburg, Germany. Agriculture and Human Values https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-025-10775-4  

Unter der Überschrift "Carbon Farming: Agrarkonzerne wecken falsche Hoffnungen" hat das Forschungsinstitut für Nachhaltigkeit am GIZ (RIFS) eine Pressemitteilung erarbeitet, die hier zu lesen ist (mit Link zur Studie).

https://www.rifs-potsdam.de/de/news/carbon-farming-agrarkonzerne-wecken-falsche-hoffnungen 

Dr. Pascal Grohmann in der Nachrichtensendung Brandenburg aktuell des rbb als Experte zu den Kommissionsvorschlägen für das EU-Budget und die Gemeinsame Agrarpolitik der EU.

Link: https://www.rbb24.de/panorama/beitrag/av7/video-brandenburg-landwirtschaft-bauern-gegen-eu-plaene.html 

Neue Publikation zum Nature Restoration Law erschienen (Ko-Autor Peter H. Feindt):

E. Marquard, et al. (2025): Underpinning the EU Nature Restoration Regulation: Five success factors for effective measures in the Member States, Restoration Ecology, e70121, http://doi.org/10.1111/rec.70121.