Legal mandate
The Julius Kuehn Institute pools research activities as well as many regulatory functions in the field of cultivated plants. The Institute’s core activity is to advise the federal government and the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in particular on all issues relating to cultivated plants.
Its diverse tasks in this field are stipulated in important legal acts such as the Plant Protection Act, Genetic Engineering Act and Chemicals Act and in corresponding legal regulations, furthermore they arise from the Ministry‘s research plan. The Institute’s competence comprises both the functions of a federal authority and research in the fields of plant genetics, plant cultivation, plant nutrition and soil science as well as plant protection and plant health.
On this basis, the JKI is in charge of networking all important departmental tasks relating to cultivated plants – whether grown in fields, in the glasshouse or in an urban environment. It develops holistic concepts for plant cultivation as a whole, ranging from plant production to plant care and plant usage. Research and sovereign functions are closely intertwined.