Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment

The Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment works to develop plant protection strategies and methods for integrated pest management and organic farming. Our mission is to promote environmentally sound and sustainable agriculture. The complex effects of pest and crop management practices on the ecology and economy are other main areas of our interest. We apply the available knowledge in information processing systems, modeling tools, and geographic information system (GIS)-aided methods to evaluate the risks and benefits of pest and crop management strategies. Further activities include the development and application of indicators for sustainable agriculture and the establishment and operation of farm networks for information gathering on pest management practices in agriculture and horticulture. The institute coordinates activities related to the implementation of the "National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides" for the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) and the German states. It participates in the approval procedure for off-label applications (minor uses) and is involved in the procedures for plant strengthening product applications and listing.

In detail, the Institute for Strategies and Technology Assessment

• develops and enhances the principles, guidelines and concepts for integrated plant protection in organic growing
• develops and uses pesticide risk indicators for human health and the environment as well as indicators for sustainable agriculture   
• conducts long-term field experiments on the chances and limits of an reduced chemical plant protection to grow plants for food and renewable energy   
• coordinates periodical statistical surveys on the use of pesticides in arable crops, orchards, outdoor vegetables, vineyards, and hop and conducts a network of farms to gather information on the annual necessary intensity of chemical plant protection   
• elaborates and uses mathematical population  and epidemic models as well as models of fate and behaviour of pesticides in the environment   
• develops and uses GIS-aided methods for probabilistic exposure assessment for non target organisms, for analysis of environmental risk hot-spots by agricultural practice and for digital landscape analysis   
• develops tools for alternative (non chemical) plant protection measurements and to solve plant protection problems in minor crops   
• conducts economic analysis and studies to evaluate the efficiency of plant protection strategies regarding their usage of  energetic, material and monetary resources