About us

The Julius Kühn-Institut (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, is both a federal research institute and a higher federal authority. Its main office is located in Quedlinburg (Saxony-Anhalt). Currently, 1,200 staff members, of which 250 are scientists, work in 15 specialized institutes or in one of the service units, such as library, data processing or administration.

Apart from the institutes based in Quedlinburg, the JKI provides research facilities in Braunschweig, Berlin, Kleinmachnow, Bernkastel-Kues, Darmstadt, Dresden-Pillnitz, Dossenheim, Groß Lüsewitz, Münster and Siebeldingen.

Our mission

JKI activities are centred on cultivated plants as such. The Institute does research in the fields of plant genetics, cultivation of crops, plant nutrition, soil science, plant protection and plant health.  Its broad competence enables  the JKI to develop holistic concepts for crop cultivation as a whole, ranging from crop production to plant care.

Legal mandate

JKI’s primary goal is to advise the federal government on all issues relating to cultivated plants. Furthermore, the Institute is in charge of diverse official duties  conferred by law.

In particular, the JKI takes over the following responsibilities:

• Providing information and advice to the federal government, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in particular

• Evaluating the resistance of plants to pathogens and abiotic stress

• Evaluating plant protection products and their active substances:
  
  This is done  as part of  national licensing procedures and  the EU review programme of active substances  in plant protection products. It also includes investigations on the effects of plant protection treatment on bees, beneficial insects and soil organisms.

• Contributing to the elaboration of national and international standards of plant health:
  
  Main aim is to prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms.

• Participating in the GMO approval process for experimental release and placing on the market (GMO =  genetically modified organism)

• Testing plant protection equiment:
  
  The experiments serve the elaboration of standards for the authorization und use of plant protection  equipment and contribute to uniform legal regulations in Europe.

The tasks assigned by law are stipulated in the Plant Protection Act (§ 33 PflSchG), Genetic Engineering Act, Chemicals Act and in corresponding legal regulations.