CropsA four-year, EUR 3.81 million EU project led by Fraunhofer IME will combine AI, biotechnology and soil microbiome research to develop potato and rice varieties that withstand drought, heat, salinity and disease.
EnvironmentMeasurements at 13 forest sites in south-west Germany over up to 24 years show soil methane uptake rising by about 3% a year, linked to lower rainfall and higher temperatures, contrary to several global reviews.
AgrotechGerman startup SenseUP packs double-stranded RNA inside bacterial cells so its gene-silencing biopesticides keep for 18 months at room temperature, cost less to make and can target several pests at once.
HealthThe World Health Organization has launched a five-year strategy for its Berlin pandemic intelligence hub, aiming to help every country detect emerging health threats within 24 hours by 2030 through AI-assisted monitoring, pathogen sequencing and One Health surveillance.
LivestockLMU Munich researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to remove the interferon tau genes from bovine embryos, which still established pregnancies; two healthy calves were born in February 2026, overturning the view that the signal is essential.
Yara Growth Ventures has joined the second close of Stenon's Series B. The German startup's portable FarmLab measures plant-available nitrogen in the field and turns it into fertilizer advice.
Berlin start-up Hexafarms has raised €4.8 million to grow a platform that reads greenhouse crops with wireless sensors and cameras and uses machine learning to tell growers how to reach the best harvest.
Hamburg's Soilytix has launched LOAM, AI models trained on 15,640 soil microbial genomes, to narrow the flood of candidate biological crop-protection products before costly lab, greenhouse and field trials.
The Berlin startup, which makes egg whites, yolks and shells from fava beans, peas and sweet potatoes under European patents, will join Livekindly Collective once that deal closes.
AgrotechMax Planck researchers mapped the nitrogenase of a vent-dwelling archaeon that fixes nitrogen above 90C, finding a simple enzyme that mixes features of all three known families and may point to a shared mechanism.
AgribusinessThe Danish-Swedish dairy cooperative will spend €35 million on skyr in Upahl, Germany, and €28.3 million on cottage cheese in Falkenberg, Sweden, after volumes of both rose sharply in three years.
AgrotechUniversity of Göttingen researchers found that the endophyte Flavo98 switches on a root-hair pathway under water stress; treated plants survived drought at about 85%, and the effect held in wheat, rapeseed, camelina and tomato.
LivestockWEDA Dammann & Westerkamp's QEW mixing tank lets the bottom bearing be changed from barn floor level in minutes, removing the need to climb into a confined space with digester gases.
AgrotechA camera-based, AI-controlled farrowing pen from WEDA and VetVise won the Gold DLG Innovation Award and the Animal Welfare Award at EuroTier 2026 by adjusting heating and feeding from sow and piglet behaviour.
FruitsUniversity of Göttingen researchers found autumn ethephon treatment delayed spring flowering in some sweet cherry cultivars, a possible frost-protection tool, but in one case it cut fruit set from 16 to 6 percent.
CropsDCA Market Intelligence puts the 2026 crop in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany at about 20.8 million tonnes after acreage cuts and a hot, dry season.
Since 2010 the German town of Andernach has grown fruit and vegetables in its parks and squares for residents to pick free of charge, with 8,000 square metres of vegetables in town, a 13-hectare farm on public land outside it, and 400 tomato varieties in a single year.
Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan will coordinate the planned Frankfurt IPO of BASF Agricultural Solutions; about 80% of the business is already in separate legal entities, and no final decision on timing has been taken.
Technology that determines a chick's sex inside the egg has gone from zero to 40% of the EU layer market in five years, driven by bans on male chick culling, while in the United States only premium brands have adopted it and retailers refuse to pay extra.
Germany is known for its natural beauty, but many of its most striking sights lie underground, from fairy grottoes to an ice cave.
In Germany, private commercial biogas plants turn grain and waste into electricity, household gas and organic fertiliser, supplied by contract farmers.
