Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF)

The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) explores ecosystems in agricultural landscapes and the development of ecologically and economically tenable land use systems. ZALF focuses on highlighting perspectives for the sustainable use of the resource landscape in the context of the development of rural areas, using the example of its model regions, arising from current and anticipated social discussions.

In particular, ZALF explores problems regarding:

• the role of agricultural landscapes in climate change (adaptation and mitigation),
• heightened region-specific land pressure,
• the risk of increasingly one-sided land use,
• intensified cultivation of genetically modified plants,
• the compatibility of alternative cultivation with conventional production, intensified cultivation of renewable resources or energy crops,
• nature conservation,
• tourism,
• soil conservation,
• water protection and water management requirements.

ZALF brings together scientific competence from agricultural science, geo- and biosciences to socio-economics. At its headquarters in Müncheberg, ZALF houses six institutes, several central work groups and facilities to support research. Field experimentation at ZALF is carried out at Dedelow, in the northeastern part of Uckermark. External sites are located at Paulinenaue, west of Berlin in Havelland, and at Müncheberg. ZALF has been a member of the Leibniz Association since 1992.