Of apples and pears

How can regional fruit growing be safeguarded? How can innovative organic breeding concepts be developed and how can access to newly developed varieties be kept open? A new research network at the university will be addressing these questions from January. For three years, scientists from the university will work together with external partners in the network, among other things to further develop old and special apple and pear varieties. The coordinator is the economist Prof Dr Bernd Siebenhüner. The state government of Lower Saxony is funding the project with 564,000 euros from the Volkswagen Foundation's Niedersächsisches Vorab programme. The apple and pear varieties that the project partners primarily want to develop further are often characterised by great genetic diversity. One focus of breeding will be on vitality and resistance to a specific fungus that causes scab. The resulting new varieties should be able to be cultivated with fewer pesticides, be developed for the common good and consequently be usable as public property. Coordinator Siebenhüner, Professor of Ecological Economics, Prof Dr Dirk Albach, Head of the "Biodiversity and Evolution of Plants" working group, and Prof Dr Stefanie Sievers-Glotzbach, Junior Professor of the Economics of Commons, are working on the project together with two external partners. The association "Saat:gut e.V." with its project "Apfel:gut" and the experimental and advisory organisation "Öko-Obstbau Norddeutschland " (ÖON) will be responsible for practical breeding. The research network is one of a total of five projects that the state government is funding to strengthen sustainable agricultural production from 2017.