Sonoko Dorothea Bellingrath-Kimura

Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research | ZALF · Research Area 2 “Land Use & Governance“

In this study, we identified currently available digital and smart technologies for German agriculture and classified their applicability. We differentiated our findings by three categories and ten sub-categories, including complex systems for data collection, software- and hardware-based technologies with a total of 201 commercial technologies. Ad...

The biggest challenge in organic sugar beet cultivation is the high cost of weed control, which is caused by time-consuming hand hoeing within the beet rows (Dierauer & Jenni, 2022). Many farmers are therefore reluctant to start cultivation, although the demand for organic sugar (beet) is increasing. In future, the "Uckerbot" should be an economica...

The aim of this study was to investigate fertiliser-derived N uptake of soybean from different depths of the soil under field conditions. In addition, soybean root growth in sandy and loess soil was evaluated to understand the impact of site and soybean variety characteristics on soybean N uptake under continental conditions in Central Europe. Root...

Despite human activities are key influencing factors for cropland soil organic matter (SOM), detailed characterization of human activities has always been limited in the digital mapping of SOM due to the lack of proper representations of human's cropland use activities. Crop rotation is an essential human agricultural practice significantly affecti...

Assessing the Agronomic and Environmental Impacts of Grass Rotations in Cropping Systems: A Simulation Study in Muencheberg, Germany.

The functions of farm management information systems (FMIS) are mostly examined without considering purchasing statistics as an indicator for their actual use and crucial information for FMIS developers and politics. Thus, the present study analyzes categories and functions of commercial FMIS purchased by farmers within a subsidy program for digita...

Agroforestry systems have received a significant attention in recent years and can be considered as a potential strategy in agricultural production to respond to worsening climatic conditions. The decision-making process for farmers to design and implement agroforestry systems is complex due to time-consuming processes of planting, growing and mana...

Path planning for optimized field-work pattern is an important task within precision farming. The decision on a particular direction and path to cultivate and manage the field is complex and can significantly affect working time, energy consumption, soil compaction and yield. This study proposed a new method for automated detection of the current c...

Multifunctional and diversified agriculture can address diverging pressures and demands by simultaneously enhancing productivity, biodiversity, and the provision of ecosystem services. The use of digital technologies can support this by designing and managing resource-efficient and context-specific agricultural systems. We present the Digital Agric...

Fodder maize cultivation under low mountain conditions in Central Europe presents obstacles for organic dairy farmers; low temperatures and high precipitation values in spring delay the juvenile development of maize, which leads to lower and fluctuating yields. Increasing the soil temperature during the critical growth phase of maize in spring is b...

In this study, the fertilising effect of organically grown fodder legumes (alfalfa, red, white and alsike clover), cut and dried in early growing stages, was compared with the fertilising effect of horn meal in two experiments with potted basil, with the fodder legumes giving similar yields to horn meal as fertiliser.

Large-scale, high-input, and intensified agriculture poses threats to sustainable agroecosystems and their inherent biodiversity. The EU Common Agricultural Policy covers a great number of nature conservation programs (Agri-Environment and Climate Measures, AECM) aiming to encourage sustainable agriculture. Currently, farmers are not encouraged to...

Increasing ecological challenges, such as the rapid loss of biodiversity or climate change, pre-sent farms with the challenging task of reconciling species and animal protection, soil conser-vation and climate protection measures with yield stability and the production of high-quality food. The digitalization of the agricultural sector is often see...

In this study, we assess the supply of five ecosystem services (ES, i.e. biodiversity provision, carbon sequestration, erosion control, water availability and yield) in an agricultural landscape in Northeast Germany as perceived by different stakeholders with a web-based questionnaire. We complement this participatory approach with a biophysical as...

Stable and healthy ecosystems are the key for ecosystem service provisioning. The rapid biodiversity loss of flora and fauna in agriculture endangers the provisioning of ecosystem services, on which the food production depends. In the course of Agriculture 4.0, a wide range of digital technologies is used in the agricultural sector. The implementat...

Agricultural intensification decreased land cover complexity by converting small complex arable field geometries into large and simple structures which then were managed uniformly. These changes have led to a variety of negative environmental effects and influence ecosystem services. We present a novel small-scale and site-specific cropping system...

Climate change scenarios predict an increased occurrence of droughts and heatwaves, as well as extreme rainfall events in Central Europe. Alley cropping, which is the inclusion of rows of trees and shrubs in agricultural land, could enhance the resilience of cropping systems, as these systems are expected to positively modify the microclimate and w...

While agricultural intensification and expansion are major factors driving loss and degradation of natural habitat and species decline, some wildlife species also benefit from agriculturally managed habitats. This may lead to high population densities with impacts on both human livelihoods and wildlife conservation. Cranes are a group of 15 species...

Maintaining or restoring landscape multifunctionality is essential to ensuring that landscapes provide a broad array of services. Increased multifunctionality means that there are more diverse land uses bordering each other. The areas in which land uses interact are transition zones; those between grasslands and forests could fulfill multiple purpo...

Soybean is one of the five crops that dominate global agriculture, along with maize, wheat, cotton and rice. In Europe, soybean still plays a minor role and is cultivated mainly in the South and East. Very little is known about the potential for soybean in higher latitudes with relatively cool conditions. To investigate the agronomic potential and...

In simplest terms, agroforestry involves growing trees on farms for a range of socio-economic and ecological benefits. Agroforestry as a land management technique has been practiced for thousands of years. As climate change and environmental impacts of agricultural intensification have become increasingly evident in recent years, agroforestry has g...

Agricultural land use systems have been optimized for producing provisioning ecosystem services (ES) in the past few decades, often at the expense of regulating and cultural services. Research has focused mainly on the supply side of ES and related trade-offs, but the demand side for regulatory services remains largely neglected. The objective of t...

To support the adaption of soybean [Glycine max (L) Merrill] cultivation across Central Europe, the availability of compatible soybean nodulating Bradyrhizobia (SNB) is essential. Little is known about the symbiotic potential of indigenous SNB in Central Europe and the interaction with an SNB inoculum from commercial products. The objective of this...

Currently, soybean demand and production are increasing exponentially, as a healthy protein source in Europe. In Poland, there is a tendency to avoid the GMO soybean importation, therefore, it is important to increase soybean production in this country. However, the cold and waterless conditions in Poland are not suitable for symbiosis by using the...