Agri-Food-Health Hub

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The hub is a cross-faculty initiative of the University of Hohenheim, supported by over 100 departments from the fields of agriculture, natural sciences, economics, and social sciences. The aim of the hub is to design sustainable agri-food health systems.

Under the academic directorship of Prof. Dr. Iris Lewandowski and Prof. Dr. Mario Jekle, it is being proactively developed together with an initiative group and over 100 professors and postdocs on behalf of the President's Office.

Contact the hub’s initiative group

Dr. Evelyn Reinmuth | E-Mail

 

 

Hub’s concept paper  

Agri-Food-Health 
Leading the transformation of food systems

Published: April 2026, Version 1.0-4-2026

Publisher
Agri-Food-Health Hub initiative group
University of Hohenheim
Schloss Hohenheim 1
70599 Stuttgart

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License notice: This publication is published under the license Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). You can find the complete license text at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.de.

The Hohenheim Agri-Food-Health Hub

The Agri-Food-Health Hub at the University of Hohenheim is based on the initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities, which aims to pool existing scientific expertise and establish strategic research hubs throughout Germany to strengthen food security and the resilience of food systems.

The University of Hohenheim was founded in 1818 with the mission of contributing to food security. Today’s research structure of a profile university, which combines its strengths in three faculties, has developed from this historical self-image. The specializations focus on sustainable and resilient agricultural systems, resource-conserving, health-oriented food production that integrates bioeconomic solutions for greater resource efficiency and circular economy principles. Holistic system development is based on the cause-and-effect principle and ranges from the genotype to the phenotype to social transformations. The hub continuously integrates new technologies and drives their development forward. The further development of the “Food Systems Research Hub” to become the “Agri-Food-Health Systems Research Hub” reflects the interdisciplinary breadth and thematic diversity of the University of Hohenheim’s research pillars. At the same time, an important basic understanding of the interrelationships necessary for the transformation becomes clear.

The “Health” term is deliberately included in the title, as it encompasses several levels and goes far beyond individual human health. It is a byword for the recovery of the entire food system – from the soil to society. The University of Hohenheim researches cause-and-effect relationships within the food system at the molecular level and transfers these findings to various subsystems to develop systemic solutions. Health is understood as an integral component of stable ecosystems and includes the health of the individual as well as the resilience and stability of entire societies.

If planetary boundaries – for example in the areas of climate, biodiversity, or biogeochemical cycles – are exceeded, the fundamental conditions for human health are at risk worldwide. The concept of planetary health makes it clear that human and ecological health are inextricably linked. It therefore forms the scientific and normative basis for the Agri-Food-Health approach pursued by the Hohenheim Agri-Food-Health Hub. On this basis, the hub contributes to respecting planetary boundaries, strengthening the resilience of global food systems and shaping sustainable transformation pathways based on evidence. Based on the recommendations of the EAT-Lancet Commission 2025[1] the hub supports the transformation of food production and the implementation of a “Planetary Health Diet.”

[1] www.stockholmresilience.org/research/research-stories/2025-10-03-eat-lancet-2025-global-food-transformation-needed-to-ease-pressure-on-the-planet-and-save-millions-of-lives.html

Events und Aktivitäten

The hub also has the task of making scientific results more visible and putting them into practice through targeted transfer activities. Various formats have been developed for this purpose and others are constantly emerging from the research projects. On this page, you will in future find regular reports and insight into these activities.

You will find the hub at the following events throughout the year:

Research areas and their contribution to the overall system

Meaning

The activities of the Agri-Food-Health Hub are organized into six thematic research areas that represent the central pillars of an agri-food system. They are based on the research areas established at the University of Hohenheim across all three faculties. In the development of the research focus areas, they resulted in a natural reflection of the research areas relevant to the agri-food system. In the Agri-Food-Health Hub, they serve a holistic, integrated view and the sustainable transformation of our food system. 

 

System contributions of the research areas

Research areaSystem contribution

Health-oriented nutrition concepts based on resource-conserving food production, taking consumer behavior into account

Health-oriented transformation of nutrition systems as envisaged by the “One Health” and “Planetary Health” principles, with a focus on everyday well-being through healthy nutrition and equitable access to it at all stages of life (wellbeing/life course perspective)

Resilient agricultural systems at the juncture of productivity, sustainability, biodiversity, and ecosystem servicesIncreasing resilience, resource efficiency, and productivity through innovative production systems and the integration of ecosystem services

Efficient use of digital technologies as well as system modeling, optimization, and evaluation for the transformation of nutrition systems as envisaged by the “One Health” and “Planetary Health” principles and a hybrid, public welfare-oriented intelligence (human-AI)

Data-based analysis, design, development, and evaluation of system structures using digital technologies as an integrative starting point for the transformation of food systems; technology design as a health resource and human-AI cooperation to strengthen collective problem-solving capabilities and transform social systems

Social change, governance, transformation processes, and the management of global value networks, and health / health management systems

Social development at the juncture of new business models and changing political frameworks; in-depth understanding and support of transformation processes and well-being as a social resource

Pioneering solutions for resource efficiency and the circular economy in the food and non-food sectors, including sustainable energy systems

Promotion of circular value creation through innovative, biointelligent, and resource-efficient use of bio-based resources and development of biotechnological processes for the food and non-food sector

System development from genotype to phenotype – from molecular mechanisms to integration in plant, animal, and food systems

Improving the fundamental understanding of molecular processes as a key to developing sustainable food systems according to cause-and-effect principles

The system contributions are based on the analysis of key challenges that need to be addressed strategically and as a priority in food systems research in the coming years. The overarching goal is to facilitate systemic food production that ensures a sustainably healthy diet. The system contributions identify key fields of action for research, policy, and practice, but do not conclusively define all the necessary transformation impulses. Rather, they are to be continuously developed as part of an ongoing, participatory process together with partners and committed stakeholders in the hub.

In each research area, broad-based research teams pool their work to jointly drive forward the transformation of agricultural and food systems. A special feature of the Agri-Food-Health Hub is its international orientation: Agricultural, food, and health systems are examined in Germany, Europe, and the Global South. As a result, research and transfer can be organized under very different local conditions and transformation requirements – always with the awareness that agricultural and food systems are never isolated or limited by national borders.

For each research area, a concrete description is given of which problem is to be addressed with which long-term transformation path. These paths are each aimed at (partially) solving the challenges defined in the Agri-Food-Health Hub. The Agri-Food-Health Hub serves as an innovation platform that enables relevant stakeholders and partners to be involved from the outset in terms of a transdisciplinary research approach. The University of Hohenheim can already draw on a large network of partners and stakeholders from various areas of the agricultural and food system in different regions and at national and international level. The plan is for this network to be further expanded as part of the Agri-Food-Health Hub. Together with interested stakeholders and partners, the aim is to work out as specifically as possible within the research areas which problems can be solved with which long-term path. The transformation paths will then be further elaborated in specific project initiatives. Research strategies are also developed in terms of a “co-design” together with the stakeholders. In this process, further partners and stakeholders can be identified who support the pathway and are involved in concrete activities, particularly in the form of real laboratories.

Ziele des Hubs

The hub bundles and integrates experts and activities relating to agricultural, nutrition, and health management systems and develops them strategically. It has the task of collecting, structuring, and expanding knowledge and communicating it to the outside world through suitable transfer formats – in the direction of science, business, politics, and society. The Agri-Food-Health Hub also sees itself as an “early detector” for new topics, trends, and needs. Due to the active integration of stakeholders and interaction with players worldwide, it is able to recognize these at an early stage. At the heart of this is the realization that sustainable innovations can only be created through integrated approaches that build bridges between research, application, and politics and actively involve all relevant stakeholders.

The research and transfer formats of the Agri-Food-Health Hub are designed to

•         be a platform for inter- and transdisciplinary cooperation and the development of project initiatives,

•         drive innovation at all levels,

•         use digital, data-driven modelling, and evaluation methods for system analysis, and

•         promote the exchange of knowledge from local to international level with strategic partner institutions.

The Agri-Food-Health Hub thus creates a scientific and organizational environment that enables the joint development of knowledge, the testing of new methods and the transformation-oriented, reciprocal, and interactive transfer of research results into real contexts. The overarching goal is to develop integrative and innovative research structures in a globally networked and interdependent environment that contribute to evidence generation, knowledge mobilization, and the social impact of scientific findings. In this way, the hub is positioning itself as a driver of transformation-oriented research that addresses the agricultural and food system as a whole – from the molecular level to global governance.