This is EilT
Agricultural and food systems will soon have to look different than they do today, not least because of climate change. On 600 hectares of land, we are devising, researching and testing innovative land use systems in a team of experts from the fields of ecology, socio-economics and agricultural engineering. In doing so, we always consider the dimensions of people, nature and technology in context.
EiLT is not only the abbreviation for the scientific project name "Experimental Interdisciplinary Landscape Laboratory at the Thünen Institute for Research, Development, Testing and Demonstration of Land Use Systems of the Future". EiLT also means: We live in a time when time is running out.
We conduct research in Trenthorst, Schleswig-Holstein, on an area the size of 840 football pitches. Here we set up experiments that cannot be carried out, or can only be carried out to a limited extent, in other landscape and real-world laboratories.
Measurement and observation points, known as transects, are set up in all experimental fields in order to simultaneously investigate the effects on biodiversity.
The experiments build on existing knowledge and at the same time open up space for new questions and thus creative ideas for the land use of tomorrow.
The results are as open as the future, but we want to shape that future. That is why we are "rushing" towards a "Bright tomorrow".
"In just a few years, agricultural and food systems will have to look different from today's, not least due to climate change. We want to provide impetus for this change from the scientific community. The concepts for this have been developed in the minds of our scientists. Now we are researching and demonstrating whether practice lives up to theory."
Prof. Dr. Birgit Kleinschmit, President of the Thünen Institute
Our fields of experimentation
The Thünen site in Trenthorst is nestled in the agricultural landscape of Schleswig-Holstein. In future, various land use systems will be combined on the agricultural and forestry land of the former estate.
