The primary focus of the Permanent Senate Commission on the Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems (SKAE) is to advise various target groups in politics, research and society on developments relating to upcoming transformations in agricultural and food systems. In doing so, the Commission takes the entire value chain into account, including the natural conditions of the environment and landscape, cultivation and production systems for plants and animals, food processing methods and consumer eating habits.

The Senate Commission was established by the DFG Senate on 1 January 2024. The main topics to be addressed during the Commission’s first period of office are as follows:

• ways of achieving food security within planetary boundaries
• ways of diversifying the cultivation of crops
• ways of bringing about a societal transformation in the production and consumption of meat and animal products.

In the long term, the Senate Commission will also seek to address strategic issues which are in essence related to the systems science approach used in the agricultural and nutritional sciences.

Members and permanent guests

The members of the Senate Commission are academic experts representing various disciplines of the agricultural and nutritional sciences as well as neighbouring disciplines. The permanent guests represent various other research organisations in Germany. The Commission is currently chaired by Professor Doris Vetterlein of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Halle/Saale. 

• Members of the Senate Commission