The publications listed below cover various aspects of sustainable agriculture.
Agrecol initiative to liberate seeds through open-source licence
GFAR Blogpost on the Agrecol initiative to liberate seeds through open-source licence: Read here.
Liberating seeds with an Open Source Seed Licence
Liberating seeds with an Open Source Seed Licence.Johannes Kotschi and Klaus Rapf, July 2016
Liberating seeds with open source licences
Johannes Kotschi and Lisa Minkmar, May 2015, AGRECOL
Who pays for seeds? Thoughts on financing organic plant breeding
Johannes Kotschi and Johannes Wirz. 2015. AGRECOL und Landwirtschaftliche Sektion am Goetheanum. Marburg and Dornach
Martins, Christine, 2015: Agrobiodiversity – the key to food security, climate adaptation and resilience.
Christine Martins. 2015.
Folder with 7 factsheets incl. summary and overview, 55 pages. Published by GIZ.
Download pdf
The folder contains the following factsheets:
Martins, Christine, 2015: Understanding agrobiodiversity. Factsheet, 8 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: Agrobiodiversity – plant genetic resources. Factsheet, 8 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: Agrobiodiversity – animal genetic resources. Factsheet, 8 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: International agreements on agrobiodiversity. Factsheet, 8 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: Incentives for agrobiodiversity conservation. Factsheet, 6 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: Adding value to agrobiodiversity. Factsheet, 6 pages.
Martins, Christine, 2015: Agrobiodiversity for survival. Factsheet, 6 pages.
A soiled reputation. Adverse impacts of mineral fertilizers in tropical agriculture
Johannes Kotschi. 2013. Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin: http://www.boell.de/en/content/soiled-reputation-adverse-impacts-mineral…
Supporting development processes through livestock innovation system research
Ann Waters-Bayer & Wolfgang Bayer, Agrecol. Tropentag Conference on International Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management & Rural Development. Prague, Czech Republic, 17–19 September 2014
PPT presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/ILRI/watersbayer-tropentag2014
Paper: Download pdf
Sprenger, Ute (2013): Agrogentechnik & Biodiversität. Weltweite Folgen des Anbaus gentechnisch veränderter Nutzpflanzen
An information leaflet for the German environmental NGO NABU, in German language. Title: Genetic engineering in agriculture & biodiversity. Global consequences of the use of geneticalley engineered crops.
Open Source for Seeds – a discussion paper (in German)
The German discussion paper examines the question, if the open source principle can be used for seeds and for plant breeding.
Johannes Kotschi and Gregor Kaiser. Agrecol 2012
Markus Frank: Local Innovation in the Development of Smallholder Agriculture
A literature review and case study in the department of Cochabamba, Bolivia
Bachelor thesis at the department of organic agriculture at the University of Kassel Witzenhausen.
Herzog, Felix (2011): Agroforstwirtschaft: Umweltleistungen von Bäumen in der offenen Agrarlandschaft.
Agroforestry can support sustainable intensification in Europe by providing higher productivity as well as environmental benefits.
Recommended Website:
The european association for agroforestry exists since 2011.
In Switzerland, researchers and agricultural advisory services have founded a coalition to support agroforestry: german website – french website
Kotschi, Johannes (2010): contribution of organic agriculture to global food supply – research to solve the global food problem (German language)
Expertise for The Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament. Agrecol 2010.
Kotschi, Johannes (2010): Mineral fertilizer for food security in developing countries (German language)
AGRECOL, Juni 2010. German language.
Kotschi, Johannes (2010): Reconciling Agriculture with Biodiversity and Innovations in Plant Breeding
GAIA 19/1 (2010): 20-24. (http://www.oekom.de/gaia)
AGRECOL 2010: Local marketing of organic products in developing countries. Guidelines for practitioners
The guide Local Marketing of Organic Products in Developing Countries – Guidelines for practitioners was compiled and edited by Felicitas Flörchinger, Annette Bernd, Thomas Becker, Berthold Schrimpf & Johannes Kotschi
The second edition is available in English, Spanish and French.
Please see our separate download page for the Guide.
Ann Waters Bayer, Sibylle Pich & Wolfgang Bayer: 20 years Agrecol
A collection of interesting retrospects – German and Englisch.
Published 2009
Noemi Stadler-Kaulich: Agroforstsysteme und ihre Gemeinsamkeiten mit Gedichten von Goethe
Bericht über den ersten Agroforst-Kongress in Bolivien, Cochabamba 22.-24. Sept. 2009
Herausgegeben 2009
Kotschi, Johannes (2009): The role of organic agriculture in feeding the world
GAIA 18/3 (2009): 200-204. (http://www.oekom.de/gaia)
Sprenger, Ute (2009): La contaminación oculta. Semillas transgénicas, bioseguridad e intervenciones de la sociedad civil en Costa Rica
El estudio de caso trata una temática aún poco contemplada en el debate sobre el impacto de los cultivos transgénicos: la produción y multiplicación de semillas transgénicas que llegan al mercado mundial por los Estados Unidos y por Europa.
El estudio para bajar (PDF 1,8 MB)
ClimAdapt Open Space – documentation of process and results
Innovative Responses in Sustainable Agriculture
For the ClimAdapt OpenSpace we constructed a separate website on which you can find the complete documentation of process and results. ClimAdapt was held on the occasion of 20 years AGRECOL. ClimAdapt Website.
Arndt Zschocke: Bolivia’s local organic market and how it might be affected by the new national organic legislation 3525/06
Master’s thesis at the faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences at Kassel University.
The thesis was developed in the frame of an internshop of Arndt Zschocke at AGRECOL-Andes. A short presentation of his experiences there can be found here: Presentation by Arndt Zschocke about his internship at AGRECOL-Andes.
Kotschi, Johannes (2008): Transgenic Crops and Their Impact on Biodiversity
GAIA 17/1(2008): 36–41 (http://www.oekom.de/gaia).
Kotschi, Johannes (2007): Agricultural Biodiversity is Essential for Adapting to Climate Change
GAIA 16/2 (2007): 98–101 (http://www.oekom.de/gaia).
Conservation agriculture using planting holes
Hope for Lesotho’s farmers
Growing Nations, Tebellong, Qacha’s Nek, Lesotho, 2006
Download as English and Sesotho from mamud.com.
Grünenfelder, Diether (2006) «… als wären wir gleichwertig»
Stories from 20 years develepment co-operation with EcoSolidar (only in German).
You can buy this book from Orell Füssli publishers, Zürich 2006
Kotschi, Johannes (2006): Coping with Climate Change and the Role of Agrobiodiversity
Paper presented at the Tropentag 2006 University of Bonn, October 11-13, 2006.
Paper presented at the Tropentag 2006 University of Bonn, October 11-13, 2006.
Documentation of an AGRECOL meeting on water and sustainable agriculture
and the proceedings of the meeting: download the documentation and the presentations here
J. Gonsalves, T. Becker, A. Braun, D. Campilan, H. de Chavez, L. Fajber, M. Kapiriri, J. Rivaca-Caminade and R. Vernooy (eds) (2005)
Participatory Research and Development for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management: A Sourcebook.
You can order the reader from CIP-UPWARD or download it in different formats from the IDRC’s or from CIP-UPWARD’s Website.
Vol 1: Understanding PR
Vol 2: Enabling PR
Vol 3: Doing PR
Bayer, Wolfgang & Wanyama, Jacob: Biotechnology in Animal Agriculture and Poverty Alleviation: an NGO Perspective
Kotschi, Johannes (2005): Overregulation in organic agriculture – a challenge for the organic movement (in German)
In: Ökologie & Landbau 2005/1.
Waters-Bayer, Ann & Bayer, Wolfgang: The Social Dimensions in Agricultural R&D: How Civil Society Fosters Partnerships to Promote Local Innovation by Rural Communities
Paper presented at EFARD 2005 Conference, Zurich, 27–29 April 2005 Agricultural Research for Development: European Responses to Changing Global Needs
Kotschi, Johannes (2005): More ecology – less hunger?
In: Appropriate Technology. December 2005. Volume 32, No 4. pp. 32-34.
Kotschi, Johannes (2004): More ecology – less hunger? (in German)
In: Politische Ökologie.
Kotschi J, Bayer W, Becker T & Schrimpf B (eds) AlterOrganic: Local Agendas for Organic Agriculture in Rural Development
Bonn-Königswinter, 21-24 October 2002 (Proceedings).
Workshop proceedings have been published now. An electronic version can be downloaded here (filesize: 2,93 MB). For reasons of file-size, the resolution of images has been reduced in this version. (2003)
Waters-Bayer, Ann (2001): A few steps more: the CGIAR Annual General Meeting 2001 and beyond seen from an NGO perspective
Getting there – steps toward greater influence of civil society on agricultural research: an NGOC perspective on the CGIAR Mid-Term Meeting in Durban.
The role of NGOs in the research landscape of the CGIAR. Plenary presentation at the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, 21-23 May 2000, Dresden, Germany.
Kotschi, Johannes (2000): Poverty Alleviation in the South – can Organic Farming help?
In: Proceedings 13th International IFOAM Scientific Conference „IFOAM 2000 – The World Grows Organic“. 28 to 31 August 2000. Basel.
Dhamotharan, Mohan & Becker, Thomas
Fusion of horizons – Communication Methods for a Dialogue between Scientists and Farmers
Eine Ausstellung zu partizipativen Methoden in der Agrarforschung
Fusion of horizons ist eine Ausstellung, die aus 16 Postern Größe A0 besteht, auf denen mit Hilfe von Bildern, Fotographien und Texten dialogische Kommunikationsmethoden und Ihre Anwendung dargestellt werden.
Die Ausstellung liegt in englischer und in französischer Sprache vor.
Die Poster können für Veranstaltungen ausgeliehen werden, auch eine CD und eine verkleinerte Version in A3 ist erhältlich. Nähere Informationen erhalten Sie auf der folgenden Seite.
Waters-Bayer, Ann (2000): New partnerships in knowledge management for local innovation.Tierhaltung und ökologische Landwirtschaft: eine komplizierte Beziehung
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Stoll, Gabriele (2000): Natural Crop Protection in the Tropics. Letting Information come to life
2nd revised edition. Weikersheim: Markgraf Verlag
This publication can be obtained from Margraf. It is available also in English, French, Spanish and Thai.
A detailed summary of the book can be found here (english)
Becker, Thomas (2000): Participatory Research in the CGIAR
NGO Workshop „Food for All: Farmer First in Research“, 19-20 May 2000, Dresden.
Siler, Eberhard (1998): the role of organic agriculture for the project promotion at Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (in German)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Schulz, Bernhard (1998): consequences of the EU-regulation on organic agriculture on the development of producer associations in Latin America (in German)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Reining, Ludger (1998): Sustainable agriculture as core area for Misereors in rural development (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Pietrowicz, Pieter (1998): soil fertility – stepchild of the discussion on organic agriculturue in development cooperation? (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Petry, Martin (1998): Brot für die Welt’s focus on sustainable agriculture (in German)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Mallinckrodt, Friedrich Mumm von (1998): Organic agriculture in the South and in the East: precondition for a Europe with a future (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Kotschi, Johannes (1998): Organic agriculture, from niche to „mainstream“: wishful thinking or conceptual backbone of development cooperation (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Bauer, Dieter (1998): The Bingenheim Initiative for vegetable seeds – a transferable model for the multiplication and conservation of local seeds? (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Kirk, Michael (1998): Are soil rights changing to the detriment of an organic agriculture? Unsolved challenges and noticable perspectives (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
Hoesle, Ulrich & Dresrüsse, Günter (1998): Sustainable agriculture and organic agriculture in technical cooperation: a niche or strategic orientation? (German language)
In: ZwischenErnte – Die Rolle der ökologischen Landwirtschaft in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Workshop Bonn 6.-8. Oktober 1998. Tagungsband. AGRECOL e.V.
AGRECOL & KOPRA (1991)
Farmers‘ survival in disadvantaged regions
A brief investigation (RRA – Rapid Rural Appraisal) in the commune of Sonntag in Großes Walsertal, Vorarlberg from Mai 30 to Juni 2, 1991.
Unfortunately out of print. Please contact us to have a look at this historic documentation of the first RRA in Europe.
Matzigkeit U (1990): Natural Veterinary Medicine: Ectoparasites in the Tropics
Margraf Verlag, Weikersheim (also in french).
At present, only available in antiquariats.
Possibly, this publication of University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Plant Science may be of help:
Alternative and Herbal Livestock Health Sourcebook (, 1.402 KB)
Andreas Büchtung und Arvid Gutschow: AGRECOL – Grenzen und Engässe moderner Agrarverfahren
Published 1976 (!)
The book was scanned and can be downloaded as a searchable pdf-file.