Crop diversification: “German agriculture has to change and look for new crops” (K. Fleißner, FutureCrop)
“The approach of the FutureCrop initiative is to help farmers diversify their fields, growing several crops instead of relying on one. That way, even if one or two crops fail, farmers still have others to fall back on for income,” Klaus Fleissner, Research Associate at the Bavarian State Research Institute of Agriculture, tells News Tank on 28 August 2026.
As head of the FutureCrop research and innovation project, Fleissner explains that this initiative explores what Bavarian agriculture could look like in the years ahead and focuses on tackling the difficulties farmers in Bavaria currently face.
Fleissner notes that the main challenge facing Germany is an increasingly unpredictable climate, with some years bringing intense heat and drought, and others bringing cooler, wetter conditions. Crops, he says, are struggling to keep pace with these swings. “Agriculture has to change and look for new crops,” he says.
The project's main goal is to offer farmers alternatives for crop production in a changing climate, giving them options for diversification. “If a farmer says their usual crops aren't yielding like they used to because it has gotten hotter and drier, we want to be able to offer an alternative,” Fleissner says.
Discussing what the project needs to succeed long-term, Fleissner says: “The key elements are money, people and hard work. Because at the moment we are doing a lot by hand because we're not having the machines. The key is also good contact to the farmers and to the consumers, especially for crops that are not known to them like millet.”
In this interview, Fleissner discusses how FutureCrop is being implemented, its engagement with farmers, and the main difficulties that persist in the field.
Project implementation: three stations across Bavaria
Fleissner got the idea for the FutureCrop Project from his 28-year-long experience in Africa, between Namibia and Cameroon. After experiencing unusually hot and dry conditions in Bavaria in 2018 and 2019, he decided to test crops he had worked with in Namibia, ordering seeds and planting them out of curiosity. To his surprise, they grew successfully.
"During the first phase, we had five crops: groundnut, cowpea, sesame, black cumin, and rice," Fleissner says. “The second phase added pearl millet, a staple crop widely grown across sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel.”
The project runs research trials across three stations spanning southern, central and northern Bavaria, the northernmost being especially dry and hot. These, Fleissner explains, are standard agronomic trials, conducted outdoors in small plots of about six to ten square meters, testing different varieties across a combined area of about half a hectare.
Rather than breeding new varieties, something Fleissner says will come later, the project is focused on identifying existing ones. The goal, he explains, is "to shortcut the implementation of these crops" by finding varieties that already perform well and can be demonstrated directly to farmers.
Asked what market and sustainability assessment shaped the choice of the project's flagship crops, Fleissner says the selection process started with crops already known to German farmers and consumers.
The relationship with farmers
The project organises field days that draw farmers from the wider community, and Fleissner has noticed a growing curiosity about new crops as growers sense that change is coming. It is the more forward-thinking farmers, he says, who tend to gravitate toward these alternatives, with some having already invested in machinery to grow groundnuts and peanuts.
While some farmers remain committed to conventional crops, the project focuses its efforts on those "that have a spirit of innovation and who can see that there is a need to change the production system."
The work is still experimental, but some farmers have taken it upon themselves to start growing the new crops after reading about them or attending field days. Fleissner and his team support these growers directly, drawing on four years of accumulated experience with the crops to help them navigate the early challenges. He is hopeful the practice will keep spreading.
What is harder to shift, he admits, is mindset. "You have to fight against the perception of farmers and of the ministry," he says, describing much of the sector as conservative and dismissive of his outlook. “I see myself as an agricultural visionary,” he says. “I'm looking at how agriculture could look in 30 or 40 years, but many people are lacking this vision.”
Main challenges: seed availability, weed management, harvest timing and post-harvest processing
Fleissner says the main challenges fall into several areas. The first is seed availability: simply sourcing and retrieving the seeds needed.
The second is agronomy, particularly weed management in the early stages of cultivation. “These crops are planted in May, and during their initial growth phase, they face heavy weed pressure,” Fleissner says. “Since herbicides aren't yet legally approved for these crops, we currently focus on organic rather than conventional production, relying on mechanical weeding. In our trials we still weed by hand, but that isn't a realistic option for farmers at scale.” Farmers have adapted well, he adds, and suitable weeding equipment is generally available, though not everyone has access to the right machines yet.
The third challenge is harvest timing. In the crops' countries of origin, harvest coincides with the dry season. In Bavaria, however, conditions turn wet and cool from late September onward, right when harvest would take place. "That creates pressure from plant diseases and fungi, which thrive in damp conditions," Fleissner explains, so the project needs varieties that mature before autumn sets in.
The fourth, and in Fleissner’s view the biggest challenge, is post-harvest processing. Crops like groundnuts require several labor-intensive steps: they must be lifted from the soil, the nuts removed from the plant, and then properly dried. “Drying remains a major hurdle," Fleissner says.
New crops also require new processing lines, and the necessary machinery is expensive. “Since the project doesn't have the funds to invest in this equipment or test it independently, we need strong cooperation with both farmers and the private sector to move this forward,” Fleissner says.
"Farmers should look into the future and be more courageous”
He says German farmers "should look into the future, be more courageous and try out new crops." He adds that they can learn a great deal from African agriculture, noting that farmers there have succeeded in growing food despite high temperatures, poor soils and scarce rain.
“We don't need to worry that our agriculture will collapse,” Fleissner says. “There are options, and Africans can show the way in farming under such extreme weather, having built up the resilience to cope with drought and heat.”
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