Imagine going to the supermarket. You’ll find numerous products with various labels: Organic, Fairtrade, Sustainable Fisheries, Demeter, Bioland, and more. Some supermarkets have also launched initiatives for animal welfare or flowering meadows. The idea is to give us the feeling that by purchasing these products, we’re doing something good for ourselves and the environment.
However, if we want to buy something that specifically supports biodiversity—the variety of plant and animal species in agricultural landscapes—we face a problem: there’s no explicit label for the protection and preservation of biodiversity. On top of that, we’re often overwhelmed by labels like Demeter, Bioland, or ProPlanet, leaving us unsure of what to make of all these colorful symbols. Were real measures taken to protect bees or other insects, as the packaging claims? Where can we see what was actually done, and who benefits from it? Which wild animals and plants need our help, and why is it important to protect them? Do the measures promoted by these labels even make a difference?
These are the questions consumers might ask themselves when deciding whether to pay €1 or €1.50 for a carton of milk simply because it has a few colorful labels.
This is precisely the focus of our agribiological project.
Our test site is a meadow adjacent to the University of Hohenheim’s dairy farm, where dairy cows graze. We aim to discover which wild animals, such as wild bees, beetles, birds, bats, and hares, inhabit this meadow and to explore the best methods for capturing and understanding biodiversity. Additionally, we seek to understand how these species interact with each other and influence one another. We are investigating whether grazing affects the ecosystem of the meadow. Further questions include: What methods can be used to measure biodiversity and demonstrate that certain measures support its preservation? Our goal is to develop a label that recognizes products contributing to the protection and preservation of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Specifically, we want to help consumers visualize biodiversity and build trust in the products and the label. Using a QR code on the products bearing our label, consumers will be able to see exactly which species they are helping to protect and receive suggestions on what else can be done to support biodiversity.
