Flora von Steimker
Flora von Steimker studied Organic Agriculture (B.Sc.) at the University of Kassel-Witzenhausen and Agricultural Sciences (M.Sc.) at the University of Göttingen, specialising in Resource Management. Her studies focused on sustainable and animal-friendly livestock husbandry and the marketing of agricultural products. In her master's thesis, she examined the feasibility of organic certification for sheep and goat production in pastoral systems in Northern Kenya. After completing her degree, she worked in 2021 as a consultant for grazing livestock holders in landscape conservation. Her interest in the "InnoRind" project and the desire to pursue a doctorate brought her back to the University of Göttingen in April 2022. As a doctoral researcher, she investigated the societal acceptance of innovative housing and management practices in dairy and beef cattle production. Following the successful completion of her doctoral degree, she has been working as a postdoctoral researcher in the collaborative project agri:change since 2025, where she investigates societal food and nutrition trends as entry points for the sustainability transformation of agricultural value chains within agri:lab X1.
Research focus:
- Societal and agricultural perceptions of emotions and needs of farm animals, such as cow-calf contact
- Societal acceptance of different housing and management systems in livestock farming
- Dialogue-oriented citizen participation processes for shaping agriculture
- Societal food and nutrition trends
Research project:
agri:change - Future through Change: Sustainability Transformation in the Agri-Food Sector in Lower SaxonyThe collaborative research project agri:change addresses the necessary sustainability transformation of the agri-food sector in Lower Saxony, Germany, and aims to actively shape and advance a future-proof, resilient system – adapted to the specific conditions of the region. In four transdisciplinary, practice-oriented real-world laboratories (agri:labs) and three cross-cutting themes, participating actors from academia, practice, and civil society generate systems knowledge, target knowledge, and transformation knowledge as a basis for the sustainable development of agricultural value chains.
Within agri:lab X1 (Sustainable Value Chain Systems and Sustainability Transparency), the University of Göttingen investigates societal food and nutrition trends as entry points for the sustainability transformation of agricultural value chains. To this end, relevant societal trends are first identified through a systematic literature review, expert interviews, and AI-supported trend analysis methods. A representative consumer survey then examines public awareness and willingness to adopt the most significant trends. Life cycle assessments are used to evaluate their contribution to sustainability, and stakeholder workshops are conducted to discuss the practical feasibility of the identified trends. The results are made available to value chain actors through a practice-oriented brochure, online workshops, and science communication activities.
InnoRind (completed)
Innovation Network Cattle - sustainable cattle farming in Germany taking into account animal welfare, environmental impacts and social acceptance (InnoRind)
The aim of the InnoRind project is to establish a network for sustainable cattle farming and to use the expertise of the project participants to develop innovative approaches for sustainable dairy and beef cattle farming in Germany. These approaches are intended to increase animal welfare and reduce environmental pollution. At the same time, the labour situation of farms and the social acceptance of husbandry and management systems are to be included in the development of sustainable concepts.
As a project partner, the Georg-August University of Göttingen is investigating the social perspective on innovative husbandry and management measures in the areas of calf rearing and beef cattle rearing, among others, in order to incorporate them into the transformation process. First of all, the evaluation, importance and consideration of animal emotions in dairy farming from a social and agricultural perspective will be recorded through interviews and online surveys. A further field of research includes the acceptance and evaluation of different, innovative forms of housing for calves in the first weeks of life from the perspective of the population. In addition, the evaluation of animal welfare and the prioritisation of animal welfare goals in the case of conflicting goals of different housing systems in cattle fattening will be investigated from a social perspective. Furthermore, the aim is to develop and test a dialogue-oriented online citizen participation procedure for the design of future cattle farming, which can be transferred to other agricultural topics.
InnoHerd (completed)
In Lower Saxony, sheep play an important role in preserving the cultural landscape, for example by maintaining heathland and protecting dikes. However, the return of the wolf poses a major challenge to sheep farming. Many shepherds already protect their animals with high fences and dogs, but these measures are often time consuming and expensive, forcing farms to give up sheep farming. There are also regions where these protective measures are not possible.
In other parts of the world, such as South Africa, collars are used to protect livestock from predators. These respond to changes in the sheep's behaviour and emit ultrasonic sounds and light to scare off attackers. Following this example, shepherds and an electronics and software company are developing collars for sheep in Lower Saxony, Germany. The collars react to changes in the sheep's movement and emit signals to ward off predators. The aim is to provide a simpler and cheaper alternative to existing protection measures.
As a project partner, the University of Göttingen is investigating the social perception of flock protection and wolf management measures against the background of the ecological importance of sheep farming. On the other hand, the acceptance and willingness of the shepherds to use the developed system, as well as the factors influencing this, will be investigated in order to derive possible optimisation potentials.