Circular Agronomy - Challenges and Chances on the plant side

BioSC International Summer School 2026 | September 21 - 25, 2026 | Jülich

Photos: © iStock, Fotolia, BioSC, Universität Bonn

Circular agronomy (or circular agriculture) is a sustainable farming model that applies circular economy principles - reduce, reuse, replace, and recycle - to biomass production, aiming to close nutrient loops, minimize waste, eliminate reliance on synthetic inputs. It integrates mixed crop-livestock systems, agroforestry, and waste-to-resource techniques (e.g., converting residues into fertilizer), thereby regenerating soil health, reducing CO2 emissions, and enhancing biodiversity. In concrete it allows the use of renewable resources to produce food and feed, materials and energy in the most sustainable and circular way. It creates the ability of agriculture to withstand shocks (like droughts or price spikes) because it is self-sufficient and more resilient. It avoids waste by turning low-value by-products into high-value animal feed or biomaterials.
The reduction of needed fertilizer, pesticides, water and energy in the biomass production e.g. correlates among others with precisions farming, new genotypes of plants, regeneration of soil fertility, closing nutrient cyles etc.

In this Summer School the participants will get insight into the complexity of global and local circular agronomy concepts, exploring scientific, ecological, economic, social, and political chances and challenges on the basis of case studies. The Summer School emphasizes systems thinking, with focus on circularity and sustainability, and collaboration in small groups along real-world examples using a project-based learning approach. Input will be delivered by talks and exchange opportunities with different stakeholders, like scientists, industry representatives and farmers.