Perennial crops are particularly vulnerable to climate given their exposure to fluctuating weather conditions throughout the year. Key climate-influenced vulnerabilities of fruit crops include, among others, winter chill fulfillment and springtime freeze risk. To ensure fruit production systems are optimized under warming climate, we focus on understanding how warming influences overwintering and spring phenology of temperate fruit crops and potential follow-on impacts on growth, fruit yield or quality.

We also investigate the potential of insects as a sustainably protein source for food and feed. This production may cost-efficiently convert agricultural and industrial food by-products into valuable protein once the technology is fine-tuned. We work on how the production can be optimized and focus on the importance of microbes in the diet for efficient utilization of nutrients and on using selective breeding as a tool to improve productivity.