BRIGHT Futures Field Research Explores Farming, Biodiversity and Alpine Landscapes in the Allgäu [23.07.26]
How do people shape biodiversity, and how does biodiversity, in turn, support resilient farming landscapes?
As part of the BRIGHT Futures project, members of our department recently travelled to the alpine grasslands of the Allgäu to explore these questions through socioecological field research. PhD researcher Navya Miriam Itty and Master's student Anna Pfauntsch visited three farms, each offering a unique perspective on agriculture and landscape stewardship in the region.
The field visit began at Hof Vorderberg in Leutkirch im Allgäu, where Lydia and Philipp Notz-Neumann welcomed the team to their family farm. During an in-depth conversation, they explained how they manage the farm and shared a philosophy of working with nature rather than trying to control it.
The team then visited Landschaftspflegehof Adelegg, where Magdalena Zintl introduced a farming system shaped by the region's steep terrain and dedicated to maintaining open cultural landscapes. The field trip concluded with a hike to the Nickenalpe, where Georg Rädler, a twelfth-generation alpine farmer, shared insights into a long tradition of alpine land stewardship.
Although the analysis is still underway, several themes have already emerged. Farmers consistently described themselves as stewards of the region's cultural landscapes, women play central leadership roles in farm management, and the diversity of farming systems appears to strengthen the region's resilience to environmental and societal change.
This work forms part of the BRIGHT Futures project's broader research on the close connections between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and human decision-making. Further findings will be shared as the analysis progresses.
This news item is adapted from the original BRIGHT Futures LinkedIn post. We thank the BRIGHT Futures team for sharing their fieldwork and insights. You can read the original post here.
