Marketing für Lebensmittel und Agrarprodukte

Dr. Birgit Schulze-Ehlers

Birgit Schulze-Ehlers (née Schulze) studied agricultural sciences at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, specialising in agricultural economics and social sciences. After her pre-degree, she interrupted her studies for a one-year agricultural internship in the districts of Soest and Höxter, which she completed with an internship examination at the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia. As part of her Master's degree, she spent a semester abroad at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Rennes (ENSAR, now Institut Agro Rennes-Angers), specialising in Politique et Économie de l'Agriculture et de l'Espace.
He went on to complete his doctorate on "Supply chain management and consumer behaviour as challenges for agribusiness value chains" at the Chair of Marketing of Food and Agricultural Products. After working as a post-doctoral fellow at the same chair and as an international affairs officer at the Brussels office of the German Farmers' Association, she accepted a non-tenure-track junior professorship in "Agribusiness and Supply Chain Management" at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. At the end of her six-year tenure, she returned to the Georg-August-Universität with four research projects (see below). This was followed by a position as Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness Supply Chains at Lincoln University (New Zealand). After a family phase, Birgit worked as a consultant for digital knowledge transfer at the Christliches Jugenddorfwerk (CJD) in Waren an der Müritz, before returning to research at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. She is currently coordinating the research project EEKlim (development and testing of a climate label for food in Lower Saxony). Under the leadership of the French governmental transformation agency "ADEME" and together with other European research institutions, she successfully acquired the EU project LIFE Eco Food Choice for the chair, which will start in November 2023.

Research interests:

  • Drivers and barriers to sustainable behaviour - between societal aspirations and private interests
    • Designing target-group specific incentive systems for behaviour change among farmers and consumers.
    The empirical methods range from qualitative interviews and media analysis to standardised online surveys and experiments in behavioural economics.

    Research projects:

    Life Eco Food Choice: Environmental Data & Ecolabeling for Sustainable Food Choice
    Life ECO FOOD CHOICE was born of the shared ambition of researchers to develop and harmonize environmental labelling on a European scale. The project, financed by the LIFE program, brings together 8 European partners from Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, with researchers and companies who are experts in their fields: agricultural production, data, LCA, consumer sciences, etc. The initiative also aims to create a framework for discussion open to all: countries, companies or NGOs wishing to make progress in harmonizing environmental labelling on a European scale. The ultimate goal is to present the European Commission, by 2028, with an environmental display system that has been validated and recognized by a wide range of stakeholders. The work of this project thus offers a crucial opportunity to stimulate European collaboration for more sustainable food practices.

    "Entwicklung und Erprobung eines Klimalabels für Lebensmittel in Niedersachsen (EEKlim)"
    In order to achieve international and national sustainability goals, sustainable nutrition has increasingly become a focus of public interest and political debate. In addition to transformation processes in agriculture and the food sector, consumers are also seen as playing an important role. The aim of the planned project is therefore to develop a scientifically based framework concept for a climate label and to test its practicability for the agricultural and food sector in Lower Saxony. The label to be developed will be designed to promote environmentally friendly consumption and production patterns in the food sector. The project is funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

    Finished projects:

    • Purwins, N., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2018): Improving market success of animal welfare programs through key stakeholder involvement: heading towards responsible innovation? International Food and Agribusiness Management Review Vol. 21(4), pp. 543–558. https://doi.org/10.22434/IFAMR2017.0047 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.
    • Purwins, N., T. Viergutz, Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2017): Do villagers trigger farmers’ perceptions of animal welfare standards? Poster presentation at the 7th International Conference on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level, Wageningen, The Netherlands September 5-8, 2017.
    • Erdmann, D. Steinhoff-Wagner, J., Purwins, N., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2018): Interdisziplinäres "Tierwohl-Upgrade" Einblick in die Ergebnisse des Projekts MarkiT - Markenfleischprogramm zur Integration von Tierwohl. Fleischwirtschaft 12/2018, pp. 77-79.
    • Schulze-Ehlers, B., Purwins, N. (2016): Does having a Choice make a Difference? Market Potential of the Animal Welfare Label in Germany. Proceedings in Food System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks, 389-395. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18461/pfsd.2016.1643 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.
    • Schulze-Ehlers, B., Purwins, N. (2016): Mehrzahlungsbereitschaft für Tierwohl: Fiktion, Nischenphänomen oder Zukunftstrend? Paper presented at the 66th Public Conference of the Faculty of Agriculture and Nutrition Sciences at Kiel University. In: Schriftenreihe der Agrar- und Ernährungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Kiel, Vol. 123, pp 61-68. Persistent link: https://www.agrar.uni-kiel.de/de/forschung/publikationen-pdf/hst-band-123.

    • Gassler, B., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2019): Cooperation for sustainability actions along the value chain: insights from the German food industry. Poster presented by B. Gassler at the 170th EAAE Seminar "Governance of food chains and consumption dynamics: what are the impacts on food security and sustainability?" Montpellier 15-17 May 2019.
    • Wunder, S., Antoni-Komar, I., Claupein, E., Dirksmeyer, W., Eberle, U., Friedrich, S., Hafner, G., Hoffmann, S., Joerß, T., Langen, N., Quack, D., Schmidt, T., Schmid, M., Schulze-Ehlers, B., Speck, M., Teitscheid, P., Teufel, J., Waskow, F. (2018): Handlungsansätze zur Förderung nachhaltiger Ernährungssysteme. Ergebnispapier von BMBF-Forschungsprojekten zum Thema Ernährung. NaWiKo-Synthesepapier.
    • Schulze-Ehlers, B., Hoffmann, S., Siebert, H.-F., Joerß, T., Risius, A., Akbar, P., Mai, R., Gassler, B., Schlüter, T. (2018): Transparenz und Transformation in der regionalen Ernährungswirtschaft. Kollaborative Ansätze für mehr Nachhaltigkeit vom Rohstoff bis zum Endkonsumenten. Schlussbericht des Projekts TransKoll. Discussion Paper No. 1812, Discussion paper series of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Göttingen University.

    • Viergutz, T., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2018). Member Commitment and Switching Decisions in Dairy Cooperatives – A Factorial Survey. Proceedings in Food System Dynamics and Innovation in Food Networks 2018 pp. 143-168. https://doi.org/10.18461/pfsd.2018.1811 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.

    • Islam, I., Nielsen, M., Schulze Ehlers, B., Zaman B., Theilade, I. (2020): Are trade credits a gain or a drain? Power in the sale of feed to pangasius and tilapia farmers in Bangladesh, Aquaculture Economics & Management, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13657305.2020.1729896 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen
    • Islam, I., Nielsen, M., Zaman B., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2020): Knowledge transfer from experienced to emerging aquaculture industries in developing countries: the case of shrimp and pangasius in Bangladesh, Journal of Applied Aquaculture, DOI: 10.1080/10454438.2020.1716914 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen
    • Thong, N.T., Ankamah-Yeboah, I., Bronnmann, J., Nielsen, M., Roth, E., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2020): Price transmission in the pangasius value chain from Vietnam to Germany. Aquaculture Reports 16 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aqrep.2019.100266 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.
    • Hinkes, C., Schulze-Ehlers, B. (2018): Consumer attitudes and preferences towards pangasius and tilapia: The role of sustainability certification and the country of origin. Appetite 127, pp 171-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.05.001 Titel anhand dieser DOI in Citavi-Projekt übernehmen.