Niggli

Biography

Since 1990 Director General of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) in Frick Switzerland (with 120 scientific and technical employees). Responsibilities: Administrative and financial manager. Strategic planning and positioning of FiBL, nationally and internationally. Overall scientific coordination. Fundraising. From 1985 to 1989 Head of the weed control group at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Fruit-Growing, Viticulture and Horticulture at Wädenswil, Switzerland (nowadays Agroscope ACW). Research focus and responsibilities: Biological, physical and chemical weed control in horticultural crops. Registration of herbicides. Side effects of herbicides on soil flora and fauna (non-target organisms). Leaching of herbicides. Mineralization of herbicides in soils. Weed physiology and weed biology. Interdependencies between weed flora and predators, agro-ecological habitat management. Weed dynamic and weed competition. From 1980 to 1983 Grassland weed scientist at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agronomy (FAL) Zurich-Reckenholz (nowadays Agroscope ART). Research focus: Weed dynamic and weed control in permanent grassland Weed physiology and weed biology 1973 and 1974 Teacher at 2 primary schools in Switzerland Teaching Since 2012 Honorary Dr of the University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia Since 2009 Honorary Professor for “Research Management in International Organic Agriculture” at Kassel-Witzenhausen University Since 1994 Lecturer at ETH Zurich (case studies in organic farming). Current honorary appointments and other duties Since 2016 Member of the Advisory Board of the Max-Planck-Institute for Plant Breeding, Köln Since 2016 Member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Agricultural Sciences of the ETH Since 2016 Member of the Swiss FAO-Committee (CNS-FAO) Since 2015 Member of the Expert Board of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) „Agricultural Systems of the Future“, Berlin Since 2015 Member of the Consultative Group of Agroscope Since 2014 Member of the Board on the pesticide reduction plan of the German Minister for Agriculture Since 2014 Member of the Board of the German Alliance for Agricultural Research (DAFA) In 2014 Personal expert to Commissioner Dacian CioloÈ™ (DG Agriculture and Rural Development) Since 2013 Member of the High Level Steering Board of the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) of the Commission, Brussels Since 2013 President of the Technology and Innovation Platform of IFOAM Since 2012 Honorary Dr of the University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia Since 2011 President of the Sustainable Organic Agriculture Action Network (SOOAN) of IFOAM Since 2010 President of FiBL International (the association of FiBL Switzerland, FiBL Germany, FiBL Austria, Bioinstitut Czech Republic, IBLA Luxemburg and ITR Slovenia) in Frankfurt Since 2007 Member of the board of the Institute for Organic Agriculture in Luxemburg Since 2006 Member of the Advisory Board of the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) Since 2004 Deputy president and co-founder of the Bioinstitute at Olomouc University (Czech Republic) Since 2004 Deputy president of FiBL Vienna Since 2002 Member of the board of directors of the inspection and certification company bio.inspecta inc., www.bio-inspecta.ch Since 2001 President of FiBL Germany Since 1991 Member of the Advisory Commission of the Crop Science Department of the ETH Zürich   Past appointments 2008 - 2011 Scientific Board of the German Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (www.ti.bund.de/en/) 2008 - 2011 Board of Directors of the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS), see www.icrofs.dk 2008 - 2010 Honorary Departmental Fellow in IBERS (Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University). 2008 - 2011 Member of the board of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). January 2006 Expert for the Accreditation of the master course „Organic Food Chain Management“ at Stuttgart Hohenheim University. 2004 - 2009 Academic co-ordinator of the EU-Project QualityLowInputFood (www.qlif.org) with 30 institutes in 13 countries (18 million €, 6th EU-Framework Programme). 2004 - 2008 Member of the Management Boards of the EU-ERAnets CORE ORGANIC, which co-ordinates the scientific co-operation between 11 European countries (www.coreorganic.org) 2003 - 2008 Deputy president and co-founder of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), www.isofar.org. 2002 - 2006 Deputy president and co-founder of the International Research Association for Organic Food Quality and Health (FQH), www.fqhresearch.org. 2003 - 2011 Member of the Senate Commission on Substances and Resources in Agriculture of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/German Research Foundation (DFG). 2003 - 2007 Associate editor of the journal “Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems”, CABI-Publishing. 2001 - 2005 Member of the board of trustees of the Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) in Braunschweig (Germany). 2000 Organiser of the 13th International IFOAM Scientific Conference in Basel, 28 - 31 August. 2000 Member of the appointment committee for the director of the Research Institute for Organic Agriculture of the FAL Braunschweig, Germany. 1999 - 2005 Trustee of the Research Institute for Vital Quality, Wetzikon/Switzerland 1998 Organiser of the First SREN Workshop on Research Methodologies in Organic Farming (FAO) at Frick, 30 September - 3 October. 1998 Member of the appointment committee for the chair for organic agriculture at the University of Vienna. 1997 - 2001 Member of the Swiss Federal Commission for Bio Safety. 1997 - 2000 Member of the scientific committee of ITADA in Colmar, France (trinational research programme on sustainable agriculture in France, Germany, Switzerland, INTERREG-Program). 1995 - 2004 Several peer review activities of organic farming research schemes in UK (MAFF, DEFRA) in Denmark (DARCOF: DIAS and KVL), in Austria (University of Vienna) and in Germany (Federal Agricultural Research Centre). 1990 - 1993 Member of the Commission «Nitrate in food» of the Swiss Federal Office for Health. 1990 Co-organiser of the first FAO expert consultation on biological agriculture in Europe in Bern, May 1990.

Research Interest

Activity areas Director Responsible for quality management Projects Organic Knowledge Network Arable (OK-Net Arable) Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming Systems Plus (CORE Organic Plus) TIPI - Technology Innovation Platform of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) (TIPI) Completed projects Advancing training & teaching of organic agriculture in SE Europe (SCOPES) Do standards and certification in the agricultural sector matter for sustainability? A review of the state of research Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming(CORE Organic II) QualityLowInputFood: Improving quality and safety and reduction of cost in the European organic and 'low input' supply chains (QLIF) Training / professional career Since 1990 Director of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) Head of the weed control group at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Fruit-Growing, Viticulture and Horticulture at Wädenswil, Switzerland 1980 - 1983 Grassland weed scientist at the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agronomy (FAL) Zurich-Reckenholz 1985 PhD degree on physiology and ecology of weeds in grassland at ETH Zürich, Department of Plant Sciences (Prof. Dr. Josef Nösberger) 1979 Diploma degree in crop production (MSc ETH Agr) 1974 University Entrance Certificate (Swiss “Matura”) at grammar school in Aarau and Olten (Switzerland)