Excursions

The Hessian State Domain Frankenhausen, located just north of Kassel, has been leased by the University of Kassel since 1998. Since then, its 320 hectares have been managed according to organic farming principles. The farm serves as a teaching, research, and knowledge-transfer centre for organic agriculture and sustainable regional development and the Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences in Witzenhausen.

Frankenhausen is a “transparent” model farm demonstrating ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable agriculture. It supports university teaching and research while remaining accessible to the public and supplying raw agricultural products to local vendors, cafeterias, and supermarkets. The farm operates an up-to-date robotic milking system, has established a modern hay-drying facility, and experiments with and evaluates the efficiency of agroecological practices, such as polycropping systems such as agroforestry and intercropping systems involving medicinal and spice plants.

As part of the network of around 100 botanical gardens in Germany, the Tropical Greenhouse is unique in several respects. It is one of the smallest botanical collections, focusing primarily on common and useful subtropical and tropical plants rather than rare or ornamental species. Its distinctive feature is its integrative approach: the greenhouse serves as a living university demonstration facility, providing hands-on learning opportunities for students and serving as an educational space for schools, professionals, and the wider public. Its focus on useful plants and their cultivation, processing, trade and consumption, combined with its strong emphasis on teaching, education and knowledge transfer, gives the Tropical Greenhouse a particularly applied and university-oriented profile. Around 480 plant species grow on 1,200 m² - from food and spice plants to medicinal and dyeing plants to aromatic, fibre and energy plants. Hence, the Tropical Greenhouse is an exciting excursion destination for visitors of all ages of all around the world and one of the major sights in the rural region of Witzenhausen.

As part of the Tropentag conference programme, we invite you to a guided walk through the Systematic Arboretum of the Forest Botanical Garden of the University of Göttingen. With over 1500 species, the garden holds one of the most species-rich collections of woody plants in Central Europe, spanning all temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Our guide will lead you through the collection, highlighting notable specimens and discussing the taxonomic and ecological background of the featured species. The tour also offers insight into how the garden supports research, teaching, and the conservation of rare and threatened tree species at the university.

“Act Fairly – Experience Diversity!” is the focus of the EPIZ Göttingen event at Forum Wissen for Fair Trade Week 2026. It is featuring a talk, discussions, information stations, a “coffee parcours,” live coffee roasting, and more.

Lucio Calix Nicolas, a young coffee producer from the COMBRIFOL cooperative in the Marcala region of Honduras, will be in Germany as part of the Fair Trade Week touring program to share insights about his work and the cooperative. COMBRIFOL (Cooperativa Mixta Regional Brisas de la Frontera) is a cooperative of mainly indigenous Lenca families growing high-quality organic coffee in the mountains of Marcala, Honduras.