Over the past 30 years, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) has grown from a small research centre into an internationally renowned institute, and today employs a total of 200 salaried scientists and 100 students and trainees. The institute’s infrastructure will now be equipped to meet the growing demand.
The expansion of the institute officially began on Friday with a ground-breaking ceremony. According to a FiBL statement, new laboratory spaces will be created on an area of 550 square metres, where new approaches in agriculture and improving animal health will be researched. Greenhouses to develop new biological plant treatment products will be built on an area of 300 square metres. In addition, a “species-appropriate cowshed” will lead the way for testing new feeding concepts. New offices and more training spaces will also be created.
FiBL is investing 25 million Swiss francs into the expansion. The Canton of Aargau has decided to support the modernization plans, with 11 million francs of the total amount coming from the Swisslos fund.
In his speech at the ground-breaking ceremony, Aargau government councillor Markus Dieth from the centre-right political party CVP described the expansion as a milestone for high-tech agricultural research in the canton of Aargau.
“The expansion of the campus will create more than 100 new jobs, and local value added will increase from the current 10 million francs to more than 20 million francs per year,” he said.
According to Claudia Friedl, an environmental scientist who is also a national councillor from the centre-left political party SP and deputy president of the FiBL board, the “reach of FiBL research stretches all over the world”, adding that “the research approach employed by the FiBL is unique in its practical relevance and holistic approach.
