He Wants to Secure the Food Supply  [20.10.22]

Prof. Dr. Stefan Hirsch | Photo: University of Hohenheim / Florian Leonhardmair | more press photos in print quality

Since October 2021, the economist with a specialization in agriculture has headed the Department of Management in Agribusiness. He encourages students not to be discouraged by any setbacks, but to see them as an incentive.

Mr. Hirsch, you came to Hohenheim in October last year. How was your start, in the middle of the pandemic?

Despite the pandemic, it was very pleasant because, even though contact was restricted, there was always close contact with the new colleagues and the administrative staff, who gave me a lot of support during my start. Working together with the students, which unfortunately could only take place online at the time, was also a lot of fun in the new environment.

Management in Agribusiness - that is the name of your Department. What exactly does that mean?

It means analyzing the economic success of companies that produce food. I'm also interested in the interdependencies between individual stages of the food value chain. A classic example is the impact of a highly concentrated food retail sector - where a few very large companies dominate the market - on the competitiveness of producing companies and farmers.

Last, we look at the drivers of demand for and success of product innovation in agribusiness - currently especially meat substitutes.

In teaching, we offer lectures and seminars around the functioning of companies in agribusiness as well as the commercialization of innovations in the food sector.

What fascinates you about this subject area?

The high practical relevance, as one contributes to a permanently safe, efficient, and sustainable supply of food to society.

What was your personal path to the professorship in Hohenheim?

I am originally an economist and graduated from the University of Bonn in 2008. I then moved to the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Bonn to write my dissertation with a practical focus.

Afterwards, I worked as a postdoc at ETH Zurich and went to the USA for several research stays - among others to Arizona State University and the University of Connecticut. In 2018, I accepted a professorship for agricultural and food economics at the Technical University of Munich. And since October 2021, I have been Director of the Department for Management in Agribusiness at the University of Hohenheim.

What research topics are you working on at the moment?

We are currently working intensively on the demand for meat substitutes. In particular, we are interested in the demographic, economic, and political drivers of demand for alternative protein sources. We are using large consumer and company databases to do this.

Students are already involved in research as part of Bachelor's and Master's theses. We also regularly employ student assistants to help us with data preparation and analysis.

What does good teaching mean to you?

For me, good teaching means establishing a clear link between abstract/theoretical concepts and real conditions in the markets of the agricultural and food industry. This is exactly where my teaching concept comes in. It is important to me to provide students with a good theoretical basis of economic concepts, but also to always make clear the applicability to real conditions in agribusiness. In this way, students can gain the skills to develop solutions to complex empirical problems in agribusiness.

Do you have any tips for successfully studying?

Here I see close parallels to sports: Setbacks should not discourage you, but you should simply train a little harder. Then you'll be successful in the end!

And what do you do when you're not working?

Go to the playground with my two daughters or play tennis.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hirsch!

Interview: Elsner / Translation: Neudorfer

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