Developments between 1990 and 2000

With a specialist colloquium on “Extension for Farming Families facing Bankruptcy” and a celebration with friends, colleagues and students on 29.09.1990, Hartmut Albrecht decided to end his official duties as university professor. At this occasion, his staff presented the plan of a book ““Extension as Life Assistance” to him, which would be a compilation of the work of the Hohenheim Extension School. It was published in 1992. The position for “Agricultural Extension Professor” was advertised; however, a shortlist was not yet decided on, so Hartmut Albrecht agreed to take on the role for another semester. 

Volker Hoffmann, a member of the department since 1973, completed his habilitation in Hohenheim for Social Sciences of Farming in 1990. He received offers from the Universities Hannover and Giessen and began working in Hannover in the department “Communication Science for Horticulture” on 01.04.1991. 

In the summer semester of 1991, Dr. Hermann Boland from Giessen accepted the call to take on the leadership of thedepartment. At the end of the summer semester, he changed back to Giessen though. On 01.04.1992, Prof. Volker Hoffmann took over and was officially confirmed on 01.10.1992. He continued in the department in Hannover according to his teaching contract for another two semesters, until he could hand his responsibilities over to Prof. Dr. M. Giesecke at the end of the summer semester 1993. 

On 19.12.1992, we invited everyone to a scientific colloquium and a social get-together to celebrate the 80th birthday of Prof. Dr. Erna Hruschka, whom the institute was especially grateful to. The event was very successful and received a great reception, although Erna Hruschka could not attend, as she had to go to hospital one day before. At this celebration, a book was presented as a project, which was published in 1994. Erna Hruschka died on 24 March 1996 in Porz, a suburb of Cologne. 

In the institute as such, there was only one significant change; the department Psychology (Prof. Schuler) was allocated to the faculty V, the Institute of Social Science 540. Prof. Schuler stayed co-opted member of faculty of agriculture; the existing course offer remained unchanged despite the reorganisation. Since the institute still kept one psychologist, Prof. Diedrichsen from the department of Nutrition Psychology, the faculty shift of Mr. Schuler and his staff was generally accepted.

An important factor for the co-operation between the universities was the annual Meeting of University Lecturers for Communication and Extension in Rauischholzhausen, which started in 1993. A significant result of the meeting in 1994 was the decision to publish a co-operative series: Communication and Extension; Social Science Writings about Land Use and Agricultural Development, published by Hermann Boland, Volker Hoffmann and Uwe Jens Nagel by Margraf-Verlag, Weikersheim. Until today, 100 books have been published in this series.

The acceptance of various duties and functions may also have contributed to an increased visibility and perception of our work. Volker Hoffmann became a board member of the Tropenzentrum at the University Hohenheim, and was the first chairman of the internship committee of both Agricultural Faculties, he then became chairman of the examination committee. Outside the University, he first became a member of the Scientific Council of ATSAF (Concil for Agricultural Research in the Tropics and Sub-tropics), then chairman of the ATSAF and of the BEAF Council (Workgroup for Development-orientated Agricultural Research), member of the Board of Trustees at IITA (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture) in Ibadan, Nigeria, and advising scientist to the ISNAR (International Service for National Agricultural Research) in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Since 1994, he has been a member of the editorial committee of the journal “Education and Extension of AID”, as well as in the counsel of the Family Extension Service of the Evangelic Farmers Association in Hohenbuch. Between 1994 and 1998, Volker Hoffmann was a member of the Editorial Board of the „Journal of Extension Systems“, which is published in India, and since 1997, he is a member of the DLG (German Farmers Association) committee for International Partnerships.

1994 was the last year of the university partnership with the University of Beijing, China. Our Prof. Emeritus, Mr. Albrecht, had successfully developed the relationship. Two Chinese PhD students, the translation of our Extension handbook, the strengthening of the Agricultural Extension Institute at the University and a successful partnership with the CIAD-Centre in Beijing were all fruits of this co-operation. Furthermore, we work on projects together with the East Europe Centre of the University Hohenheim, are involved in the Tempus/Tacis projects with Romania and Russia and maintain close contact with former PhD students and co-workers, who continue to work as freelance trainers or experts in our area of expertise. 

This phase also marks the beginning of our collaboration within the BMBF interdisciplinary project: Cultural Landscape Hohenlohe. Problems with the preservation of the cultural landscape caused by its land use would be the subject of an over five year long interdisciplinary research conducted by a large team. Prof. Dr. Werner Konold, from the University of Freiburg, is the spokesman, Volker Hoffmann one of the deputies and also the representative from the University Hohenheim. Alexander Gerber and Angelika Thomas are the two researchers from our department involved in the program, whose funding ended in March 2002.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Albrecht

Field of Communication Research and Agricultural Extension

Hartmut Albrecht was born on 02.08.1925. After the end of the war, 3 years practical work in agriculture and horticulture. Agricultural studies at University Hohenheim (1948-51). Dissertation on Agricultural Extension in Denmark and the Netherlands. Advisor to the Board of Trustees for Technology in Agriculture (KTBL 3 ½ years). Assistant at the Institutes for International Agriculture in Berlin and Goettingen.  Habilitation on innovation processes in agriculture. From 1969-90 professor at Hohenheim. In the new role as Emeritus in this field of study without a predecessor. In close cooperation with Erna Hruschka, he laid the basis for the Hohenheim Extension Science with a social science and humanistic foundation. He broadened the spectrum of research and teaching to include problems concerning developing countries and was involved in founding the study course for Communication Sciences as well as the German Agricultural Museum. He passed away on 6th of April 2005.