integrated as much as possible, but it is also inevitable that scientific
disciplines be integrated to solve the problems. This, in our opinion, is
a prerequisite for problem-oriented and useful research in a complex en-
vironment.
Traditionally agricultural research developed by adopting the method-
ology of the basic natural sciences such as chemistry, physics, botany
and others. With expanding knowledge and increasing differentiation,
the “agricultural disciplines” began to develop more or less indepen-
dently of each other (Krug, 1982). The specialized disciplines were very
successful in utilizing the progress originating from basic science. This
knowledge was on a low abstraction level, allowing for effective analy-
sis of cause/effect relationship. On the other hand risks of reductionism
are introduced when crop growth control, including the postharvest in-
terface, rely only on a theoretical combination of even well-understood
processes.
These drawbacks have been recognized and have led to efforts to re-
gard the system as a whole and integrate all factors involved until har-
vest on a high level of abstraction. The crop was considered as a black
box, reactions (growth, yield) were modeled as a function of the inputs.
To make the resulting crop growth models robust to changing and un-
expected circumstances, knowledge of the mathematical structure of the
crop behavior was successively included.
The situation becomes additionally complicated, when the investiga-
tion of influences before harvest combined with those during and after
harvest is extended to the point of consumption. This approach opens
the view of the whole system including operations from breeding to
consumer preference. The inevitable consequence of this more system-
oriented approach is the integration of research disciplines, which in it-
self could favor organizational optimizations of the research units.
Figure 15.5 depicts this approach using the structure of the Institute
for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops as an example. The Institute itself
has competence in the fields of plant nutrition, plant health, quality,
modeling/transfer of knowledge, and plant propagation. Since problems
do not define themselves according to scientific disciplines, and mostly
are not exclusively important for one stakeholder, the approach to prob-
lem solving should be interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary. Inter-
disciplinarity in that respect means that highly specialized, well-trained
scientists gather around a problem and try to solve it by practicing hor-
izontal integration of knowledge.
The traditional flow of knowledge from basic research through ap-
How Can the Problems be Solved? 293