Heidi Webber

Prof. Heidi Webber is a leading agricultural scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), serving as Co-Head of Program Area 3 'Agricultural Landscape Systems' and Head of the 'Integrated Crop Production Systems Analysis' working group. Her research focuses on climate risk assessment, crop stress modeling, and sustainable agronomic systems. She holds a Diplom-Agraringenieurin degree and has extensive experience in interdisciplinary studies combining biophysical and socio-economic analyses.

Her expertise includes modeling plant growth under abiotic stresses and developing resource-efficient cultivation strategies. Notable contributions involve the AgMIP-Wheat initiative, high-yielding trait experiments, and climate-resilient crop systems in diverse regions like West Africa, South Korea, and Europe. She co-leads international projects addressing climate change impacts on agriculture and leads modeling efforts for crop diversification and adaptation strategies.

Key research themes include:

• Climate risk assessment frameworks
• Multi-model ensemble approaches for crop yield prediction
• Abiotic stress tolerance mechanisms in cereals
• Climate-smart agricultural practices
• Agroecological transition in smallholder farming systems

Her work bridges field experiments with advanced computational models, emphasizing data-driven solutions for sustainable intensification. Current projects explore index-based crop insurance, soil carbon dynamics, and the transformation of farming systems toward silicon-enhanced resilience.