Qualified seasonal work in agriculture?

The interdisciplinary research project deals with product strategies, labour and employment systems in German quality viticulture. Different product categories exist side by side on the wine market. While wineries in the so-called "new world" rely primarily on wine technology approaches, the quality factors in the "old world" are based primarily on site-specific management skills and the careful care and harvesting of grapes in the vineyard. The focus of this project is on analysing "old world" wineries.

Scientists assume that seasonal work in this category of quality viticulture must meet higher requirements and that seasonal workers must have higher qualifications than in other areas of agriculture. Due to the effects of global warming, manual labour is also becoming increasingly important in viticulture. The project is investigating how the chosen "old world" product strategy affects the demands placed on employees - especially the often migrant seasonal labour force - and the associated recruitment measures. The research area headed by Prof. Dr. Marcel Tyrell at the UW/H focuses on the financial-economic perspective; organisational economics and game theory methods are used to examine product strategies.