More Efficient Semiconductors Made in Germany
From Field to Pharmacy
Science for Everyone – Prof. Dr. Mark Müller-Linow
Where lignite excavators once tore into the earth, medicinal plants such as arnica and fennel could soon bloom across the fields of the Rhenish mining area. This is not only about nature. The region could produce a high-value export: plant-based active ingredients.
June 2026
Bioactive Compounds from Wild Harvests
A glance into the bathroom or kitchen is enough: medicinal ointments, natural cosmetics, herbal teas. Yet hardly anyone asks where the active ingredients in these products come from. Much of it is imported from wild collections in Eastern Europe or Asia — a fragile system, as became clear a few years ago when arnica harvests abroad collapsed and raw material prices soared.
Many medicinal plants grow in Germany, too. Yet of roughly 50,000 medicinal plant species used worldwide, only about 900 are cultivated systematically. The Rhenish mining area offers excellent conditions to change that.
“The Rhenish mining area has many different soils — from nutrient-poor land in former open-cast mining landscapes to some of the best agricultural soils in Germany. That makes the region interesting for a wide range of medicinal plants with very different soil needs,” says Dr. Mark Müller-Linow, head of the Circular PhytoREVIER innovation lab and a researcher at the Institute of Bio- and Geosciences — Plant Sciences (IBG-2). His aim is to build a new value chain.
„The Rhenish mining area has many different soils — from nutrient-poor post-mining landscapes to some of the best soils in Germany."
— Dr. Mark Müller-Linow
Difficult by Nature
Until now, the fields of the Rhenish mining area have largely been dominated by wheat, rapeseed and sugar beet: high-volume crops in a business that is becoming less and less profitable. Medicinal plants promise farmers much higher margins. But switching from bulk goods to green medicine is no simple move. Anyone who wants to harvest these plants first has to learn how to deal with difficult characters.
Medicinal plants can be divas. Arnica is one of them. Its flowers do not open all at once, which makes harvesting difficult for farmers. Miss the perfect moment, and the concentration of active compounds in the flowers can fall.
The Whole Chain in View
The Circular PhytoREVIER team sees itself as a catalyst, using science to lower the barriers that still stand in the way. The partners look at the entire chain, from seed to extract. It begins at Fraunhofer IME, where experts optimize plants through breeding. The goal is to develop varieties that thrive in local soils and deliver exactly the ingredients industry needs.
Fennel offers a kitchen-table example. It contains estragole, a substance considered potentially harmful at high concentrations. Rather than waiting for possible restrictions, researchers in Jülich and at Fraunhofer are breeding varieties that are safe by nature.
The researchers also scrutinize how the plants grow. In conventional agriculture, farmers might use herbicides against weeds, but for most medicinal plants no herbicides are approved. “Without herbicides, cultivation becomes extremely labour-intensive and immediately eats up farmers’ profits,” says Müller-Linow. When weeds take over between the delicate flowers, mechanical harvesting becomes impossible.
Here, high tech steps in. Where manual labour would simply be too expensive, robots may one day roll across the loess soils of the region, weeding mechanically or with lasers, guided by cameras and algorithms.
A High-Performance Check-Up
The Jülich researchers want to increase the plants’ active-compound content and identify the ideal harvest window. In their greenhouses, they control temperature and nutrients down to the smallest detail to understand exactly how these divas respond to stress. Sensors record the plants in a kind of high-performance check-up known as phenotyping. By measuring the growth and performance of each individual plant, the researchers aim to pinpoint the moment when active-compound levels peak.
At the same time, colleagues at Fraunhofer UMSICHT investigate different lighting conditions. Using state-of-the-art measurement technology, they analyse how light affects flowering behaviour and the composition of active ingredients.
The project partners are also looking for ways to dry flowers as gently as possible and to separate and process active compounds in environmentally friendly, sustainable ways. The goal is a reliable production system that guarantees quality and sustainability while strengthening Germany as a place of innovation.
Circular PhytoREVIER is one of the core elements of BioökonomieREVIER — a regional engine that brings research and practice together to open up new value chains in the Rhineland. Here, research does not stop at the edge of the field.
Pharmaceutical companies need guaranteed quantities and reliable quality. That is why the innovation lab builds bridges early, bringing breeders, farmers and industry to the same table before the first seed enters the soil. In this way, the region is reinventing itself: trading fossil energy for biological high performance.
More on the project of Circular PhytoREVIER
About BioökonomieREVIER
BioökonomieREVIER is turning the Rhenish mining area into a model region for sustainable economic development in Europe. It links regional research with practical application and helps build new value chains.
Circular PhytoREVIER focuses on herbs, aromatic plants and medicinal plants — from cultivation and phenotyping to active-compound extraction and product development.
Visit the Website of BioökonomieREVIER
Image Credits: Forschungszentrum Jülich
Infographic: Forschungszentrum Jülich/ BioökonomieREVIER/ Sabine Müller-Waltle
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Last Modified: 09.07.2026