Fritz Wagner (agronomist)

Fritz Wagner (1987)

Fritz Wagner (born June 6, 1928 in Pflimmern , district of Biberach ) is a German graduate agricultural engineer . From 1955 to 1991 he worked at the Institute for Forage Production of the Hessian Teaching and Research Institute for Grassland Management and Forage Production in Eichhof-Bad Hersfeld . He is the author , editor and publisher of specialist books on the technology of field tests, the determination of agricultural seeds and the history of science in agriculture.

Life path

Fritz Wagner, the son of a farmer, completed an agricultural apprenticeship in his parents' business from 1945 to 1948 after returning from American captivity and a volunteer time on a state domain. During this time he attended the agricultural school in Riedlingen in the winter months . From 1949 to 1950 he studied at the higher agricultural school in Witzenhausen / Werra and acquired the title of state-certified farmer . This was followed by training as a seed breeding assistant at the Bavarian State Plant Breeding Institute in Weihenstephan . Since 1952 he has been working as a clerk at the Saatbauamt in Donaueschingen and responsible for advice, support and approval of forage plant propagation in the entire area of ​​southern Baden. From 1955 to 1991 Wagner worked as a technical and scientific assistant at the Institute for Forage Production of the Hessian Teaching and Research Institute for Grassland Management and Forage Production in Eichhof-Bad Hersfeld . In 1982 he received his diploma in agricultural engineering from the University of Kassel .

At the Eichhof, Wagner was technical director of the test field for over thirty years and was specifically responsible for supervising the field tests carried out by the Institute for Forage Production. At the same time, he was responsible for supervising the annual value tests of forage plants carried out on behalf of the Federal Plant Variety Office . He has published numerous articles on the technical improvements he has tested in sowing and harvesting methods, in sampling and processing methods and also on the devices and machines used for field tests, primarily in the "Mitteilungen der Deutschen Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft", in the magazine "The Hessenbauer", in "Agar Overview", in "Training and Advice" and in the trade journal "Saatgutwirtschaft / SAFA". In addition, Wagner was responsible for setting up and managing the central library at the Eichhof. As a teacher for photography, experimental technology and seeds, he taught young female students who were trained as agricultural-technical assistants at this teaching and research institute.

Author, editor, publisher

Fritz Wagner made a name for himself in agriculture as an author and editor of textbooks and handbooks . In 1959 his book The technical implementation of field tests was published by Paul Parey Verlag in Berlin . Based on his own decades of experience in field testing , he later redesigned this first edition and, together with specialist colleagues, published a second edition as a loose-leaf collection in 1989 and a third, greatly expanded, two-volume edition in 2007. The experience reports integrated in the text by test technicians from other teaching and research institutions about the planning, implementation and evaluation of field tests are of high information value. Not least because of the clear overview tables and the extensive literature on all special areas of plant cultivation test technology, this latest edition is one of the best German-language textbooks and handbooks on the practice of field testing.

In 1979, Wagner published his second teaching and manual under the title Agricultural Seeds and Saaten , a guide to recognizing and determining the seeds of agricultural crops . Rolf Hübner , head of the institute for fodder production on the Eichhof from 1952 to 1973 and himself author of a work on agricultural seed science, encouraged Wagner to write such a book. Wagner's book was very popular with students at the agricultural faculties and agricultural schools, but also in agricultural practice. In the new editions he and his colleagues published in a ring binder in 1999 and 2006, the enclosed seeds packed in transparent plastic covers facilitate the identification of agricultural seeds.

Wagner made extraordinary contributions in the field of the history of science in agriculture. He is the author of almost 200 printed pages of documentation published in 2008 on the almost fifty-year history of the Hessian teaching and research institute for grassland management and forage production in Eichhof-Bad Hersfeld . His book contains a detailed description of all institutes and other facilities, information about the teaching tasks and research projects, lists of the staff and their publications. Wagner also described the dissolution of this teaching and research institute in the course of an administrative structural reform in 2001 and the integration of sub-areas into a Hessian service center for agriculture, horticulture and nature conservation, as well as the consequences of a further structural reform that led to a division of the Eichhof departments from 2005 led to the newly formed state farms of Agriculture Hessen, Hessisches Landeslabor and Hessen Forst.

Major works

• The technical implementation of field tests . Paul Parey Publishing House, Berlin / Hamburg 1959; 2nd edition under the title The field test - implementation and technology . Edited by Fritz Wagner and Georg Prediger with the help of competent specialist colleagues. Fritz Wagner Verlag, Bad Hersfeld 1989, plus six supplementary deliveries 1990–1996; 3rd edition. The field test - implementation and technology . Edited by Fritz Wagner, Georg Prediger, Bernd Tiggemann and Ingo Schmidt with the participation of competent colleagues (33 authors), 2 volumes. Fritz Wagner publishing house, Bad Hersfeld 2007.
• Agricultural seeds and seeds. Recognition - investigation - discernment . ACG-Verlag, Sindelfingen 1979; 2nd edition with Georg Prediger and Ewald Wojtke, ring binder with over 70 original seed samples. Fritz Wagner Publishing House, Bad Hersfeld 1999; 3rd edition with Georg Prediger and Ewald Wojtke, ring binder with over 70 original seed samples. Fritz Wagner publishing house, Bad Hersfeld 2006.
• Teaching and research at the Hess. Eichhof-Bad Hersfeld teaching and research institute 1954–2000, founded on May 3, 1947 in Wehrda Krs. Hünfeld. A documentation . Fritz Wagner publishing house, Bad Hersfeld 2008.
• The experimental technician in agricultural research. Crop production area. Training - fields of activity - advanced training. A documentation . Self-published by Fritz Wagner, Bad Hersfeld 2011.

literature

• Fritz Wagner - Eichhof . In: Hersfelder Zeitung of February 1, 1979, No. 27, p. 16 (with picture).

Web links

• Literature by and about Fritz Wagner in the catalog of the German National Library