The application deadline for the German Innovation Prize for Horticulture 2026, which will once again honor outstanding, exemplary innovations in horticulture from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Community (BMLEH), is now open. By offering the special peat reduction prize, the agriculture department is also honoring, for the first time, practical, innovative and transferable solutions for peat reduction or peat-free management in commercial horticulture. The deadline for submissions is March 16, 2026.
Many companies can apply
The innovation award is managed on behalf of the BMLEH by the Board of Trustees for Technology and Construction in Agriculture (KTBL) and the Agency for Renewable Raw Materials (FNR). Any company from the vegetable growing, fruit growing, tree nursery and ornamental plant growing as well as the upstream areas that produces or trades in horticultural products, manufacturers of products and accessories as well as other institutions that are innovative in horticulture and are not part of the public sector can apply. It should be an innovation of a plant cultivation, breeding, technical, cultural or business nature, exemplary cooperation and business concepts or a combination of these characteristics.
Special price for peat reduction
As part of the special prize for peat reduction, awards include cultivation methods or culture systems with lower substrate requirements. Particularly honored are approaches that use regional renewable resources to replace peat, as well as innovative solutions in converting operations to peat-reduced cultivation, which represent a further development of already established methods.
The call for proposals and application documents are available for download at www.bmleh.de/innovationspreis.
The application can be sent to the KTBL at Bartningstrasse 49 in 64289 Darmstadt or by email to gartenbau@ktbl.de by March 16, 2026.
In addition to the completed brief, the application should also contain a detailed description and explanation of the innovation (e.g. technical descriptions or cultural descriptions). Relevant photos or film material related to the innovation are welcome to be submitted.
Information about the winners of previous years and the awarding of the 2025 Innovation Prize is also available on the Federal Ministry’s website at www.bmleh.de/innovationspreis.
Christian Reinhold (telephone: 06151 7001-151; email: gartenbau@ktbl.de) and Maria Spittel (telephone: 03843 6930-335; email: m.spittel@fnr.de) are available for further information.
A prize with tradition
The Horticulture Innovation Prize has been awarded annually by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture since 1997 and is endowed with a total of 20,000 euros in 2026.
The FNR’s participation in the Horticultural Innovation Prize is part of the communication activities as part of the peat reduction strategy that the BMLEH developed as part of the 2030 climate protection program. It aims to reduce the use of peat as a growing medium and soil conditioner as much as possible and, wherever possible, to eliminate its use entirely. The holistic strategy is aimed equally at consumers, commercial horticulture and the public sector.