Opportunities for Master's theses at D-MTEC
Explore opportunities to write your Master's thesis at a research group at D-MTEC or an associated lab. The feed is based on SiROP placements.
Machine Learning for Better Prediction of Market Supplies of Berries and Stone Fruits in Switzerland.
This thesis examines how accurately different forecasting approaches—including machine learning and classical time series models—predict weekly stone fruit and berry market volumes in Switzerland.
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2026-01-12 , Earliest start: 2026-01-12 , Latest end: 2032-12-31
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-USYS
Hosts Finger Robert, Dr.
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences
Labour and the transition to sustainable production in Swiss viticulture
This thesis examines the current state of labour in Swiss viticulture, and how this state could influence winemaker’s decision-making ability, using survey data from 489 producers across all major wine regions. Given viticulture’s labour intensity and Swiss viticulture facing a mix of high labour costs and poor mechanisability offers outlook into the economic and environmental sustainability.
Keywords
Labour, Data analysis, Viticulture, Pest Management
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Published since: 2026-01-05 , Earliest start: 2026-01-05 , Latest end: 2026-08-03
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Höper Philipp
Topics Economics
Marginal costs of biodiversity provision in Swiss agriculture
This thesis uses the bio-economic model FarmDyn to quantify the opportunity costs of biodiversity-friendly practices on Swiss dairy and beef farms, based on data from the canton of Grisons. The thesis evaluates the cost-efficiency of various agri-environmental scheme designs to inform biodiversity policy in Swiss mountain agriculture.
Keywords
Biodiversity, agriculture, agri-environmental schemes, opportunity costs, mountain farming
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Published since: 2025-12-12 , Earliest start: 2025-08-01 , Latest end: 2026-08-01
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-USYS
Hosts Huber Robert , Finger Robert, Dr.
Topics Economics
Master thesis: Crop protection in organic and non-organic pesticide-free arable farming
Pesticide-free (non-organic) crop production is currently gaining ground in European agriculture as a new alternative pathway between conventional and organic farming. To successfully produce crops without using pesticides, farmers must adopt sustainable crop protection measures, e.g., following the principles of integrated crop protection (IPM) or agroecological crop protection (ACP). Even though both production systems, i.e., pesticide-free non-organic and organic, work without pesticides, the alternative crop protection measures used may differ between organic and non-organic farms. To date, little is known about potential differences between farming systems without pesticides regarding the adoption of alternative crop protection strategies.
Keywords
crop protection, pesticide-free, organic, integrated pest management (IPM), wheat, maize, Switzerland
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Published since: 2025-12-11 , Earliest start: 2025-02-02 , Latest end: 2026-01-22
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Akter Sharmin
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences
Master Thesis Economics of spatial and temporal information for improving nitrogen efficiency in agriculture.
Background Switzerland has ambitious goals to reduce nitrogen surpluses in agriculture. An important mechanism in this context is to improve nitrogen efficiency. In this context, new technologies such as precision farming, and remote sensing and new sensors can provide better information on nutrient availability in the field. In the past, these efforts were mainly focused on improving spatial application patterns. This thesis aims to also include the temporal application pattern, i.e. when to apply fertilizer. Such spatial and temporal information can help farmers avoid nitrogen losses by applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time and place to meet crop needs. Soil health sensors (such as those developed by Digit Soil) can provide additional information about the timing of fertilizer application. Combining spatial and temporal information about fertilizer application could improve nitrogen efficiency in crop production and contribute to a more sustainable agricultural sector. Research questions ● What are the economic costs and benefits of knowing when to fertilize? ● How big is the potential to reduce fertilizing by using temporal information? ● What is the potential of spatial and temporal information for achieving nitrogen efficiency goals in Swiss agriculture?
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Master Thesis , ETH Zurich (ETHZ)
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Published since: 2025-12-09 , Earliest start: 2025-09-01 , Latest end: 2026-12-31
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Finger Robert, Dr.
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences , Economics
What factors determine whether farmers exceed the minimum uptake requirements of voluntary agri-environmental schemes – the case of the reduced tillage scheme in Switzerland.
The case study would be based on the reduced tillage scheme, where to qualify, farmers must perform ploughless cultivation on at least 60% of their arable land using either mulch, strip tillage, direct drilling, or a combination of these methods. However, many farmers exceed the bare minimum levels needed to qualify and, as such, “over-perform” relative to the basic incentive. The analysis would utilise farmer characteristics, farm usage of complementary practices, and structural data to understand the determinants of “over-performance” adoption among farmers. This is an important policy question, as it may help determine which factors can be harnessed to improve the uptake and impact of soil conservation schemes. Additionally, this analysis could shed some light on aspects such as the additionality of current soil conservation schemes relative to the uptake behaviour of farmers, irrespective of the current scheme requirements.
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You will use the following Data: InBestSoil Data + Spatial Data: Data covering soil management practices and farm characteristics on Swiss arable farms | Scientific Data (Document attached)
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Published since: 2025-12-09 , Earliest start: 2025-12-09 , Latest end: 2026-12-09
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-USYS
Hosts Finger Robert, Dr.
Topics Agricultural, Veterinary and Environmental Sciences
Falling Through the Cracks: Understanding Non-Participation in Direct Payment Schemes among Swiss Grape Growers
This thesis examines factors behind non-participation in direct payment schemes by grape growers in Swiss viticulture using survey data from 489 producers across all major wine regions. Given viticulture’s high pesticide use and economic importance, the thesis offers policy-relevant insights into the effectiveness of agri-environmental programs.
Keywords
Agricultural Policy, Data analysis, Viticulture, Pest Management
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Master Thesis
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Published since: 2025-12-08 , Earliest start: 2025-12-08 , Latest end: 2026-07-06
Applications limited to ETH Zurich
Organization Chair of Agricultural Economics and Policy D-MTEC
Hosts Zachmann Lucca
Topics Economics