| |
Conference Summary
No matter where you are in the world, crop production, crop protection and the supply of food are vital aspects of daily life. These issues are to be addressed at this year’s BCPC Conference in Glasgow.
The Conference is constructed using three themes:
- Global aspects of crop protection. What are the risks?
- Factors affecting crop production;
- Global food supply. What is the problem?
The flexible programme is designed to provide a forum for unbiased scientific debate and discussion. It will be led by a series of papers presented exclusively by invited speakers from around the world.
Delegates can register for either all of the sessions as shown below, or pick and choose individual ones.
Click on the links below for further information, reclick to close. A detailed Programme, by speaker, is been made available shortly for each session as a PDF file (PDF Help).
Or download a PDF of the entire Conference Programme here (Adobe Acrobat PDF 845KB, PDF Help).
Global Aspects of Crop Protection. What are the Risks?
|
|
|
|
There has been a rapid growth of probabilistic approaches in most areas of risk assessment related to crop protection. Probabilistic approaches quantify variability and/or uncertainty, and can be used to refine the many conservative assumptions used in first-tier assessments. However there are both technical and institutional challenges in implementing probabilistic approaches, which are being tackled in different ways in different areas. This session will bring together leading international experts in the use of probabilistic approaches to provide a comprehensive review of the state of the art and stimulate insights into benefits, challenges and solutions that cut across different areas of risk assessment.
The first day will focus on probabilistic approaches for human health. Dr Jacob van Klaveren, (Rikilt, Wageningen, the Netherlands) will address consumer exposure, Dr Paul Hamey , (Pesticides Safety Directorate, York, UK) will consider worker exposure, whereas toxicology will be covered by Dr Kim Travis (Syngenta, Macclesfield, UK). The second day will move on to environmental fate to be reviewed by Dr Chris Holmes and Dr Marty Williams (Waterborne Environmental, Leesburg, Virginia, USA), ecological risks by Dr Andy Hart (CSL, York, UK) and the risks of GM crops by a final speaker. The second day will end with a panel discussion and a ‘cafeteria’ session of small group demonstrations with a range of probabilistic software.
Session Organiser
Dr Andy Hart (Central Science Laboratory, York, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 218KB.
|
|
|
|
The session on risk management and communication will examine risk management science and how the management of the potential risks associated with crop protection/crop production are communicated to the general public, an area that is often sadly ignored. BCPC has chosen to cooperate with the Pest Management Group of the SCI in organising this session.
Topics that will be addressed include the actual problems, how associated risks are managed and how a true message of risk is communicated globally. Are there risks associated with the planting of GM crops? Should we all adopt the precautionary principle when considering risk? What are the perspectives of the regulators to probalistic risk assessment? Is there a farm specific solution to risk management? What is the industry doing to ensure that risks are minimalised? In addition, the organisers are to encourage offered posters to widen the scope of the session and to bring other concerns and resolutions to the Congress.
Professor Robert Krieger (University of California, Riverside, USA) will discuss ranking and responding to pesticide risks in modern agriculture whilst risk management decisions associated with risk assessment, the precautionary principle and public opinion will be covered by Dr Clare Butler-Ellis (PAN-UK, London, UK). Annick Pleysier (Monsanto Europe, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) will  consider the philosophy of hazard assessment of GM crops, whilst Albrecht Klein (Federal Environmental Agency, Dessau, Germany) will address regulatory perspectives of probabilistic risk assessment. Practical crop establishment methods for pesticide risk mitigation will be covered by Mike Lane (Syngenta, Bracknell, UK).
Session Organiser
Dr Leonard G Copping (Consultant, Saffron Walden, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 245KB.
|
Factors Affecting Crop Production
|
|
|
Past environmental policies have taken soil for granted, but now there is increased recognition of the need to protect the soil as the most valuable resource, with research directed towards soil quantity, quality, structure and resilience. Successful and profitable crop production is driven by the combination and interaction of many elements and processes, some of which are considered to be absolutely essential e.g. the soil resource, soil management, water quality and agrochemical input. Various changes in soil structure, composition and biodiversity and soil organic matter levels can affect infiltration, water-holding capacity and aggregate stability thereby having a major impact on soil erosion, diffuse pollution and quality of controlled waters. Additionally, inappropriate soil management can cause subtle, but serious, damage to soil and create imbalances in biogeophysical cycles that contribute to environmental problems. This session will address these issues together with recent research that indicates how negative effects could be minimised or even avoided.
Michael Hamell (DG Environment, Brussels, Belgium) will provide an outline of EU policy issues and strategies for soil protection whilst Dr Stephen Nortcliff (University of Reading, UK) and Prof. Gottlieb Basch (University of Evora, Portugal) will review a range of Conservation Agriculture practices and management strategies to protect water and soil and maintain its function for agricultural production across the EU. Practical on-farm experiences with such measures will be addressed by Dr Alastair Leake (The Allerton Project, Loddington, UK)
Chairman
Dr Andrée Carter (ADAS, Gleadthorpe, UK)
Session Organiser
Dr Vic Jordan (AAE BioServices, Chester, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 268KB. |
|
|
Successful agriculture depends on soil micro-organisms. Their overall contribution depends on how the system is managed. Traditionally, microbes have been regarded as providers of additional resources, e.g. nitrogen. This is an important role. Advances in understanding suggest this may be among the least of their contributions. Microbes, such as mycorrhizal fungi, have an impact on susceptibility to disease and its impact on crops. They influence the environment in which the crop functions. They provide information about that environment to the plant. However for their role in crop production to be optimised changes are needed to system design. Inoculum needs to be become available in suitable quantities and correctly applied. The session thus addresses both current biological challenges and issues related to the commercialisation of large scale microbe use in agriculture.
Professor Silvio Gianinazzi (INRA, Dijon, France) will illustrate, the ways in which mycorrhizal fungi influence the performance of plants, understanding of how this is mediated at a molecular level and the scope for this to become a significant feature in agriculture. Protection from plant pathogens presents a real opportunity. This will be discussed by Professor Alan Cassells ( University College, Cork, Ireland) and Professor John Whipps (HRI, Wellesbourne, UK ). For this to occur high quality microbial inocula are required. Professor Stephane Declerck ( University of Louvain, Belgium) will examine issues associated with the provision of inocula of proven activity. Activity also depends on how the inocula are applied and managed. These issues will be discussed by Dr John Dodd (Plant Works, Sittingbourne, UK).
Chairmen & Session Organisers
Professor David Atkinson (SAC, Aberdeen, UK) & Professor John Hooker ( Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 223KB.
|
Global Food Supply What is the Problem?
|
|
|
Modern consumers have high expectations in terms of the quality, variety and year-round availability of their food. In order to satisfy this demand, retailers have to source food world-wide, leading to a global market place where imports and exports are required to fulfil local needs. The speakers in these sessions will examine the implications of this global market place from the point of view of the grower, the retailer and the regulator; they will assess the technical issues involved in growing, storing and moving food-stuffs and the environmental and ethical responsibilities that go hand in hand with food production.
The first speaker will present the grower's view of the opportunities and challenges posed by a global market, and John McAllion (Oxfam, Glasgow, UK) will address the question of whether free trade really exists. Pesticide MRLs are important legal standards used in the global trade of fruit and vegetable and Mike Skidmore (Syngenta, Bracknell, UK) will review the current set-up of national, regional and global MRLs, and will consider the future and the possibility of globally harmonised MRLs. Since the environmental impact of food production is also of concern to consumers, Paul Watkiss (AEA Technology Environment, Didcot, UK) will examine the popular concept of ‘food miles’ and whether it is a good indicator of sustainable production.
Session Organiser
Caroline Willetts (Syngenta, Bracknell, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 247KB.
|
|
|
The world faces the ultimate challenge of providing enough food to maintain life. Sustainability of the food supply means that we must ensure that the way we are producing, processing and distributing food today does not jeopardise the food supply of the future. In some parts of the world the focus is on just getting enough food to eat, protecting the future production capacity even when this aim may conflict with some short-term gains. In other more economically advantaged regions, the primary questions are how food production can meet consumers' expectations of safety, nutrition, quality, environmental concerns and social issues, since an error or misjudgement or just bad luck can discredit a product or make it 'unfashionable', with repercussions throughout the industry. Truly sustainable food production need to deliver commodities that satisfy the needs and expectations of the consumer and this session will address such issues with an opportunity for the audience to contribute in discussions aimed at defining the future direction of sustainable food and any consequences.
Dr Charlie Clutterbuck (Environmental Practice Publishing Company, Blackburn, UK) will explore what does sustainable food mean to whom? He will include all aspects of environment, social, economic & food policy of sustainable food supply. Grace O` Dwyer (Checkmate International, Oxford, UK) will deal with factors which influence sustainable food supply whilst David Kennedy (Geest Ltd, Peterborough, UK) will consider the role of traceability in the food supply chain particularly consumer's expectations. Melanie Ruffell (Executive Director, Joint Health Claims Initiative, Leatherhead, UK) will address the issue of health benefit claims for food in the context of sustainable food in the global market. Dr Peter Quantick, (University of Lincoln, UK) will outline the principles of regulation of food quality and safety and the background to such regulation whilst Dr Kirsten Brandt (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) will provide examples of recent discoveries that challenge some of the central concepts. Mary Brennan ( University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), will focus on the question of who is responsible for risk communication in the food chain.
Chairman
Patrick Mitton (Bayer CropScience, Cambridge, UK)
Session Organisers
Naresh Atreya (Consultant, Maidenhead, UK)
Dr Kirsten Brandt (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle, UK)
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 247KB.
|
Satellite Events
The conference will be supplemented by two satellite events which interlink with several of the sessions.
|
|
|
Contract research organisations (CROs) are rapidly developing in response to continued profound changes in the chemical industry. The first half of this year’s seminar looks at how different commercial drivers affect outsourcing in the agrochemical environment. The first talk will outline the expectations of the generic company for outsourcing regulatory studies and discuss possible conflicts of interests for the CRO. Then the growing importance of the Far Eastern region, in terms of its CROs, and the Asian R&D companies looking to expand their markets into other parts of the world will be addressed. A representative of the pharmaceutical industry will outline outsourcing practices in the pharma sector, exploring if approaches and lessons can be shared.
The second half of the seminar covers more technical aspects of outsourcing analytical and metabolism studies. Historically such projects often involved the outsourcing of ‘in-life’ phases of plant and animal metabolism studies, but over the last decade this practice has greatly reduced with CROs conducting the full projects. Such studies remain a major concern to the R&D companies, because they are often on the critical path for a new compound, and due to the financially ‘open-ended’ nature of much of the work. Speakers from both the R&D and CRO industries will address this subject.
Session Organiser
Dr Andrew Hill (Covance, Harrogate, UK)
Supported by 
Download Programme by speaker as an Adobe Acrobat PDF 236KB.
|
|
|
|
 This is a new event that addresses the critical commercial issues facing the industry. It will focus on three key areas: markets, products and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), all important elements in the development of successful business strategies.
Matthew Phillips (Phillips McDougall, Edinburgh, Scotland) will provide an overview of the global market for agrochemicals and crop biotech products. He will discuss the industry structure and recent consolidation, and will describe the key factors affecting the market and his expectations for the next five years. Dr Antony Goulds (Kynetec, Newbury, UK) will focus on future opportunities in Europe, including the implications of EU agricultural policy and the impact of the ten new accession countries and those still to join. Agnieszka Salwach (Martin & Jacob, Wroclaw, Poland) will give a detailed description of the Polish agrochemical market and how it is developing as a new EU member state while Rod Parker (AIS Global, London, UK) will address the growing $15 billion non-crop market for agrochemicals and will discuss the main drivers for change in this often forgotten sector.
Representatives of the agrochemical industry will discuss product life cycles and product acquisition strategies. Manfred Weiser (Bayer CropScience, Monheim, Germany) will present the Betanal story while Martin Petersen (Gowan Company, Yuma, Arizona, US) will discuss how his company has achieved market growth through the acquisition of niche products for specialty crops.
IPR, registration and data protection issues are complex and a thorough understanding is fundamental to the success of any organisation – large or small. Ed Sharkey (Ambechem, Manchester, UK) will share his experiences based on many years of practical involvement in the management of task forces and will discuss task forces as a strategy for co-operation between companies. Claudio Mereu (McKenna, Long & Aldridge, Brussels, Belgium) will describe his many years of experience assisting clients to understand the EU Review and Re-registration process. Finally Dr Nigel Uttley (Enigma Marketing Research, Goostrey, UK) will consider the ‘generic versus proprietary’ market balance and how the ‘Big 6’ control over 70% of the agrochemical market. He will also compare and contrast the trends in the pharmaceutical industry with those of the agrochemical industry and will discuss how these may influence the future development of crop protection.
Chairman & Session Organiser
Dr Nigel Uttley (Enigma Marketing Research, Goostrey, UK)
|
|
