Global Agro-industry Working Together to Drive the World Towards Sustainable Food and Water Production

AsiaNet 52819

AMSTERDAM, April 24 /PRN=KYODO JBN/ -

    Committee's far reaching conclusions will be used to direct industry and

international bodies on achieving a sustainable global supply chain

    "As we consider the rapidly expanding world population and the ever

increasing demand for an abundant, healthy, and affordable food supply; it will

be essential for industry, government, and other stakeholders to find new

innovative ways of working together to yield sustainable agricultural solutions

for the future. CropWorld Global is a much needed catalyst for making this

collaboration a reality." Dr. Maximilian Safarpour - Director,

Global Regulatory & Government Affairs, BASF Corporation

    - CropWorld Global Steering & Advisory Committee - including FERA, Bayer

      CropScience, Lindsay Irrigation, BASF and Coca-Cola - to collectively

exchange initiatives towards meeting sustainable challenges in local and global

food security

    - Greater private sector research into biopesticides and synthetic

chemistries that protect crops identified as one key theme for future

development

    CropWorld Global 2013 [http://www.cropworld-global.com ], the annual

agricultural industry event run by UBM Live, has announced the formation of its

Steering & Advisory Committee which will seek to meet the challenges of working

towards a sustainable agricultural production cycle - with initiatives across

supply chain, crop protection, water and irrigation and other concerns that are

seen as crucial to reducing waste and increasing productivity.

    Members of the high level panel will be set the ambitious goals of

identifying new ways to sustainably feed the world's growing population.

Featuring a mixture of prominent government and agency representatives, the

Committee includes European MP Robert Sturdy; the British Crop Protection

Council's Dr. Colin Roscoe and Dr. Julian Smith, the Food and Environment

Research Agency's (FERA) sector leader in international development and food

and supply chain.

    The panel's raison d'etre will see it harness the combined powers of

industry and international agencies for a collaborative approach to the world's

pressing agricultural supply chain issues. "The forum it provides for the

exchange of ideas greatly contributes to all of our efforts in finding

solutions to the challenges facing global agriculture and food production"

Committee member Pam Marrone (Founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations)

    Last month, CropWorld Global announced the launch of its 'planting the

seeds of innovation' campaign designed to champion decreased wastage in the

supply chain and increased production yields. In support of this, the

internationally recognised Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International

(CABI) has sent their expert to join the steering committee - Dr. Philippa

David, Food supply chain and Senior Business Development

Consultant.

    "With the drivers of climate adaptation, increasing population and personal

food choice, we increasingly need to value food as a one-world resource. For

instance, the UK, although a developed country, is increasingly dependent on

overseas food sources, notably of developing nations and we must address how we

meet this challenge, notwithstanding the imperative to address food insecurity

and poverty within developing nations," commented committee member Dr. Julian

Smith of FERA.

    The Committee is represented by some of the world's biggest agricultural

companies who will lend their weight to increasing innovation across the globe.

Together with the European MP, FERA, Marrone Bio Innovations and the BCPC,

other members include:

    - Dr David Nicolson, Head of Global R&D and Member of the Executive

      Committee, Bayer CropScience

    - Dr Maximilian Safarpour, Director Global Regulatory and Government

Affairs, BASF

    - David McPherson, Head of Chemistry and Field Trials, Charles River (CRO)

    - Graham Redman, Partner, The Anderson Centre

    - Sam Haider, VP of international Sales, Lindsay Irrigation

    - Dr Ernesto Brovelli, Senior Manager, Sustainable Agriculture Environment

and Water Resources, Coca-Cola

    Dr. Smith added "FERA's attendance on the CropWorld Global steering

committee is core to our aspiration to contribute to our fullest role in these

UK and global challenges through positioning FERA's research and knowhow at the

centre of the debate, together with industry and government. For example, in

the development of a next generation of technologies, alongside, and in support

of, policies that provide clear incentives to food chain stakeholders to work

collectively towards evermore sustainable practices. To this end, the steering

committee, through the participation of the major global agro-industry

partners, provides a unique space to identify new ways of thinking and working

towards collective and concerted change.To pull out just one thread of the

debate, would be to identify the need to bring investment from the private

sector back into research in the areas of biotechnology. This not only relates

to the use of genetic engineering, but also with respect to bio-pesticides and

synthetic chemistries that may serve as a next generation of crop protectants -

crucial to increasing prospective yields."

    Pam Marrone echoed his thoughts, commenting "serving on the CropWorld

Global committee is tremendously valuable to Marrone Bio Innovations. It

provides a unique opportunity to share and discuss research and product

development advances with the truly forward-thinking companies and leaders in

our industry."

    CropWorld Global's Steering & Advisory Committee is now finalising the

event's key themes and has identified 'decreasing the yield gap', 'increasing

supply', 'developing sustainable crops', 'reducing water and waste issues', and

implementing a 'responsible supply chain' as the areas it wishes to address.

    Terri D'Elia, Exhibition Director at CropWorld Global, added: "We are

delighted that the world's biggest thought leaders in agricultural and water

have joined the CropWorld Steering & Advisory Committee. We now have a

tremendous opportunity to help work towards providing safe, sustainable and

adequate amounts of food globally. Over the next 10-years, food is forecast to

become 30% more expensive, with the worldwide demand requiring production to

rise 50% by 2030 - it is one of the greatest challenges to international food

producers, scientists and governments today and I strongly believe we can help

work towards meeting these increasing international pressures."

    About CropWorld Global 2013:

    The exhibition-led event is taking place in the Netherlands (the world's

second largest agricultural exporter) between the 29th and 30th of October at

the Amsterdam RAI. Over two days, four vertical-specific, modular conferences

will take place alongside the exhibition, examining the regulatory and industry

implications across 'water and irrigation', 'crop science', 'supply chain', and

'R&D' - later in the year full conference topics and plenary sessions will be

announced.

    For further information on how to help spread industry innovation, details

on speaking at the event, exhibiting, attending or sponsorship packages, please

contact CropWorld Global 2013: Terri D'Elia, Exhibition Director, at

enquiries@cropworld.com, +44 (0) 207 560 4364 or visit

http://www.cropworld-global.com

    - Over 2000 global industry professionals, 90 exhibitors and 115 paid

      delegates

    - Exhibitors from the world's leading companies in their respective areas:

Crop Production and Protection; Water and Irrigation; Supply Chain; R&D -

Innovation; Seeds; Soil Management; Packaging and Storage; Education &

Training, Regulatory & Academia; Crop Waste management & Storage; Precision

Agriculture and Machinery

    - 4 exhibitor zones: Crop science, Water (irrigation, drainage and

management), Supply Chain, and General (companies that supply products and

services to the sector)

    Notes to editors

    CropWorld Global 2013 is being organised by UBM Live in association with

the British Crop Production Council (BCPC). UBM uses its experience in overseas

markets to complement and build on the annual CropWorld conferences and

exhibitions by running regional events in the key crop producing geographic

regions of the world.

    About UBM Live

    UBM Live is a division of UBM Plc. (LSE: UBM) a leading provider of

business information services to the maritime, travel, fashion, technology,

healthcare, media, and property industries. UBM offers services in trade shows,

conferences, online, news distribution, and publishing to customers across the

globe. Its brands are represented in more than 30 countries and are organised

into specialist teams that serve their business communities helping them excel

in their market by working effectively and efficiently. For more information,

go to http://www.ubmlive.com

    About BCPC

    British Crop Production Council (BCPC) promotes the use of science and

technology in the understanding and application of effective and sustainable

crop production.

    Further details are available at http://www.bcpc.org

    Further details are available from Terri D'Elia, Exhibition Director, UBM

Live, call +44(0)20-7560-4364, email terri.delia@ubm.com or visit

http://www.cropworld-global.com

    For media enquiries, please contact:

    Alex Heeley or Tristan Jervis

    De Facto Communications

    T: +44-207-203-6745 E: a.heeley@defacto.com  t.jervis@defacto.com

SOURCE: UBM Live