IAK organises pre-congress for the annual bioeconomy conference in Buenos Aires
As part of the 27th annual conference of the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR), which is meeting in Buenos Aires from Jul 4-7, 2023, the pre-congress was held in Buenos Aires on 3 July 2023. The theme was "Bioeconomy as a provider of solutions for sustainable agriculture: Opportunities and challenges for the development and use of bio-inputs. Insights from Argentina, Brazil and Germany".
The pre-congress was jointly organised by the German-Brazilian Agricultural Policy Dialogue (APD) and the German-Argentine Dialogue on Sustainable Agricultural Innovations. Both projects are part of the Bilateral Cooperation Programme (BKP), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), and implemented by IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH (IAK). The moderator was Sven Gehlhaar, Managing Director of IAK.
The almost 200 high-ranking participants from governments, embassies, science and companies, mainly from Argentina, Brazil and Germany, were welcomed by Cem Özdemir, German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture (video message), and the agricultural attachés of the German and Brazilian embassies in Argentina, Hermann Intemann and Andrea Parrilla.
The three panel discussions, each with representatives from Argentina, Brazil and Germany, met with lively interest. Relevant topics were intensively discussed and also critically examined, especially with regard to possibilities for increased cooperation in the bioeconomy sector in the future. The keynote speech was given by Prof. Dr. Regina Birner from the University of Hohenheim. Other participants from German research institutions included Dr. Jorge Sellare from the University of Bonn, Prof. Dr. Johannes A. Jehle from the Julius Kühn Institute and Prof. Dr. Kai P. Purnhagen from the University of Bayreuth.
At the end of a very fruitful conference, a positive conclusion could be drawn: The bioeconomy and with it agriculture are opening up great possibilities for more sustainable agricultural and food systems. However, the ecosystem of the bioeconomy is highly complex and dynamic. This complexity can therefore only be managed together. Governments, farms, science and industry need to work even more closely together, for example to advance the development and marketing of biological crop protection products.