Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - News

  The 2022 FFTC AP-VAAS Forum entitled “Circular Agriculture for Sustainable Healthy Diets: Perspectives and Policy Implications in the Asian and Pacific Region” to be held online on July 19, 2022, is now open for registration. FFTC and Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VAAS) are jointly organizing this meaningful event in partnership with FFTC Agricultural Policy Platform (FFTC AP) partners. Food systems have potentials to nurture the environment and human health; however, currently there are growing concerns that they are threatening both. In the last 50 years, agriculture production has become more resource intensive, relying heavily on the availability of fossil inputs in the form of synthetic fertilizers and agrochemicals, and fossil fuels. Decades of increasing productivity and efficiency in the agricultural sector have led to pressure on the living environment at the expense of water and soil quality, biodiversity, ecosystem, and climate ‒ among others. In the same context, human beings should not only consider healthy diets with nutritional and health benefits; sustainable food production and utilization should also be an integral part of it. Sustainable healthy diets are healthy to both people and the planet. Circular economy (CE) in the agri-food systems or circular agriculture implies that agri-food products are generated in ways that regenerate nature, food is not lost and wasted, and all the resources are used productively (PACE – Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy). The agri-food sector through practicing circular agriculture approaches has significant potential in the transition to low carbon and climate-friendly economy. Therefore, it is crucial to identify drivers and barriers in transition from linear agri-food systems towards circular agri-food systems addressing planetary healthy diets. The forum jointly organized by FFTC and VAAS, invites international experts to discuss: (1) Circular approaches to sustainable production and growth in the agri-food systems in Asia; (2) Nutrition and health communication approaches to enhance public awareness and consumption of sustainable healthy diets; and (3) Practical innovation and policy action to boost transition and scaling-up process of viable circular agri-food systems for sustainable healthy diets in Asia. We are cordially inviting all researchers, industry players, farmers and enthusiasts to register and participate in the forum. The participants can join us online at the webex virtual meeting room or watch live broadcast at FFTC-website or Facebook. Please register the workshop at https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/3 Registration is free!  

  Soil testing and plant tissue analysis is a technique in which the results can be applied to fertilization recommendations and increase the efficiency of fertilizer use and yields. Nowadays, increasing chemical fertilizer price and insufficient fertilizer supply is a worldwide issue. Therefore, efficient use of chemical fertilizers with consideration of available nutrients in the soil is more imperative than ever. To evaluate the capability and performance of laboratories for soil testing and plant analysis in the Asian and Pacific countries, the Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC) for the Asian and Pacific Region and the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) have been holding proficiency testing (abbreviation as PT) programs for soil testing and plant analysis since 2018. Since PT provides participating laboratories with the opportunity to compare their analytical results with other laboratories, continuing to participate in the PT program will help to improve the capabilities and performance of the participating laboratories. Last year, more than 50 laboratories from 6 Asian and Pacific countries had participated in our PT program. FFTC and TARI decided to continue the proficiency testing program in 2022 and add the heavy metals (cadmium and arsenic) into the testing items to continuously enhance the capability and performance of laboratories of soil testing and plant analysis in the Asian and Pacific countries. This PT project will be conducted free of charge to all representatives of participating laboratories, but it is only limited to 100 registrants (The organizer retains the right to select the registrants). Kindly register early so that you can be assured of a slot. Deadline of registration: July 20, 2022 For more information, please check the Scheme: https://bit.ly/3yXPtOa To register, please join from Here: https://bit.ly/3LO6QDA

  2022 DFNet Workshop May 5, 2022 (10:00 – 15:00 GMT+8) May 6, 2022 (09:00 – 12:20 GMT+8) Agri-food supply chains generally involve multiple intermediaries between farmers and consumers. Farm gate products pass multiple layers and stakeholders before reaching the end of customers, resulting in higher values and prices which, in most cases, do not return to farmers. E-commerce can provide a platform for farmers to directly sell their products to different types of buyers, directly returning of the sales to farmers as a positive cycle of higher farmer income, more capital reinvestment and higher production efficiency. Most small-scale farmers lack the knowledge and capacity related to e-commerce technology and operation. In addition, agri-food e-commerce is much more challenged and complex in logistics and delivery systems than other types of products such as electronics and houseware. Many of the international or domestic e-commerce platforms were established for none-agri-food products and may not be able to be applied directly to agri-food business. During the COVID-19 pandemics, the city lockdown and limitation of human movement and contacts have stimulated rapid development of agri-food delivery systems that helps to fill the gaps of agri-food e-commerce. FFTC and Taiwan Agricultural Research institute (TARI) – Fengshan Branch, Council of Agriculture are organizing this workshop in partnership with the Commerce Development Research Institute (CDRI) and DFNet Project partners from Asian Pacific Region. The workshop includes a one-day international forum and a half-day farmers workshop. The forum invites international experts to discuss the recent development of agri-food e-commerce at local and regional levels, and the challenges and opportunities for tropical fruit growers. The farmers workshop will discuss e-commerce platforms, capacity development, and entry points for farmers to participate in agri-food e-commerce. We are cordially inviting all researchers, industry players, farmers and enthusiasts to register and participate in the workshop. The language of the international forum in Day I will be in English with Chinese interpretation. The Day II farmers workshop will be in Chinese with English interpretation. The participants can choose either of the languages and join us online at the webex virtual meeting room or watch live broadcast at FFTC-website or Facebook. In-person meeting at the TARI-Fengshan Branch will be by invitation due to limited number of seats arranged according to the COVID-19 alert measures. Please register the workshop at km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/2 Registration is free!

  2022 marks another busy year for FFTC as the Center management announces its line-up of projects which include 8 workshops, 4 network projects, one TAC meeting and two regular programs. Approved by the FFTC Executive Board on its 106th Board Meeting on December 7 of last year, the 8 workshops include topics on climate change and food system, innovations on sugarcane research, healthy soil-plant interaction, intelligent production system for seeds and seedlings, livestock industry and aquaculture, circular agriculture for sustainable healthy diets, tropical fruit value chains for global markets and strategies for the industrialization of smart agriculture. Meanwhile, the Center will continue its 4 network projects on the FFTC Agricultural Policy Platform (AP), the Dragon Fruit (DFNet II), the Proficiency Testing (PT) programs of soil testing and plant analysis and the Knowledge Management (KM) Projects. All 12 Projects as well as the regular projects are aligned to FFTC’s Strategic Action Plan for 2021-2024. Below is the Center’s projects schedule for 2022 which will be updated on this website from time to time. PDF file download link: https://bit.ly/3EZJ3NA

  Date: Nov 11, 2021 (09:00 – 17:00 GMT+8) Nov 12, 2021 (09:30 – 11:10 GMT+8) Global consumption of animal products continues to increase sharply along with the growth of population. In livestock farming, antibiotics are usually used to enhance or promote growth or achieve better feed efficiency, thus leading to prolonged dose exposure of animal gut bacteria to these drugs and the increasing risks of building up anti-microbial resistance, a serious threat to human health. Therefore, the innovation and commercialization of animal vaccines and health-promotion feed additives as alternatives to antibiotics for livestock animals becomes an important challenge of the industry, in which the latter includes probiotics, phytogenics, fungi, micro-nutrients, and peptides etc. In light of this scenario, TLRI and FFTC are co-organizing an online international symposium entitled “Innovation and Application of Animal Vaccines and Health-Promotion Feed Additives for Antibiotic-Free Era in Livestock Industry.” There will be 4 keynote speakers and 17 other speakers, who have been invited representing government, research institutes, and private companies from 6 countries, to exchange and share knowledge on the development and application of animal vaccines and health-promotion feed additives, aiming for global human health by ensuring food safety and reducing risk of antimicrobial resistance. There will be 4 sessions covering various topics mainly related to animal vaccines and animal feed additives through 4 keynote presentations, 12 speakers who will deliver country reports and other technologies related to the topic, and 5 other representatives of private companies. Through this symposium, it is expected to increase and promote the awareness and application of animal vaccines and health-promotion of feed additives in Asia’s livestock industry. We are cordially inviting all researchers, industry players, farmers and enthusiasts to register and join this video conference. We sincerely welcome your participation. For symposium information and registration, please click on the link: sites.google.com/fftc.org.tw/2021-fftc-tlri-symposium Registration is free!