Food and Fertilizer Technology Center - News

  2022 FFTC-TARI-MJU Symposium (hybrid mode) Date: November 28-29, 2022 Venue: FURAMA Hotel, Chiang Mai, Thailand Videoconference: online meeting link to be provided Abnormal temperatures and rainfall can alter bud formation and flowering period of fruit trees, leading to lower fruit yield and quality. Approaches to enhance the resilience and adaptation of fruit trees under climate change include breeding to develop new and better adapted varieties; application of technologies to reduce the adverse effects of high temperatures and soil water fluctuations; improved cultivation methods to reduce damage; and if necessary, relocation of production to more favorable areas. FFTC, Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) – Fengshan Horticultural Experimental Branch, and Maejo University of Thailand are jointly organizing the International Symposium on “Trends and Opportunities of Displacement of Fruit Tree Production Areas under Climate Change.” The Symposium will be held on November 28-29, 2022, with a hybrid mode of online via Webex and in-person at the Conference Room of FURAMA Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We sincerely welcome your participation in person or online. Registration is free! https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/17

  The Food and Fertilizer Technology Center (FFTC) for the Asian and Pacific Region, the Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station (TSIPS) and the Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) are collaborating in organizing the International Symposium on “Establishment of an Intelligent Production System for Seeds and Seedlings,” which will be held on November 10, 2022 both onsite and online. The symposium is also sponsored by the Council of Agriculture (COA), Taiwan, and Informa Markets Asia Taiwan Branch. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the symposium will be held both onsite (at Room 505 AB, Hall 1, Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Taiwan) back to back with the Asia Agri-tech Expo & Forum, and online via the WebEx videoconference system for all speakers and participants. Seeds and seedlings are the fundamental base of agriculture production and the very foundation of our being. The seeds and seedlings production and supply chain, which relies heavily on manpower, has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To increase production efficiency and reduce farmers workload, recently there are many new intelligent technologies in the seeds and seedlings production have been developed. This symposium aims to gather experts in the field of seeds and seedling production to share their knowledge and experiences, promote industry-government-academic exchanges on the knowledge and experience of introducing intelligent seeds and seedlings production systems, strengthen international cooperation on seeds and seedlings production, and raise the public's awareness on the importance of the stability of seeds and seedlings production and the development of the latest technologies. FFTC has invited Mr. Ram Kaundinya, the Director General of Federation of Seed Industry of India, and Dr. Ting-Ling Chang, the Director of TSIPS to be the keynote speakers. Aside from the two keynote speeches, this workshop has three other sessions with the following themes: 1) The current status of seeds and seedlings production and international cooperation in the Asian and Pacific region; 2) New technologies for establishing intelligent production systems for seeds and seedlings; and 3) Practical application cases of new intelligent technologies at home and abroad. We are cordially inviting scientists, researchers, seed production companies, and farmers to join us in this symposium. To follow the Taiwan government's epidemic prevention regulation according to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the overall plan is continuously being adjusted. Please join us from the following link: https://forms.gle/Mkrqsma47S7Zo19k6 The registration deadline for onsite participants is October 19, 2022. Slots are limited to 100, and after the deadline FFTC and TSIPS will notify the 100 people who signed in to join us; for others, we will send the online link for them to join us online. The online participant registration is limited to 1,000 registrants, and the deadline is on November 3. For more information about this event, please check the symposium webpage: https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/9

  Actions to tackle climate change are urgently required in all sectors of the world. Agriculture and food systems, which are very vulnerable to the effects of climate change, play an essential role in the sustainable development of their region. On October 17-19, the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Japan and FFTC will jointly organize a hybrid symposium on “Climate Change and Food System – synergies of adaptation and mitigation, and advanced utilization of climate information for sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture” in partnership with DOST-PCAARRD, and co-sponsored by OECD-CRP. The symposium is divided into three sessions: Plenary session which consists of messages from the WGII contribution to IPCC AR6; Session 1: Adaptations to climate change in the food system; enhancing synergies and breaking trade-offs between adaptation, mitigation, and ecosystem; and Session 2: Impacts of climate change on small-scale agriculture in Asia and effective adaptation and mitigation using climate information services. The symposium is now open for registration and is free of charge. For further details, please click on this link: Workshop website: https://www.naro.go.jp/english/events/laboratory/naro/154382.html For online registration, please click here: https://prd.form.naro.go.jp/form/pub/naro01/naro-fftc2022_online For onsite registration, please click here: https://prd.form.naro.go.jp/form/pub/naro01/naro-fftc2022_onsite

  The 2022 LRI-FRI-IPB-FFTC Joint International Symposium entitled “Intelligent Production of Livestock Industry and Aquaculture” to be held onsite and online hybrid mode on September 30, 2022, is now open for registration. FFTC, Livestock Research Institute (LRI, COA, Taiwan), and Fishery Research Institute (FRI, COA, Taiwan) are jointly organizing this event in partnership with IPB University (Indonesia) and sponsorship of the Council of Agriculture (COA) (Taiwan) and MY Exhibition Co. Livestock industry and aquaculture are very important agricultural sectors for most of the Asian and Pacific countries. Animal and fish products are also the important protein sources for people in the region. In recent years, these two sectors are facing the challenges of increasing demand for safe and nutritious food, labor shortage and aging farmers and fish folks, climate change, emerging animal and fish diseases, etc. Government and consumer awareness on sustainable production poses another challenge to the livestock and fisheries industries from a new perspective. In order to cope with these challenges, it has become one of the key priorities of many countries in the region to promote the research and development (R&D) and adoption of ICT technologies in improving the production efficiency, strengthening biosecurity in farms, and reducing farmers and fish folks’ workload as well as ensuring sustainability. Currently, large scale livestock and aquaculture industries in the region have been actively introducing the IoT and robot systems for their operation. However, the majority of the livestock and aquaculture industries in the Asian and Pacific countries are small scale farmers and fish folks. Introducing the same intelligent machines and systems which work for large scale industry to those small-scale producers is not cost efficient and does not increase their income. Therefore, the development and adoption of smart technology is becoming an important task so that small farmers, who are the basis of agriculture in Asian countries, can effectively respond to the above-mentioned challenges. The symposium jointly organized by FFTC, LRI, FRI and IPB University, invites international experts to discuss: (1) Problems and solutions on small-scale livestock and aquaculture industries in the Asian and Pacific region; (2) Success cases in the application of advanced intelligent technologies in the livestock and aquaculture industries; and (3) Advanced intelligent technologies from the private sector. The Symposium will be conducted in English with simultaneous interpretation in Chinese. We are cordially inviting all researchers, industry players, farmers and enthusiasts to register and participate in the symposium. The participants can join us onsite at Room 402 of Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 1, or online at the Webex virtual meeting room, or watch live broadcast at FFTC-website or Facebook. To abide by the COVID-19 control measures, there will be limited seats preserved for the onsite registration. Participants who are interested in joining the activity onsite are encouraged to complete the registration soon! Please register the workshop at https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/5 Registration is free!

  On September 15, the Japan International Research for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), FFTC, and Kasetsart University will jointly hold an online workshop on “Innovation and Networking of Sugarcane Research for Future Sugarcane Industry in the Asian and Pacific Region.” This workshop will focus on sugarcane research particularly the new utilization technologies of the byproducts of sugar mill, advancement in sugarcane breeding, specifically the use of interspecific hybrids between sugarcane and its wild species, and intergeneric hybrids. The one-day online workshop will invite 11 sugarcane experts and people in the industry from 7 countries to exchange knowledge and status demands of sugarcane research, suggest future directions for research and strengthen international cooperation. The workshop will be divided into three sessions: 1) Advancement of sugarcane breeding using interspecific and intrageneric hybrids; 2) Review of the status of sugarcane research and industry; and 3) Advancement of utilization technologies of sugarcane. The online workshop will be conducted via Cisco Webex. It is now open for registration and is free of charge. For further details, please click on this link: https://km.fftc.org.tw/workshop/6 For registration, please click here: https://forms.gle/cqDzMha4Cs15gZ166