2008 Press Releases
UCC International Conference to focus on Agricultural Biotechnology
11.07.2008
The rapidly rising costs for food, animal feed and energy have taken the world by surprise. These price increases are a cause for alarm bells to start ringing for politicians, farmers and consumers in all countries.
11.07.2008
The rapidly rising costs for food, animal feed and energy have taken the world by surprise. These price increases are a cause for alarm bells to start ringing for politicians, farmers and consumers in all countries.
The forecasts from the World Food Summit are that costs of food, animal feed and energy will continue to increase over the next decade as global demand will outstrip our capacity to supply these essentials. This seriousness of the global food and energy crisis has been re-emphasised at the recent G8 Summit where it was emphasized that the rises in oil and food prices add to inflationary pressures, and pose a serious challenge to stable economic growth.
The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC 2008), which takes place in University College Cork from August 24th-27th, is a timely event which will bring together a distinguished array of world leaders in research, industry and policymaking to discuss agricultural biotechnology and its impacts on global food, feed, fibre and fuel production and supply chains. The theme of the conference "Agricultural Biotechnology for a Competitive and Sustainable Future" will deal with a broad range of Research & Development priorities and activities, from meeting the growing demand for food & feed production to the development of sustainable biofuels. The primary sponsor of the ABIC2008 Conference is TEAGASC.
Why are food and animal feed costs increasing? The answer is due to a combination of factors - human population and extent of urbanisation continues to rise, food demand is increasing as more people move out of poverty in China and India, costs of petrochemical derived energy (e.g. diesel) and products (e.g. fertilisers) are rapidly rising, speculation on commodity markets, and use of land to produce biofuels rather than food.
Dr Charles Spillane, Head of the Genetics & Biotechnology Laboratory at UCC and Chair of the ABIC Programme Committee says: "The neglect of agricultural R & D investment, in both developed and developing countries, over the past two decades has led to a situation where our ability to produce sufficient food to feed the world's population is now in growing doubt. In order to reduce the number of undernourished in the world and meet growing demands, global food production needs to double by 2050. By 2020 we will need to produce 36% more food with less water, less fertiliser, less chemicals, not much more land and more extreme weather patterns, We are not on target, and will need to harness every available technology, including GM and other biotechnologies, if we are to even approach such food production targets."
The Irish agri-food bio-sector is one of the most important indigenous manufacturing industries accounting for almost 7% of GDP, 8% of employment, and 10% of exports. Ireland's agri-food exports were worth €9.2 billon in 2007. The agri-food sector bio-economy contributes about one third of all flows of funds into the economy generated by manufacturing industry. Because of the low levels of foreign ownership in the agri-food sector, there are higher rates of profit repatriation in the agri-food sector than are seen in the pharma and IT industries.
Internationally, a biotechnology revolution is currently sweeping through the agri-food research sector, impacting on the food, feed, fuel, fibre, crop, animal, fish, nutrition and pharmaceutical sectors. In essence, the biotechnology revolution is rapidly changing the nature and composition of commodities towards commodities that are tailored and diversified for specific applications and uses.
Professor Jimmy Burke, Head of TEAGASC OakPark and ABIC2008 Chair stated that: "This conference offers a great platform to showcase our growing life sciences industries. Various technology Foresight reports for Ireland have identified biotechnology as one of the core technologies which our country and Irish industry must now embrace. These reports have also identified the agri-food sector as one that can benefit significantly from the tremendous potential offered by modern developments in biotechnology."
The plenary session of ABIC2008 will feature future-oriented presentations from world-leading authorities in biotechnology and the agri-food sector. These include Kari Stefansson (deCode Genetics, Iceland, Time 100 most influential people 2007) and Bob Watson (Chief Science Advisor, DEFRA, previously Chief Science Advisor to Bill Clinton). Also speaking will be Villoo-Morawala Patell (Indian entrepreneur of the year 2006, CEO of the agri-food-pharma biotechnology company Avesthagen). Other speakers in the plenary session include Patrick Cunningham (Chief Science Advisor, Ireland), Eija Pehu (World Bank), Ganesh Kishore (Burrill & Company Venture Capital), Richard Jefferson (from the open-source biotechnology company CAMBIA, Australia), Piet van der Meer (Public Research & Regulation Initiative) and Garlich von Essen (European Seed Association).
Other parallel sessions at ABIC will feature internationally renowned speakers in the areas of biotechnology, bioenergy, plant and animal biotechnology, next generation pharma production platforms, food and dairy biotech, functional foods and nutraceuticals, marine and algal biotechnology, biotechnology regulations, national innovation strategies, and biotechnology for developing countries.
All those from the research, business, farming and policymaking spheres with an interest in how the biotechnology revolution is changing the agri-food sector should attend ABIC 2008.
Visit http://www.abic.ca/abic2008/html/program.html
788MMcS
The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC 2008), which takes place in University College Cork from August 24th-27th, is a timely event which will bring together a distinguished array of world leaders in research, industry and policymaking to discuss agricultural biotechnology and its impacts on global food, feed, fibre and fuel production and supply chains. The theme of the conference "Agricultural Biotechnology for a Competitive and Sustainable Future" will deal with a broad range of Research & Development priorities and activities, from meeting the growing demand for food & feed production to the development of sustainable biofuels. The primary sponsor of the ABIC2008 Conference is TEAGASC.
Why are food and animal feed costs increasing? The answer is due to a combination of factors - human population and extent of urbanisation continues to rise, food demand is increasing as more people move out of poverty in China and India, costs of petrochemical derived energy (e.g. diesel) and products (e.g. fertilisers) are rapidly rising, speculation on commodity markets, and use of land to produce biofuels rather than food.
Dr Charles Spillane, Head of the Genetics & Biotechnology Laboratory at UCC and Chair of the ABIC Programme Committee says: "The neglect of agricultural R & D investment, in both developed and developing countries, over the past two decades has led to a situation where our ability to produce sufficient food to feed the world's population is now in growing doubt. In order to reduce the number of undernourished in the world and meet growing demands, global food production needs to double by 2050. By 2020 we will need to produce 36% more food with less water, less fertiliser, less chemicals, not much more land and more extreme weather patterns, We are not on target, and will need to harness every available technology, including GM and other biotechnologies, if we are to even approach such food production targets."
The Irish agri-food bio-sector is one of the most important indigenous manufacturing industries accounting for almost 7% of GDP, 8% of employment, and 10% of exports. Ireland's agri-food exports were worth €9.2 billon in 2007. The agri-food sector bio-economy contributes about one third of all flows of funds into the economy generated by manufacturing industry. Because of the low levels of foreign ownership in the agri-food sector, there are higher rates of profit repatriation in the agri-food sector than are seen in the pharma and IT industries.
Internationally, a biotechnology revolution is currently sweeping through the agri-food research sector, impacting on the food, feed, fuel, fibre, crop, animal, fish, nutrition and pharmaceutical sectors. In essence, the biotechnology revolution is rapidly changing the nature and composition of commodities towards commodities that are tailored and diversified for specific applications and uses.
Professor Jimmy Burke, Head of TEAGASC OakPark and ABIC2008 Chair stated that: "This conference offers a great platform to showcase our growing life sciences industries. Various technology Foresight reports for Ireland have identified biotechnology as one of the core technologies which our country and Irish industry must now embrace. These reports have also identified the agri-food sector as one that can benefit significantly from the tremendous potential offered by modern developments in biotechnology."
The plenary session of ABIC2008 will feature future-oriented presentations from world-leading authorities in biotechnology and the agri-food sector. These include Kari Stefansson (deCode Genetics, Iceland, Time 100 most influential people 2007) and Bob Watson (Chief Science Advisor, DEFRA, previously Chief Science Advisor to Bill Clinton). Also speaking will be Villoo-Morawala Patell (Indian entrepreneur of the year 2006, CEO of the agri-food-pharma biotechnology company Avesthagen). Other speakers in the plenary session include Patrick Cunningham (Chief Science Advisor, Ireland), Eija Pehu (World Bank), Ganesh Kishore (Burrill & Company Venture Capital), Richard Jefferson (from the open-source biotechnology company CAMBIA, Australia), Piet van der Meer (Public Research & Regulation Initiative) and Garlich von Essen (European Seed Association).
Other parallel sessions at ABIC will feature internationally renowned speakers in the areas of biotechnology, bioenergy, plant and animal biotechnology, next generation pharma production platforms, food and dairy biotech, functional foods and nutraceuticals, marine and algal biotechnology, biotechnology regulations, national innovation strategies, and biotechnology for developing countries.
All those from the research, business, farming and policymaking spheres with an interest in how the biotechnology revolution is changing the agri-food sector should attend ABIC 2008.
Visit http://www.abic.ca/abic2008/html/program.html
788MMcS