Instytut Ochrony Roślin - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy

 

New plant protection strategies, or new challenges for agriculture

 

A summary of the Plant Protection Conference - the 61^st Scientific Session of the Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute.

 On February 10-12, 2021, the Plant Protection Conference - the 61^st Scientific Session of the Institute of Plant Protection - National Research Institute (IPP – NRI) - was held in Poznań. This year's Session was primarily concerned with the practical aspects of implementing EU strategies: "Biodiversity Strategy" and "From Farm to Fork" strategy. For the first time, the session was online only.

The honorary patronage over the Plant Protection Conference was taken by: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Polskie Stowarzyszenie Ochrony Roślin (the Polish Association for Plant Protection), Polskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Roślin (the Polish Society for Plant Protection) and Wielkopolska Izba Rolnicza (the Greater Poland Chamber of Agriculture). The event sponsors were: EFSA Contact Point at the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, Agromix, Syngenta, Corteva Agriscience, Hodowla Roślin Strzelce Sp. z o.o., the IHAR Group and the Polish Seed Chamber. The media patrons were taken by: “Farmer” and Farmer.pl - as the main media patrons - as well as TVP3 Poznań, Radio Poznań, “Agro Profil” and the Wiadomości Rolnicze Polska portal.

The leading slogan of this year's Plant Protection Conference was: "New strategies for plant protection" which was directly related to the topics covered in two strategies: "From Farm to Fork" and "For Biodiversity".

On February 10, during the opening of the conference, the following speakers were presenting their welcome speeches: Marek Mrówczyński, Director of Institute of Plant Protecion – National Research Institute, Anna Gembicka, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Giuseppe Stancanelli, representative of EFSA Parma and Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski, Chairman of the Council for Agriculture and Rural Areas by the President of the Republic of Poland. In the second part of the day, the following persons also delivered their lectures: Michał Rzytki, Director of the Department of Food Quality and Plant Production Safety, MARD, Nina Dobrzyńska, Director of the Department of Climate and Environment, MARD, Andrzej Chodkowski, Chief Inspector, GIORiN Warsaw, Katarzyna Floryanowicz-Czekalska, GIS Warsaw.

A series of jubilee postage stamps issued by Poczta Polska on the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of IPP – NRI was presented. The information about state and departmental decorations awarded to people of particular merit in the development of Polish agriculture was passed. On the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the Institute, participants also listened to a lecture on the history of the Institute and its contribution to the development of the Polish agriculture and the dissemination of scientific achievements in agricultural practice.

On that day, two discussion panels were also held: the Main Inspectorate of Plant Health and Seed Inspection panel "Innovations in official control for the development of agriculture and the agri-food sector" and the panel "Biological methods".

The proceedings on February 11 began with a poster session - 80 interesting posters were presented online. Then a series of lectures followed - it included, inter alia, such topics as: "Selected issues of the Multi-annual Program of the IPP – NRI for the years 2016-2020", Herbology, Phytopathology, Entomology. Two discussion forums also took place: Science ‒ Consulting ‒ Practice Forum "Decision support in the protection of agricultural and horticultural plants" and the Ecology Forum "EC strategies and plant protection in organic production".

February 12 was a day of lectures. The program included: Adjuvants Forum "Adjuvants as a way to reduce chemicals in plant protection" and Seed Forum "Breeding and use of varieties resistant and tolerant to biotic and abiotic factors", which ended with an interesting, lively debate.

The last item on the program of this year's Plant Protection Conference was the summary of the event presented by prof. Marek Mrówczyński, Director of the Institute of Plant Protection - National Research Institute. Over 560 participants took part in the event, which was carried out remotely for the first time, via the PINE platform. The opening of the conference, its summary and part of the session were also broadcast live in an open format (on Facebook and YouTube). In total, the streams reached almost 19 000 recipients, and all events related to the conference carried out in social media had a total reach of almost 39 000.

Summing up the jubilee Plant Protection Conference – the 61^st Scientific Session of IPP – NRI, prof. Marek Mrówczyński thanked all participants for their active participation, numerous presentations and constructive discussions. He emphasized that the implementation of the Session in the online formula was a huge organizational challenge.

- The epidemic situation forced us to implement new solutions and organize online conferences. It turns out that the world of science is ready for such meetings and is also willing to take part in remote disputes. Therefore, in next year's edition we will consider a mixed form. We hope that the epidemic will end and we will be able to meet again at lectures, but also during backstage talks, at the 62^nd Scientific Session of IPP – NRI, to which I invite you on February 16-18, 2022 - prof. Marek Mrówczyński, Director of the Institute of Plant Protection - National Research Institute in Poznań summed the meeting.

Film materials from the Conference are available on the YouTube channel of the Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute.

IPP - NRI You Tube channel