Events Calendar

 

In the framework of the ELN-FAB initiative, annual seminars are organized in order to bring together representatives of various stakeholder groups and national and international organizations throughout Europe to collect and exchange experience about functional agrobiodiversity.

The annual ELN-FAB European Seminar in 2010 will be organized in cooperation with the European Environment Agency (EEA). The meeting will be held on 11-12 November 2010 in Ljubljana and hosted by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (www.kis.si). More information will follow soon and will be available at www.eln-fab.eu

The main ambition of the conference is to open the dialogue between scientists, policymakers, administrators and stakeholders on the major challenges of developing green investments and their value in peri-urban regions in the heart of Europe. The conference will also provide the perfect opportunity to learn from other participants, to exchange best practices, to stimulate transboundary contacts and to develop learning lessons. Furthermore, the conference also intends to provide lessons learned for the European Environmental Advisory Council conference taking place later that week in Bruges.

The direct contribution of ELN-FAB is related to the organization of a lecture (‘Landscape management to optimize ecosystem services for sustainable agriculture’) and two workshops (‘Functional agrobiodiversity. The future of our agriculture?’ and ‘Soil biodiversity. The key to improve to have more biodiversity on farmland’) during the second day of the conference.

For more information please visit http://vlm.eventplus.be/ or contact Mr Frank Stubbe at info@vlm.be or +32 499 99 43 05.
 

EU farmers and policymakers increasingly acknowledge that biodiversity and agricultural production need not necessarily be in conflict, but can potentially strengthen each other, as experience has already shown. In this context, the ’Seminar on European Learning Network on Functional AgroBiodiversity (ELN-FAB) in Baltic Sea Region’ will be held in Rakvere in northern Estonia on 25-26 August 2010. The event is being jointly organized by the Estonian Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Centre (Estonia) and ECNC-European Centre for Nature Conservation (host of the ELN-FAB Secretariat).

Understanding the relations between biodiversity and sustainable agricultural production and translating such knowledge into management practices that can be applied at the scale of farms and landscapes is of key importance for a robust and environmentally friendly agriculture in Europe. In this context, the concept of Functional AgroBiodiversity (FAB) has recently been introduced. This seminar introduces the concept of FAB and the benefits it can provide for a more sustainable agriculture.

Please find the invitation, programme and registration form below. All relevant information (regularly updated) is also available at: http://pmk.agri.ee/pkt/fabseminar. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Iiri Selge by email at fabseminar@pmk.agri.ee or phone + 372 53 021 925.

Invitation
Seminar programme
Registration form
 

Over some 30 sessions, the conference will address the state of biodiversity and nature in Europe and the world, the benefits they bring, current pressures, and possible solutions to the current rates of loss. The path to be taken by EU policies on biodiversity and nature policies post-2010, the economic dimension of biodiversity, ecosystem services and Natura 2000 will also be examined.

Green Week offers a unique opportunity for debate and exchanges of experience and best practice. Over the past decade, the conference has established itself as an unmissable event for anyone involved with protecting the environment. The 2009 edition attracted some 4,200 participants from government, business and industry, non-governmental organisations, academia and the media.

For more information visit: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/ 

 

3rd European Organic Congress (27 May 2010, Madrid, Spain and 21-22 June 2010, Rome, Italy)

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3rd Forum for the Future of Agriculture (16 March 2010, Brussels, Belgium)

In March 2008, the European Landowners Organization, (ELO) and Syngenta came together to create a new Forum in which the future of agriculture could be debated, from a European perspective, and where the main challenges facing the sector could be addressed and the necessary responses understood, discussed and agreed.

Today, the Forum has a programme of activity, focused on the food and environmental security agenda, in Brussels and across the European region. However, the main platform for the Forum for the Future of Agriculture remains its Annual Conference which takes place every Spring in Brussels. This Conference has now established itself as the premier meeting place for those who have a stake in the future of agriculture and has been addressed by European Commissioners, MEPs, National Government Ministers, Industry Leaders, NGOs, International Organisations, including OECD and FAO, and Academics.

For more information visit: http://www.forumforagriculture.com/

Agriculture and Rural Development Day: COP-15 (12 December 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark)

The main objective of the event is to lay the groundwork for a workplan of strategies and actions that will see agriculture fully incorporated into the post-Copenhagen agenda. Approximately 300 participants are expected. The event will consist of an opening plenary with keynote presentations, roundtable discussions on specific themes, poster sessions and a closing plenary. The event will bring together policy makers and negotiators, rural development practitioners, producers, civil society and the agricultural and climate change scientific community. The event will identify the no-regret priorities for agriculture and food security—stressing the areas where the world needs to act regardless of exactly how climate change plays out locally.

The event will focus discussions on the following key areas:
- The role of agriculture and farmers in adaptation and mitigation strategies;
- Future scenarios for agriculture, rural development and food security;
- Climate change as a development issue; and
- Innovations in the agricultural sector of relevance to the climate change agenda.

Roundtable topics include: Climate change impacts on agriculture; Policies and institutions; Agricultural responses for adaptation and mitigation and Unlocking the potential of the carbon market for small farmers.

For more information visit: www.agricultureday.org
 

Download information about this seminar here:
ELN-FAB Brochure
Background Information
Programme
Registration form
Hotels
Travel Information

2nd World Seed Conference (8-10 September 2009, Rome, Italy)

A conference to raise awareness of the importance of new plant varieties and high quality seed in a changing world faced with  many challenges for agriculture and will assist governments on how they can develop an enabling environment to encourage plant breeding and the production and distribution of high quality seed.

This event is aimed at policy makers, government officials, breeding companies, breeders associations, stakeholders (certification agencies, seed analysts, seed traders, technology companies, academic institutions), farmers' organisations, consumer organisations and international breeding and seed research centres.

For more information visit: http://www.worldseedconference.org
 

Tech & bio (8-9 September 2009, Loriol-sur-Drôme, France)

European organic and alternative farming exhibition

Tech&Bio is the only event in Europe where you can see all the main organic farming products grouped together on a single organic farm (monogastric and ruminant meat production, arable crops, wine-growing, fruit farming, fruit and vegetables, aromatic and medicinal plants).

Whether you are involved in organic agriculture, or are simply interested in alternative techniques, Tech&Bio offers you a broad vision of the various alternative and organic production methods available. For their implementation, it provides you with a range of innovative and efficient solutions, support from specialists, meetings with suppliers and experience sharing at all levels - training, conversion, production, processing and enrichment.

For more information visit: http://www.tech-n-bio.com/fr/