Day 2: Tradition and Innovation

The second day of the International Plant Congress 2015 in Berlin was incented by the slogan, Tradition & Innovation. The day startet with Patrick Schweizer, an expert in Biotechnology, as a keynote speaker with impressive information about functional genomics approaches for durable pathogen resistance. His work reveals astonishing examples of the innovative character of plant protection. Nevertheless, it also became clear in this section that besides genetic resources, traditional breeding strategies still contribute significantly to durable crop protection.

As a new tool to bring people together, the Junior Scientists of the German Scientific Society for Plant Protection and Plant Health initiated a World Café to discuss three questions, each within 20 minutes:
I. What is the role of junior scientists in future plant protection- revolution or conservation?
II. A world without synthetic plant protection agents – future or fiction?
III. Global food security through knowledge exchange – fact or fantasy?

This lively round-table discussion resulted in a possible headline in relevant newspapers that could sound like:
„...Young scientists will revolutionize plant protection with synthetic plant protection agents and knowledge exchange ...“

From the World Café it became clear that knowledge transfer and networking across disciplines are the key issues to develop future plant protection strategies. Those key issues were also emphasized by Mr. Geoff Norton, the President of the International Association of the Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS). We had the chance to meet Geoff Norton for a interview.

Interview:
Junior Scientists:
How important is it for researchers and stakeholders to link tradition and innovation?

Geoff Norton:
Wow, that is a big issue. I think that there is not enough done. The importance is the understanding of the full dimensions of the problem. So, an Entomologist would see the insect problem, who works on population dynamics in detail but he would ignore what the farmers would do and are interested in. It is important to identify research priorities in terms of what the problem is. In terms of innovation, they have to take place like smartphones. But the important thing is to identify of how does that innovation fit? There are only very few people, who are able to do so. That´s a big issue. In Australia for example, a lot of people are working in plant protection go into molecular. That´s the new thing because of it’s high profile; working in the field is not seen as attractive. There are less people going into the field and can identify pest, diseases and weeds.

Junior Scientist:
What is the future challenge for plant protection worldwide?

Geoff Norton:
This is a big question. The integration of how thing are changing. For example climate change. How flexible can we be in terms of changing scenarios and funding? Flexibility is the key thing in the future. Farmers must be flexible, if there are new problems arising.

Junior Scientist:
What kind of output do you expect from the IPPC?

Geoff Norton:
Well, a better understanding of the multidiscipline complexity. A lot of people spending a lot of research time working out monitoring techniques but when you actually looking at what is happening, there is very little happening in terms of scouting. Well, it all goes back to the integration of the very specific topics to understand the whole systems of agriculture.

Junior Scientist:
What would you recommend to young researchers in their early steps of their career?

Geoff Norton:
First, what they are interested in the most. What they get funding for. Well, I´d like to solve the real problems. There is quite a lot of work that is under the plant protection label, which probably it too theoretical. But finding out what the real problems are. I got a lot of satisfaction, when working on real problems rather than theoretical problems. The theory of ecology is one thing but practical experience in your research field is important.

Inspired by the statement of Geoff Norton to solve the big problems by networking we wanted to know what visitors expect from the conference.
We met Yeriko Obregon (33) from Mexico. He was impressed by the IPPC presenting a very brought and high standard in technological aspects covering all aspects in plant protection, maybe the highest technology on the world. That is the reason why he visited this conference to transfer his knowledge. His research is about herbicides, Yeriko visited Europe for the first time. He is planning a city tour after the congress to explore Germany.

We also met people from Kenya, Burkina Faso, Indonesia and Marocco. All of them focused on networking to establish research cooperation in the context of non-chemical control options. They argued that the big problems could only be solved in a multidisciplinary manner.

We hope you enjoyed the second day of the conference and learned about the opportunities to link between traditional and innovational plant protection.

Best regards,
Heike & Sabine