EMERGING ISSUES FOR INDUSTRY Changes to rainfall due to global warming will mean more drought tolerant crops will need to be developed. These will in all probability be based on GM technology. So how will we overcome the reluctance of governments, consumers and farmers to use these technologies to continue to deliver the ever increasing needs of a growing population? There is growing concern in many nations with the “Body Burden”; the increasing number of chemicals found in the blood of the general population. The movement to reduce or eliminate this body burden is driving the development of far safer and shorter environmentally persistent products used in industry and agriculture. These and other challenges will be addressed in the Emerging Issues sessions, including: Global Warming (whether natural or anthropogenic), Food crops being used for Biofuels, Body Burden of chemicals, Environmental burden and fate of chemicals, GM crops and their acceptance, Perceived shortage of food and increasing prices. Scientific Topics for "Emerging Issues for Industry" Theme
Water and Agriculture: availability, quality and use efficiency in the face of climate change
Biofuels: impacts on land use and opportunities for chemical intervention
Biofactories: plants as sustainable bio-productions systems for valuable proteins and fine chemicals
Biorationals in concert with agricultural technology
How will agricultural chemistry interact with the next generation of genetically engineered crops?
Agricultural technology, Risk Assessment and the public
Agricultural technology to provide a sustainable food supply in 2020
Global agricultural mosaic: biodiversity, endangered habitats and food production
Life cycle assessment for agrochemicals and intensive agriculture
Changing paradigms for holistic agricultural chemical and technology regulations
Urban pest control and off target transport
Nanotechnology and other novel alternative chemical delivery systems
Chemistry and more efficient nutrient use
PEST MANAGEMENT, CROP PROTECTION, AND VECTOR CONTROL Various compounds deliberately applied for the indiscriminate mass destruction of insects, weed and pathogenic pests has in the past been the mainstay of crop protection. These compounds, not surprising, have undesirable knock-on effects ranging from simple resistance to non-target “effects” (including deaths in our own species). We are becoming far more clever in these endeavours: from development of compounds that target specific pest groups to manipulating pest behaviour with semiochemicals, either directly applied or by changing gene expression in crop plants so as to reduce attractiveness to pests or increase abundance of the “good guys” – predators and parasitoids. The Crop Protection Theme will explore many of these new developments, such as: Crop Protection in the GM Crop Era, Chemical Ecology and Crop Protection and Integrating Crop Protection with Other Environmental Stresses; as well as some of the old time of favourites: Natural Products and Biopesticides, Pesticide mode of action and metabolism, Discovery of new pesticides and Resistance Management. Scientific Topics for "Pest Management, Crop Protection and Vector Control" Theme
FORMULATION AND DELIVERY Agrichemical active ingredients require formulation prior to application so that they can maintain their product integrity on storage, be easy and safe to handle when used, disperse or dissolve well in suitable spray solvents, and deposit efficiently at the target site. Once in solution, their delivery to the target depends on the correct choice of application equipment, nozzles and possibly the inclusion of further adjuvants or spray modifiers. These spray mixtures are then applied to the plant or pest target but their end result depends on the interaction and efficiency of the delivery, the formulation and the environmental conditions. Hence, overall efficacy can be variable. In addition, off-target agrichemical placement can result in undesirable environmental consequences. This theme will consider all these aspects but additionally address the nature of, and the potential for either more environmentally acceptable product and spray formulations, non-spray delivery techniques, and how technology such as modelling plant/spray interactions can improve and enhance both delivery and efficacy. Scientific Topics for "Formulation and Delivery" Theme Scientific Topics for "Formulation and Delivery" Theme
Formulation product development
Application technology
Formulation efficacy and biodelivery
Green formulations: what are they?
Formulation environmental stewardship
Modelling application and efficacy
ENVIRONMENTAL FATE AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT Increasingly stringent requirements to minimise environmental and public health impacts dictate the need for increased precision of pesticide application. The need to incorporate formulation additives that give specific properties during spraying and efficient coverage upon impact with the plant surface is reinforced. Improved formulations are developed from knowledge of processes affecting the efficiency of droplet-canopy impact that gives crop protection but need to take into account safety and environmental aspects. These effects come together under a risk assessment framework to provide the means to minimise impacts. Continued development of short persistence pesticides is warranted that avoid molecular features which prevent breakdown in soil and result in transfer to groundwater. Scientific Topics for “Environmental Fate and Safety Assessment" Theme
Risk Assessment and Risk Mitigation to protect environmental quality and human health
Pesticide use to control invasive species and to protect endangered species
Climate change and GMO crop effects on pesticide use and risk scenarios
Advances in simulation of pesticide fate and transport
Degradation, transformation, and sorption processes in air, water, soil and biota
Advances in environmental sampling methods and analysis technologies
Ecological effects testing for tropical regions
Risk assessment tools for developing countries
Advances in Pest Management Technologies – Updates and environmental Impacts
REGULATORY SCIENCE AND RESIDUES The Agricultural Chemical Industry is heavily governed by many different regulatory frameworks. These various requirements are complex and expensive. The cost of regulatory compliance to the industry is in excess of $500 million/annum. Much of this high cost is due to regulatory overlap, inconsistencies and complexity. A sustainable chemical industry needs security and certainty in the area of regulatory affairs. The regulatory theme will review current requirements for Agricultural Chemicals in the major jurisdictions - USA, EU, Japan, Brazil and Australia. In addition pending changes to legislation and evolving regulatory requirements will be discussed. Global food trade is continuing to expand at a rapid rate. However this trade is regularly disrupted by the issue of plant protection residues. This theme will focus on the need for a harmonised system for determining maximum residue limits (MRL's) of plant protection chemicals. This will include trade in GM foods. Questions to be addressed include: 1.How effective has the CODEX organisation been in achieving global harmonisation of MRL's in food? 2.Do the politics of food trade override the application of sound principles of risk assessment? Scientific Topics for “Regulatory Science and Residues” Theme
Progress in global MRL harmonization
Progress in international guidelines on residues in food
