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December 1, 2008
 The
2nd World Seed Conference will be held on September 8-10, 2009
at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.
This event organised by ISTA, FAO, OECD, UPOV and ISF, 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.
The conference will be held over three days and will comprise of
two events:
Expert Forum
September 8 and 9
Policy Forum September
10
The Expert Forum will be in
English only. The Policy Forum will have simultaneous
translations in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish.
Expert Forum
The aim of the Expert Forum is to provide information and
facilitate discussion on means of encouraging the development of
new plant varieties and the production and distribution of high
quality seed in order to meet the demands of a changing world.
In particular, the Expert Forum will explore the:
- importance of new plant
varieties in responding to evolving needs;
- role of multilateral cooperation in facilitating access to
plant genetic resources for food and
- agriculture and ensuring fair and equitable benefit
sharing;
- role of new technologies and methodologies in plant
breeding;
- need for intellectual property protection to encourage the
development of new plant varieties;
- scope for public/private partnerships;
- role of international certification in facilitating trade
and market development;
- importance of high quality seed and seed treatment;
- benefits of effective systems of seed production and
distribution;
- need for standardisation of methodologies in seed testing;
and
- mechanisms for reducing technical barriers to trade and
facilitating trade in seed.
 These
aspects will be considered in relation to a changing world,
including a changing environment, market developments and
evolving human needs, and their role in achieving future food
security and economic development, especially in developing
countries.
Policy Forum
The Policy Forum will review the conclusions of the Expert Forum
on means to provide an enabling environment that encourages
the development of new varieties and facilitates the production
and distribution of high quality seed.
Audience
This event is aimed at policy makers, government officials,
plant breeders, seed specialists, researchers,
farmers’ organizations and consumer organizations.
Schedule (source
in PDF format)
EXPERT FORUM
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2009
08.00 – 17.00 Registration
09.00 Welcome by FAO
09.10 Opening address by Bernard Le Buanec
Session 1. The role of plant breeding in meeting
the multiple challenges of a fast-changing world
09.30 The evolution and contribution of plant breeding to
global agriculture
09.55 Anticipated demands and challenges to plant breeding
and related technologies into the future
10.20 The effective use and contribution of molecular
breeding and associated methods as breeding tools
10.45 The opportunities presented by modern biotechnology to
enhance plant breeding – what’s in the pipeline?
11.10 Building capacity for plant breeding in developing
countries
11.35 Discussion
11.50 Summary by Chairperson
12.00 Lunch
Session 2. The importance of plant genetic
resources for plant breeding; access and benefit sharing
13.00 The use of plant genetic resources in plant breeding
13.25 Facilitating access and ensuring benefit sharing
globally: the Multilateral System of the
International Treaty on PGRFA
13.50 Exchanging material in the daily business: the
operations of the Multilateral System and the
Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA)
14.15 Working with the Multilateral System - experiences of
a seed company
14.40 Implementing the International Treaty at the national
level: what is the impact on the seed sector?
15.05 Discussion
15.20 Summary by Chairperson
15.30 Coffee
Session 3. Plant variety protection
16.00 Benefits of plant variety protection
16.25 Key requirements for an effective system of plant
variety protection
16.50 Experiences in [country A]
17.15 Experiences in [country B]
17.40 Discussion
17.55 Summary by Chairperson
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
Session 4. The importance of quality seed in agriculture
09.00 What is seed quality and how to measure it?
09.25 The influence of seed quality on crop productivity
09.50 The evolution of seed testing
10.15 Building capacity in seed quality assurance in
developing countries
10.40 Raising seed quality: what is in the pipeline?
11.05 Maintaining capacity in seed technology and seed
testing
11.30 Discussion
11.45 Summary by Chairperson
12.00 Lunch
Session 5. Facilitation of trade and market development
13.00 Overview of the regulatory framework in seed trade
13.25 The role of international certification in
facilitating trade and market developments
13.50 Harmonization of the seed regulatory framework at the
regional level
14.15 Phytosanitary measures
14.40 Technical tools for the facilitation of trade
15.05 Discussion
15.20 Summary by Chairperson
18.00 Conference gala dinner
POLICY FORUM
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2009
09.00 Welcome by the Chairman of the Organising Committee
09.30 Welcome by the Director General of FAO (tbc)
10.00 Welcome address by the Minister of Agriculture, Italy
( tbc)
10.30 Key Note Speech by Kofi Annan ( tbc)
11.00 Conclusions of the Expert Forum
11.30 Providing an Enabling Environment (Panel discussion)
12.00 Lunch
13.30 Providing an Enabling Environment (continued)
15.00 Coffee break
15.30 Concluding remarks
16.00 Closing of the Conference
To register
Registration is required (cost € 125). In order to participate,
please register on-line at worldseedconference.org.
Registration will be open from March 16, 2009.
Conference presentations and proceedings
Copies of all presentations will be published on the
Conference website. The proceedings will be published
after the Conference.
Please visit
the 2nd World Seed Conference website for more information. |
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