Congress Topic 2, Theme 4

Crop systems and soil

The following sessions will be included in the theme:

• Improving sustainable soil and crop management (sub plenum)
• Perspectives for inter-cropping in European cropping systems
• Modelling soil fertility in low input systems
• Designing cropping systems to prevent nitrogen losses
• Soil plant interactions and functional biodiversity systems
  
  

Subplenum: Improving sustainable soil and crop management

One of the principles of organic farming is to attain ecological balance through the design of farming systems, establishment of habitats and maintenance of diversity. Inputs should be reduced in order to maintain and improve environmental quality and conserve resources. However, there are still some 'technological' bottlenecks in organic production systems, which potentially affect quality and safety in organic foods, the environment, as well as costs of production. These bottlenecks include insufficient and/or untimely availability of nutrients as well as occurrence of pests and diseases. Approaches to overcome such bottlenecks include (i) optimisation of soil properties which are relevant for plant nutrition and disease suppression and (ii) crop diversification strategies to improve the ecological balance. We will discuss the potential impact of such strategies as well as the integration of such practices into current farming systems.

Session: Soil-plant-interactions and functional biodiversity systems

Pioneers of organic farming have described the importance of the close relationship between soil and plant, which is summarized in the statement that 'a healthy soil is the prerequisite to grow healthy plants'. Recent research efforts investigate the complex interactions between soil, crop, and companion plants. In this session we will discuss new findings but also the potential of refined crop and soil management strategies, which aim to optimise these interactions.

Congress Topic 2, Theme 5

Protecting plant health

The following sessions will be included in the theme:

• Prevention and control of diseases and pests (subplenum)
• Novel plant protection products, application techniques and strategies
• Needs for crop protection products in view of the system approach

Prevention and control of diseases and pests

In organic farming prevention of diseases and pests often can be achieved by the stimulation of soil suppressiveness, crop rotation and diversification or the choice of suitable varieties. For certain crops, these strategies are not sufficient, e.g. if highly mobile pathogens such as Phytophthora infestans might invade potato fields or if the choice of preventive measures is limited by the perennial character of crops such as grapevine or apple. In such cases, plant protection products are needed to allow an economically feasible production. However, modern plant protection products for organic farming with low risk profiles are lacking. Efforts, successes and problems in developing novel products will be discussed.

Novel plant protection products, application techniques and strategies

Modern crop protection products with low risk profile are urgently needed in organic production of a number of crops. In this session, a broad variety of possible solutions such as inducers of resistance, organically based fungicides or biological control agents will be presented. Will there be exiting new developments for use in practice and what are the possible obstacles?

Congress Topic 2, Theme 6

Plant breeding and seed production

After decades of relying on conventionally bred and propagated varieties, the organic sector is more and more aware of the need for better adapted, robust varieties and organically propagated seeds.

For further optimisation of organic product quality and yield stability, new varieties are required adapted not only to organic soil fertility management, but also to organic weed, pest and disease management. These traits are needed for good performance for the production of consumer or feed crops, but also for a healthy seed production.

Because the organic sector is urging for a more closed production chain, currently the most attention goes to the development of adequate quantities of seeds from an appropriate assortment of varieties. Adapting protocols for variety testing and seed health testing are required, including assessing disease threshold values, and designing organic seed treatments.

Also organic plant breeding programmes are being developed. Because of the limited area of organic agriculture different strategies need to be developed to speed up specific breeding programmes for improved varieties.

The following sessions are included in the theme:

• Four keynote lectures representing the three themes (subplenum)
• Short workshop presentations on the three themes
  
• Poster presentations

The call for contributions concerns the short presentations (10 minutes each) during the workshop session and the poster session.

We welcome contributions on all three themes for different crops:

• plant breeding: crop ideotypes, variety concepts, breeding strategies
  
• seed production: improving cultural practices, variety testing protocols
  
• seed pathology: coping with seed borne diseases, disease threshold values, seed treatments
  

aiming to further develop organic plant breeding and seed production for improved organic crop and food quality!