Australian bid wins international agricultural biotechnology conference

AusBiotech, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia (ABCA) and CropLife Australia jointly put forward the successful bid to host the 15th ABIC Conference in Melbourne. The three organisations will work together to leverage this significant achievement and the many opportunities it presents for the advancement of agricultural biotechnology in Australia.

ABIC will bring together industry leaders, researchers, scientists, investors and policy makers to discuss the role of bioscience as a major force in developing, creating and ensuring food and fuel security. This facilitates the links between business and research communities that enables ground-breaking innovation to be translated into products and services of benefit to the community.

The world is currently faced with a situation where growing enough food for people to eat will soon be a challenge faced by all countries. Australia, as one of the few large food exporting countries, has a unique opportunity to take the lead in innovating to produce safe, nutritious and affordable food for domestic and export markets.

AusBiotech CEO, Dr Anna Lavelle, said today: "The Australian agricultural biotechnology sector has an enormous amount to contribute to global debate and to address biotechnology's role in some of the biggest agricultural issues of our time, such food and fuel security, health and nutrition."

"AusBiotech has previously won the bid for ABIC and hosted the 2005 event. We look forward to working with a strong coalition to again showcase our 'home-grown' agbiotech developments to the world, working this time with CropLife and the newly-formed ABCA (of which we are a founding member) to really optimise the value of this event for Australia."

CropLife CEO, Matthew Cossey, added: "This is important news for Australian agriculture. CropLife Australia is proud to represent the world leaders in agricultural biotechnology, and accordingly to be part of the joint venture which is bringing such a globally significant conference to Australia. It is crucial that Australia's plant science industry continues to ensure Australian farming is at the forefront of global food, feed and fibre production."

"The conference will bring unprecedented opportunities to stimulate and showcase Australia's agbiotech capability to the world," concluded Chair of ABCA, Claude Gauchat