Program announced for 2014 global agri-biotech conference in Canada

This year’s Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) has launched its program. Registrations are now open for the event, to be held from 5-8 October in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

To be hosted in its birthplace, ABIC 2014 will be held by Ag-West Bio, Saskatchewan’s bioscience industry association, ahead of the handover to AusBiotech and bid partners Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia (ABCA) and CropLife, who will bring ABIC 2015 to Melbourne.

ABIC is a global meeting that promotes innovation in bioscience to ensure sustainable food, feed, fibre and fuel security as the climate changes.  Emeritus Professor Ingo Potrykus, creator of Golden Rice, and Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of the Nobel laureate described as “agriculture’s greatest spokesperson”, will headline the program.

‘Solving world hunger’ is often considered not much more than a noble but abstract and impossible goal. Dr Ingo Potrykus decided to devote his career to solving that problem - specifically that of ‘hidden hunger’, or the lack of micronutrients in staple foods. He developed a product called ‘Golden Rice’ that can prevent deficiency in vitamin A, which causes blindness and death for millions of people in developing countries.

Potrykus is Professor Emeritus of Plant Sciences at the Institute of Plant Sciences of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich. He will be speaking about the obstacles he has overcome and the challenges he continues to face in seeing Golden Rice reach its potential to save millions. To Potrykus’s frustration, Golden Rice has yet to save anyone. Because the rice was biofortified with beta-carotene using genetic modification, the anti-GMO lobby and regulatory hurdles have held up release of the rice to those who would benefit most.

“The science to develop Golden Rice took eight years,” said Potrykus. “Product development and deregulation, so far, has taken 15 years and is not yet over.”

Kicking off the event will be a plenary speech by Julie Borlaug, associate director of external affairs at the Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University. She is the granddaughter of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, known as “agriculture’s greatest spokesperson”, who devoted his life to improving agriculture and food security in developing countries.

Borlaug works with the Borlaug Institute to continue her grandfather’s legacy and lend a voice to his desire to see more successful collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to ensure the continuation of breakthroughs in international agriculture. She begins the conference by addressing the theme of global challenges and issues related to agricultural productivity, exploring opportunities available through innovation, education and outreach.

The full program for ABIC 2014 can be found at http://www.abic.ca/abic2014/index.php/abic-2014/program