PESTICIDE use, food safety, nutrition, environmental concerns and sustainable food production. These are key issues on the agenda of the annual British Crop Protection Council conference which this year will attract over 1,500 delegates from nearly 90 countries worldwide. It provides the opportunity for finding out about the latest chemical advances, practical approaches to agriculture and new technology.

Dr Jorgen Schlundt, co-ordinator of the Food Safety Programme, World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva, will consider how recent developments in food production and pests and disease control have contributed to food safety systems in the developed world and helped prevent food-borne diseases. He will also raise the matter of food scares and how these have shaken consumers' confidence on food safety.

A symposium with speakers from China, USA, Belgium, Switzerland and the UK will consider the importance of sustainable food production, as well as the challenges imposed by legislation, population dynamics, climate change, international trade, diminishing resources and the ever-changing nature of pests and diseases.

"Transgenic crops are grown commercially in several countries," says Dr Terry Clark, chairman of the BCPC conference programme committee. "So including a session about the potential role of transgenic crops was felt by the conference programme committee to be of topical interest to delegates. We are fortunate in having some excellent speakers from around the world, including Professor Dennis Gonsalves (USDA, Hawaii, USA) who will discuss progress in developing transgenic resistance to viruses, and Dr Justus Wessler (Wageningen University, the Netherlands) who will analyse the attitudes of European consumers to growing and consuming GM food.

"Pests and diseases are this year's conference theme, and we hope we have come up with a varied and topical programme. One of the core topics will be new compounds for pest and disease management."

The marketing forum - crop protection under licence - runs parallel to the main conference programme. With the industry now being given the chance to implement the Voluntary Initiative, many questions remain unanswered, particularly on the matter of how these measures will change the way that food is produced in the UK.

Chaired by Alan Bide of Hampshire Arable Systems, the panel, consisting of representatives from the Government's Voluntary Initiative Steering Group, the National Farmers' Union, the Environment Agency, BASIS, practising European farmers and advisors, will discuss this contentious issue which is likely to spark a good deal of interest and lively discussion from the audience.

The 30th annual conference of the British Crop Protection Council will be held from November 18 to 21 at Brighton.

Registrations can be made, on-line, from the BCPC conference website www.bcpc.org/BCPCConference2002/Index.htm, where full details of the conference programme can also be found and hotel accommodation bookings made.

The BCPC brings together as corporate members, representatives of a wide range of organisations with an interest in furthering the science and practice of crop protection. Between them they cover research, the agrochemical industry, the services, contractors, distributors, education, agricultural engineering, plant breeding/biotechnology, overseas development, government and regulatory concerns.

The BCPC sets out to inform and influence decision makers, the scientific community, farmers and their advisers and the general public about issues.

The council also provides bursaries which help a number of scientists from outside the UK attend the annual international BCPC conference, promotes careers and education in crop protection and funds the occasional overseas visits to take the BCPC mission forward.

It is spearheading a move to develop a common approach in Europe on crop protection issues.

Updated: 10:19 Wednesday, October 09, 2002