AGRO2010 MONTPELLIER - Science week on agronomy

The International Scientific Week Around Agronomy, Agro 2010 (Montpellier August 29 - September 3, 2010), has been co-organized by Agropolis International and the European Society for Agronomy (ESA) for its XIth congress, with the help of SupAgro, Inra and Cirad under the chair of Professor Jacques Wery (Executive Secretariat of ESA). The aim of this congress was to demonstrate the scientific grounds, the applied results and the ambitions of Agronomy to adress the burning questions of the XXIst century for agriculture and its contribution to sustainable development. It was more specifically dealing with adaptation to climate change, ecological intensification of cropping systems, yield gap analysis and the design of productive and resilient cropping systems with low use of pesticdes, fertilizers and energy. The design of this scientific event allow to follow a large range of trails with specific combinations of the following elements:

 an International symposium “Agronomy for Sustainable Development” with high level contributions opening the dialogue between scientists and stakeholders on the major challenges for Agronomic Research in Europe and in the developing countries
 Three Parallel symposia on scientific advances and challenges of interdisciplinary research between Agronomy and other disciplines :
· - Plant Biology and Genetics: Co-designing plants and cropping systems for new targets
· - Ecology: Ecological intensification of cropping systems
· - Economy and Social Sciences: Co-assessment and co-design of technological innovations and agro-environmental policies
 Three parallel symposia organized by the scientific division of ESA on the three pillars of modern agronomy:
-Plant System Biology: the cultivated plant in a field (ESA - Division 1),
-Field Scale Agroecology: the cultivated field as an ecosystem (ESA - Division 2),
-Cropping Systems at Farm, Regional and Global Scales: the Cropping System in its embedding systems (ESA - Division 2),
 A symposium for the dialog between researchers and extension services on “Decision-Aid in Agriculture : which type of research and how to better use it in extension” with specific sessions for Europe and Africa,
 Three field trips combining meetings with farmers, tasting of regional products and visits of monuments
 Two international master class on crop modelling and integrated assessment of agricultural systems, given for young scientists with priority given to developping countries,
 Two seminars aimed to develop international collaborations on Adaptation of Agriculture to Global Changes in OECD countries and on Ecological Intensification of cropping systems in the tropics.
 This congress was opened by an evening show to open the discussion between scientists and the Montpellier inhabitants on agriculture and the role of research.

Agro2010 has gathered 590 participants, which is a record in ESA congresses history. 56 countries were represented, 75% from Europe and 25% from all over the world, Africa being represented by more than 30 participants
Accross the first four days Agro2010 organized 29 scientific sessions of two hours each. 470 papers have been published in the proceedings from which 160 oral presentation have been selected for an oral presentation and 370 have been presented as posters. All these communications and a large set of films are available ont the congress web site www.agropolis.fr/agro2010