The Sforza castle in the centre of Milan has been the barracks of various armies down the centuries, and in Nov/Dec 2023 another army was on the march – a little over 1,300 delegates descended on the Allianz MiCo Congress centre in Italy’s fashion capital for the Biostimulants World Congress, 6th edition.
The world’s leading event on plant biostimulants – Biostimulants World Congress – took place in Milan, Italy, with 1,300 attendees from over 70 countries and encompassing about 600 companies.
Hosted by New AG International and EBIC, the Biostimulants World Congress brings a world-leading mix of scientific research, technical discussion, along with promoting commercial developments, product innovation and providing updates on regulation.
Promoting the successful application of biostimulant products is at the heart of the Biostimulants
World Congress. This year, the Farmers Award, hosted by Syngenta Biologicals, returned to highlight growers who are implementing biostimulants to increase their crop yield and health through sustainable farming methods (see Farmers’ Award Section).
A new feature at this congress was the CEO Insights panel (see CEO Section). The session was very well attended with five top decision makers in the biostimulant sector not holding back, as they answered questions about the industry posed by Vice President DunhamTrimmer Massimo Toni.
There was also an Innovation Showcase, where five companies had five minutes and five PowerPoint slides to pitch ideas to a panel (see Innovation Section).
This year’s poster exhibition had 87 submissions on display, from which members of the scientific committee selected a student winner. Listen to our series of podcasts here.
Opening speech by Prof. Patrick du Jardin, professor of Plant Biology at Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Belgium
Closing speech Science remains at the heart of the Biostimulants World Congress, and Professor Patrick Brown, co-chairman of the Scientific Committee, in his summary said:
“The science is really exciting. If you think about it, in human biology we have all sorts of mechanisms to intervene in disease processes or intervene in health processes. In the context of plants, we don’t do any of that. We have not to date really looked at metabolic processes that we’d like to manage, the xenobiotic approach. That’s where the excitement sits.”
He continued by stressing the need – and “obligation” – for grower focused solutions.
In his last slide he announced that Physiologia Plantarum would be the first academic journal to have a dedicated biostimulant section and he invited submissions for the first issues.
The journal’s website says the Biostimulant section (Subject Editor Prof. Patrick H Brown, University of California, Davis, USA) “welcomes manuscripts that improve our understanding of the biology and the use of biostimulants and biofertilizers in agriculture.”
Closing speech by Prof. Patrick Brown, distinguished professor ofPlant Sciences, Department of Plant Sciences, University Of California, Davis
Workshop The event began with a series of workshops before the opening day of the Congress.
The following short podcast is with Nick Young - Environmental Program Manager Fertilizing Materials Inspection Program, California Department of Food and Agriculture. He provides an overview of what was covered in his workshop. Listen to the podcast here:
Keynote speakers On the opening day of the Congress, Christophe Tebbe - Scientific Director, The Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries delivered a speech entitled: “The cropland microbiome: Hidden services at threat”.
A Chancellor’s Fellow of the University of California – Davis, Dr Johan Six spoke on “Resilient food systems under global change in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Albino Maggio - Professor, Department of Agricultural Science, University of Napoli Federico II, gave a keynote on the first day on the topic: ‘Resource use efficiency and crop resilience in the face of climate change’.
On day two, Davide Cammarano, Keynote Speaker - Professor, Department of Agroecology, gave his keynote on ‘Combining Plant Biostimulants with precision agriculture’.
Uwe Conrath, Professor, Plant Physiology Department Aachen Biology and Biotechnology (ABBt) at RWTH Aachen University, delivered a keynote ‘Priming plants for enhanced defense’.
On the third day of Congress, Mirjam Pulleman - Senior Soil Scientist, CIAT & Wageningen University – gave a keynote entitled: ‘The soil health metaphor: does a focus on soil health help us to create more sustainable food production systems?’
Yearbook launched The 2023 Biostimulants World Congress saw the launch of a new publication – the New AG International Yearbook.
The printed publication (which will also be available in PDF format) was distributed at the Congress to attendees, and featured interviews and analysis to complement the program at the Congress, as well as other topics covered by New AG International. Look out for the edition in 2024 and for those looking to advertise email:
Alexander ZenonosJacqui French
Professor Patrick du Jardin and other members of the Scientific Committee were interviewed for the New AG International Yearbook.
Seated at table from left to right:
Marta Vasconcelos, Deputy Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Fine Chemistry (CBQF) at Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP), Assistant Professor at UCP
Patrick Brown - Distinguished Professor of Plant Sciences in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis (USA)
Jean Christophe Avice - Professor at Université de Caen Normandie
Petronia Carillo, Full Professor of Agronomy in the Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies of University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Italy
Announcements at the Congress Yara announced the launch of YaraAmplix, a new brand of biostimulants, at the Biostimulants World Congress (BSWC) in Milan, Italy.
Yara’s ambition is to grow a nature-positive food future, according to Rejane Souza, SVP Global Innovation, Yara International. During a presentation at BSWC, Souza said Yara has “a clear ambition for our company which is to stand by the side of the farmers, to grow a nature positive food future. We know that this is a very strong statement, but we do believe that this is the right thing to do. "
Read full story HERE
Corteva Agriscience announced the launch of Corteva Biologicals. Raphael Godinho, commercial director, EMEA, Corteva Biologicals, said biologicals is a rapidly growing market, and posits that in the next 10 to 15 years, it will be three times the size of the market today.
“This is a very exciting moment for us in Corteva Biologicals,” noted Godinho. “As you can see in our stand, we are announcing the three companies together, Symborg, Stoller and Corteva as one company focusing on the biologicals market and the biostimulants market. We’re putting the teams together, announcing our technologies together, and we have a chance to share a little bit about our business model going forward, where we really have a dedicated organization focused on demand generation, [with] farmers at the centre. I see a lot of excitement from our teams, but also from all stakeholders we have around.” Read full story HERE.
Raphael Godinho, commercial director, EMEA, Corteva Biologicals
The exhibition was sold out and had more than 100 stands at the venue
The Biostimulants World Congress would not happen without its sponsors and here we provide a showcase of interviews with our Gold sponsors from the 2023 edition.
Uwe Conrath, Professor, Plant Physiology Department Aachen Biology and Biotechnology (ABBt) at RWTH Aachen University
Ed Thomas from The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) took part in the workshops and here he gives an overview of the work that TFI has been doing in biostimulant certification programme.
