Global Food Industry Leaders Say Continual Innovation is Urgently Needed to Reduce Pressures on Price and Food Supply

AMSTERDAM, March 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

• CropWorld Global 2013 (October 29-30^th 2013; Amsterdam RAI) launches 'planting the seeds of innovation' campaign.
• Extensive research shows that innovation in 'crop sciences', 'supply chain', 'R&D' and 'water and irrigation' is essential to addressing a sustainable future

CropWorld Global 2013, the annual agricultural industry event run by UBM Live, will focus exclusively on helping the industry to innovate - through its 'planting the seeds of innovation' campaign. The new approach better reflects macroeconomic factors and follows the commissioning of extensive research and the results of recommendations taken from the leaders of the world's largest crop producers and influential bodies - including Bayer Crop Sciences, DuPont Crop Protection, Unilever, Lindsay Irrigation and the Food and Environment Research Agency.

The independently commissioned research indicated that leading companies in the crop production market are refocusing business objectives towards innovation in crop science, water management and the supply chain so that globally the industry can address the challenges of sustainable food supply both now and in the future.

Currently, some 35 countries require external assistance with feeding their populations, and over the next 10-years food is forecast to become 30% more expensive, with the worldwide demand requiring production to rise 50% by 2030 - yet despite this, 30% of food produced globally is wasted and in order for the industry to make more food available on the population's plates, an evolution in techniques is required.

Collectively, population growth, coupled with concerns around climate change and a shrinking land mass available for arable production means that most of the required increases in food production will have to come through innovative ways to increase crop yield and intensification.

In response, this year's two-day event (including exhibition and forum) is gathering thousands of executives from over 75 countries to come together and discuss how companies can look to utilise new approaches to achieve the industry's most pressing goals, including: 'decreasing the yield gap', 'increasing supply', 'developing sustainable crops', 'reducing water and waste issues', and implementing a 'responsible supply chain'.

Through a bespoke combination of plenary sessions, panel discussions and case studies, an international line-up of speakers will delve into the political, commercial and technical topics ranging from the impact of regulatory changes to assessing modern plant breeding and soil management techniques.

Terri D'Elia, Exhibition Director at CropWorld Global, added: "Providing safe, sustainable and adequate amounts of food globally is one of the greatest challenges to international food producers, scientists and governments today. After speaking with the global agricultural industry we are using CropWorld 2013 to launch our 'planting the seeds of innovation' campaign. Essentially, we are now acting as a central hub around which industry, government and related companies can meet, share knowledge and contacts in order to propagate the spread of beneficial innovations. Already the global industry has voiced its support for our ambitious objectives with exhibitors from agrochemical manufacturers and distributors, seed and crop producers, biotech companies, research and manufacturing organisations, and universities looking to collaborate with top-level decision makers and professionals."

The event is taking place in the Netherlands (the world's second largest agricultural exporter) between the 29^th and 30^th of October at the Amsterdam RAI. Four vertical-specific, modular conferences will take place over two-days examining the regulatory and industry implications across 'water and irrigation', 'crop science', 'supply chain', and 'R&D'.

If you would like further information on how to help spread industry innovation, details on speaking at the event, exhibiting, attending or sponsorship packages, please contact CropWorld Global 2013: Terri D'Elia Exhibition Director, email [e-mail],  Tel: [phone] or visit http://www.cropworld-global.com  

CropWorld Global 2013 event:

• Over 2000 global industry professionals, 90 exhibitors and 115 paid delegates
• Exhibitors are from the world's leading companies in their respective areas: Crop Production and Protection; Water and Irrigation; Supply Chain; R&D - Innovation; Seeds; Soil Management; Packaging and Storage; Education & Training, Regulatory & Academia; Crop Waste management & Storage; Precision Agriculture and Machinery
• 4 exhibitor zones: Crop science, Water (irrigation, drainage and management), Supply chain, and General (companies that supply products and services to the sector)

CropWorld Global 2013 is being organised by UBM in association with the British Crop Production Council (BCPC).  UBM uses its experience in overseas markets to complement and build on the annual CropWorld conferences and exhibitions by running regional events in the key crop producing geographic regions of the world.

About UBM Live

UBM Live is a division of UBM Plc. (LSE: UBM) a leading provider of business information services to the maritime, travel, fashion, technology, healthcare, media, and property industries. UBM offers services in trade shows, conferences, online, news distribution, and publishing to customers across the globe. Its brands are represented in more than 30 countries and are organised into specialist teams that serve their business communities helping them excel in their market by working effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.ubmlive.com

About BCPC

British Crop Production Council (BCPC) and publishers promotes the use of science and technology in the understanding and application of effective and sustainable crop production.  

Further details are available at http://www.bcpc.org

Further details are available from Terri D'Elia, Exhibition Director UBM Live Tel [phone], email [e-mail] or go to http://www.cropworld-global.com

For media enquiries, please contact:

Alex Heeley or Tristan Jervis
De Facto Communications
T: [phone], E: [e-mail], [e-mail]

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