BCPC optimistic about new CropWorld event

CropWorld 2010 opened its doors today (1 November) at a new venue, the ExCel Conference Centre, London. Organised by UBM, CropWorld is the successor to the original BCPC Congress and Exhibition that originated in Brighton - and then developed further in Glasgow - as an unique event attracting delegates from the global crop production industry, keen to learn of new developments in the industry.

"CropWorld takes all the best that BCPC created in its event plus more,” explains Dr Colin Ruscoe, Chairman, BCPC. “This year’s programme is jam packed with the widest variety of topics that we have had and a broad subject area which has some sessions closer to ‘the field’ rather than just targeted at academics and those with policy interests. It is also good to see the event has attracted over 200 industry speakers from around the world including Maive Rute from the European Commission, Professor Robert Watson, Defra, Professor Douglas Kell, BBSRC and Professor Sir John Beddington, Government Office for Science.”

The conference is tackling ‘the bigger picture’ issues such as ‘How we can feed the world’, in an interactive debate and discussion session. It raises topics of current controversy such as ‘Are pesticides killing our bees?’ as well as looking at the more traditional ‘new active ingredients, compounds and approaches’ sessions.

"It is good to see the momentum returning to the event with a good presence from the Big 6 agrochemical companies,” says Dr Ruscoe. “Advanced exhibition visitor registrations have been very positive so we are hoping for a very busy and productive two and half days. BCPC Publications is launching an unique new reference book, The GM Crop Manual a companion publication to The Pesticide Manual. This will fit with the GM and Biotechnology session that runs on Tuesday afternoon, and we have a BCPC Applications Working Group taking place on Wednesday. The event is always a good opportunity for BCPC to profile its unique range of publications targeted at the crop production industry.”