MEDIA RELEASE

14 January 2013

Australian bid wins international agricultural biotechnology conference

Australia has won the bid to host the 2015 Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC), the world’s leading forum for the promotion of innovation in agricultural bioscience.

AusBiotech, the Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia (ABCA) and CropLife Australia jointly put forward the successful bid to host the 15th ABIC Conference in Melbourne. The three organisations will work together to leverage this significant achievement and the many opportunities it presents for the advancement of agricultural biotechnology in Australia.

ABIC will bring together industry leaders, researchers, scientists, investors and policy makers to discuss the role of bioscience as a major force in developing, creating and ensuring food and fuel security. This facilitates the links between business and research communities that enables ground-breaking innovation to be translated into products and services of benefit to the community.

The world is currently faced with a situation where growing enough food for people to eat will soon be a challenge faced by all countries. Australia, as one of the few large food exporting countries, has a unique opportunity to take the lead in innovating to produce safe, nutritious and affordable food for domestic and export markets.

AusBiotech CEO, Dr Anna Lavelle, said today: “The Australian agricultural biotechnology sector has an enormous amount to contribute to global debate and to address biotechnology’s role in some of the biggest agricultural issues of our time, such food and fuel security, health and nutrition.”

“AusBiotech has previously won the bid for ABIC and hosted the 2005 event. We look forward to working with a strong coalition to again showcase our ‘home-grown’ agbiotech developments to the world, working this time with CropLife and the newly-formed ABCA (of which we are a founding member) to really optimise the value of this event for Australia.”

CropLife CEO, Matthew Cossey, added: “This is important news for Australian agriculture.  CropLife Australia is proud to represent the world leaders in agricultural biotechnology, and accordingly to be part of the joint venture which is bringing such a globally significant conference to Australia. It is crucial that Australia’s plant science industry continues to ensure Australian farming is at the forefront of global food, feed and fibre production.”

“The conference will bring unprecedented opportunities to stimulate and showcase Australia’s agbiotech capability to the world,” concluded Chair of ABCA, Claude Gauchat.

-ENDS-

Media enquiries:
Lorraine Chiroiu, Communications Manager, AusBiotech
[email protected]
P: +61 (0) 3 9828 1414
M: +61 (0) 429 801 118

Jessica Lee, Manager – Public Affairs and Research, CropLife Australia

[email protected]

P: +61 (0) 2 6230 6399

M: +61 (0) 410 491 261

 

About the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC)

The first ABIC conference was held in Canada in 1996 and in 1998 the ABIC Foundation was set up to ensure the continued success of the ABIC Conferences. The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation overseen by a board of directors with representation from several countries and based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada.  Its goal is to ensure ongoing opportunities for continuous learning and networking within the agricultural biotechnology community through the annual Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference.  ABIC brings industry professionals together to learn about the latest advances in agricultural biotechnology and discuss how technologies can be applied to global issues such as climate change, sustainability, food production and health and nutrition.

About AusBiotech
AusBiotech is Australia’s biotechnology industry organisation working on behalf of over 3,000 members in the areas of human health, medical devices, food technology, agriculture, environmental and industrial biotechnology, for more than 25 years. AusBiotech is dedicated to the development, growth and prosperity of the Australian biotechnology industry.

AusBiotech is dedicated to the development, growth and prosperity of the Australian biotechnology industry, by providing initiatives to drive sustainability and growth, outreach and access to markets, and representation and support for members nationally and around the world. AusBiotech has representation in each Australian state providing a national network to support members and promote the commercialisation of Australian bioscience in the national and international marketplaces.

About ABCA
ABCA is the national coordinating organisation for the Australian agricultural biotechnology sector and was established to pursue recognition of the current and potential benefits of agricultural biotechnology. ABCA is a joint industry initiative with four founding members – AusBiotech, CropLife Australia, Grains Research & Development Corporation and the National Farmers’ Federation.

About CropLife
CropLife Australia (CropLife) is the peak industry organisation representing the agricultural chemical and biotechnology (plant science) sector in Australia.  CropLife represents the innovators, developers, manufacturers and formulators of crop protection and agricultural biotechnology products.  The plant science industry provides products to protect crops against pests, weeds and diseases, as well as developing crop biotechnologies that are key to the nation’s agricultural productivity, sustainability and food security. The plant science industry is worth more than $1.5 billion a year to the Australian economy and directly employs thousands of people across the country.

CropLife and its members are committed to the stewardship of their products throughout their lifecycle and to ensuring that human health, environment and trade issues associated with agricultural chemical use in Australia are responsibly and sustainably managed. Our member companies spend more than $13 million a year on stewardship activities to ensure the safe and effective use of their products. CropLife ensures the responsible use of these products through its mandatory industry code of conduct and has set a benchmark for industry stewardship through programs such as drumMUSTER, ChemClear® and Agsafe Accreditation and Training. Our stewardship activities demonstrate our commitment to managing the impacts associated with container waste and unwanted chemicals.