The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will host a major conference on plant breeding techniques to meet some of today’s biggest agricultural challenges, such as climate change, diseases and the need to feed a growing world population. The International Symposium on Plant Mutation Breeding and Biotechnology, jointly organized with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), will take place from 27 to 31 August in Vienna, Austria.
The event brings together hundreds of international experts in plant mutation breeding, genetics and biotechnology to review achievements, new developments, trends and challenges in the field, and to foster an exchange of information within the scientific community. Over the last 50 years, the IAEA and the FAO – through the Joint IAEA/FAO Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture – have played an important role in supporting Member States in the use of induced mutations to develop improved plant varieties, thus increasing productivity and sustaining crop biodiversity.
Topics to be discussed include emerging transboundary threats to crop production and progress in developing disease-resistant bananas and coffee – two top world commodities threatened by a deadly fungus. Experts will also review novel mutation breeding techniques to develop crops more tolerant to drought and soil salinity, better animal feed and the overall contribution and impact of mutant varieties on food security.
A detailed programme and additional information can be found on the conference website.
The event will take place in Board Room B/M1 and M2, M Building, at the Vienna International Centre.
The event is open to media.
Live video streaming will be available for the entire conference from Monday, 27 August, 10:30 a.m. Please note that the video stream will be broadcast on a view-only channel.
Some speakers will be available for interviews. Please contact the IAEA Press Office for more details.
Accreditation
All journalists are requested to inform the IAEA Press Office of their plans to attend. Journalists with permanent credentials to the VIC need no additional credentials. We encourage those journalists who do not yet have permanent accreditation, to request it at UNIS Vienna.
Others should contact the IAEA Press Office. Please email press@iaea.org or call [+43-1] 2600-21273.