SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

MONDAY 3rd DECEMBER

8:00 8:30 8:35 Coffee Introduction to Keynote Lecturer: Ada Rafaeli Keynote Lecture: Feeding 9 billion: Challenges and opportunities of producing and delivering food to the global table in a flatter, hotter, and more crowded 2050 Sonny Ramaswamy (Director, National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA), USDA, USA)

Session 1 (cont). IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY & YIELD

Chairmen: Shabtai Cohen & Sheenan Harpaz 14:00 Irrigation with desalinated water: Repercussions on plant nutrition and the environment Uri Yermiyahu (ARO, Israel) 14:20 The world revolution in olive oil cultivation: From extensive low yielding to intensive, highly productive cropping systems Arnon Dag (ARO, Israel) 14:40 Modifications of source-sink relationships lead to enhanced crop stress tolerance Eduardo Blumwald (University of California, Davis, USA) 15:20 Coffee Break 15:40 Remote estimation of crop biophysical characteristics: challenges and solutions Anatoly Gitelson (University of Nebraska Lincoln, USA) 16:20 Panel Discussion 1: Likelihood that agrotechnological means will enhance food production Moderator: Itamar Glazer Panel discussion leaders: Elias Fereres, Meni Ben-Hur, Avraham Meiri, Asher Bar-Tal, Sheenan Harpaz 17:20 Adjourn

Session 1. IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY & YIELD

Chairmen: Uri Mingelgrin & Shmulik Friedman 9:35 Desalination and Wastewater Reuse Technologies for Augmenting Drinking and Irrigation Water Supplies Menachem Elimelech (Yale University, USA)

10:15 Sugar Sensing and Water Saving David Granot (ARO, Israel) 10:35 Coffee Break 10:55 Improving water productivity in irrigated agriculture: Are we reaching the limits? Elias Fereres (Royal Academy of Engineering, Madrid, Spain) 11:35 Impact of irrigation and water quality on soil properties and plant response Shmuel Assouline (ARO, Israel) 11:55 Crop water use in green-houses and screenhouses Josef Tanny (ARO, Israel) 12:15 Lunch

TUESDAY 4th DECEMBER

8:00 Coffee

Session 2. REDUCING LOSSES DURING PRODUCTION & POSTHARVEST

Chairmen: Amnon Lichter & Murad Ghanim 8:30 Postharvest science and technology is essential for future food security Ian Ferguson (Plant and Food, New Zealand) The paradigm of intensifying the integration of natural enemies and pheromones as a strategy to face the rising new and old insect pest problems in Israel Zvi Mendel (ARO, Israel) The significance of epidemiological studies in developing rational disease management approaches Dani Shteinberg (ARO, Israel) Coffee Break

Session 3. BREEDING, GENOMICS & BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR ANIMAL & PLANT IMPROVEMENT
Chairmen: Ilan Paran & Hinanit Koltai 13:00 Developing plant varieties: Emerging technologies for crop (and animal) improvement relevant to agriculture in Israel and the global drylands Debbie Delmer (University of California, Davis, USA) 13:40 Genetic regulation of tomato fruit ripening: genes to genome to epigenome Jim Giovannoni (Cornell University, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, USA ) 14:20 Integrating molecular genetics and field data to understand how environmental conditions are relayed to fruit tree production Doron Holland (ARO, Israel) 15:00 Coffee break 15:20 Improving production and nutritional value of farmed seafood Sheenan Harpaz (ARO, Israel) 15:40 Genomic selection in dairy cattle and tilapia Micha Ron (ARO, Israel) 16:00 Discover, Innovate and Communicate Marc Van Montagu (Ghent University, Belgium) 16:40 Panel Discussion 3: Solutions to the Food Crisis: GMO versus classical breeding Moderator: Jonathan Gressel Panel discussion leaders: Dani Zamir, Avraham Levy, Jim Giovannoni, Debbie Delmer 17:15 Panel Discussion 4: Regulations and Policy relating to Genetically Modified Products as a solution for the projected Food Crisis Moderator: Yuval Eshdat Panel discussion leaders: Marc Van Montagu, Sinaya Netanyahu, Ofer Haviv, Ahud Gazit , Avichai Perl, Avi Israeli 18:10 Closing Remarks

9:10

9:30

9:50

10:10 How basic research of agricultural problems contributes to the reduction of postharvest losses Dov Prusky (ARO, Israel) 10:30 Panel Discussion 2: Technologies & solutions for developed and developing countries: what is the middle ground? Moderator: Samir Druby Panel discussion leaders: Yaacob Katan, Sonny Ramaswamy, Ian Ferguson, Dani Shteinberg, 11:30 Group Photo / Lunch

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Uri Zuk Bar, Yuval Eshdat , Moshe Flaishman, Shmulik Friedman, Abed Gera, Sheenan Harpaz, Amots Hezroni Yael Kahel, Hinanit Koltai, Amnon Lers, Amnon Lichter, Ilan Paran, Avichai Perl, Irit Prigojin, Ada Rafaeli

This program may be subject to changes