ICC-Austria organized the annual symposium together with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (DE abbr. BOKU), Department of Food Science and Technology. For the first time a further co-operation with the Department of Economics and Social Sciences enlarged the focus of the event in times of international grain supply shortfall on one side and increasing ecological and climate protection measures on the other.
Experts of the university and representatives of enterprises in the field of grain trade and processing gave an insight into this wide subject area. In the frame of eleven speeches the introduction started with a description of the national, European and global statistics of grain production, processing requirement and resulting stock on demand. Further topics focussed to the basis of agricultural production, the health of soil, further ecological farming and seed breeding, including the special subject of contract farming.
Referring to the interdependence of agricultural production and nutrition systems three further speeches described optional transformation scenarios. Climate change with draught, heat and incalculable weather situations forces farmers to changes of the agricultural management, as well as behaviour pattern of consumption and nutrition shows a resilient process. In the closing section of the symposium marketing aspects of changing bread consumption and at last legume-based proteins as ingredients in vegan food completed the arc of topics.
The positive feedback of 95 participants confirmed the importance of the subject of the symposium, motivating the board of ICC-Austria to organize further scientific events in this field.
