Dear Sir/Madam,
As in many parts of the world, the pandemic CoronaVirus (COVID-19) cases are detected in Turkey in March and the Government started taking strict precautions as canceling flights to and from 14 countries, closing down restaurants and similar public gathering areas and canceling all meetings. This cancellation included the Ekoloji Fair and the 4th ABM Conference on Organic Agriculture and these activities are postponed to a later date.
As the organizers, we will inform you as soon as the date gets settled down. Your applications and the form of presentations will be reserved and take place in the program as they were decided previously. You will be contacted again for confirmation of the new date.
We thank you once more for your understanding and contribution to the event.
Please keep updated through our website and contact us if you have any further questions,
With my kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Uygun Aksoy
On behalf of the Organizers
The Mediterranean Basin and other regions of the World under Mediterranean climate conditions stand out with natural and agricultural biodiversity, which also shape the production capacity as well as the traditions and culture. Today, climate change, a global risk, and migratory movements more pronounced in the region create interrelated problems and require urgent solutions. In most countries, organic agriculture started more than 40 years ago by practitioners to find solution to face problems of intensive monocultures and heavy input-use. The first destination was either to supply organic food for the local community, or address the demands of enlarging European market. Research that followed practice currently feeds practice organic production and marketing. Domestic markets of organic food and non-food produce are now present in almost every country even if at variable degrees. The Mediterranean EU member states lead the production power of the European Union and California with a Mediterranean climate play the same role in the USA.
AgriBioMediterraneo (ABM) was established in 1990 as a regional initiative in Vignola, Italy to exchange experiences to further development of organic. It received recognition as an official IFOAM Regional Group in 1997. The IFOAM Mediterranean Regional Group aims to promote activities and discuss issues common to its members. The Conference will be an important step to further cooperation.
The Conference aims to bring together academia and practice in the Mediterranean as well as in regions where Mediterranean climate prevails. The participants will be able to discuss different facets of the threats to organic agriculture and deliver applicable solutions. The climate change issue is a major threat with high probability and high impact on land, water biodiversity and human resources, which in turn affects the system designs, production patterns, pest, disease, and weed prevalence, human resources, and the marketing channels of organic goods and services. The Mediterranean Sea is already a tragic symbol of migration. Migration whether domestic from rural to urban or to other countries, or from one continent to the other will be triggered with the climate change. Aging of the population especially in rural requires innovative solutions not only in agriculture but also in related fields. Organic agriculture with basic principles that favor health of the soil, plant, animal, human and planet as indivisible can bring solutions for agroecosystem management. Services brought by can be better preserved, managed and/or diversified. The Mediterranean diversity embeds healthy diets, culture and tourism as regional values. Sharing research results, experiences and best practices will contribute to identify the problems and threats, to discuss sustainability point of view, to derive applicable solutions and to establish cooperation for future networking.
The Conference is a two-day meeting composing of oral and poster presentations and panel discussions. The topics embrace but not limited to the following topics: organic primary production and processing of food and non-food commodities of plant and animal origin including aquaculture, wild harvest, policies and standards, inspection and certification, participatory guarantee systems, consumer preferences, markets, social and ethical issues, foot prints, nutrition and food safety, waste management, ecotourism and research and consultancy services.
The abstracts should not exceed 300 words and have maximum 5 keywords not included in the title. The abstract should explain how the content is related to a threat and/or a solution.
There will be 4 panel discussions on:
The participants may also send abstracts for the panel discussions.
The Conference is organized at the İzmir Fair (Gaziemir) Conference Hall, which also hosts three fairs as Ekoloji for organic products and services, Olivetech for olive and olive oil and Gastronomy during the same period. This creates an opportunity to visit stands and meet the exhibitors.
The Conference language will be English. Manuscripts of oral and poster presentations will be evaluated by the scientific committee, and those found suitable will be published in the Proceeding of the Conference. The Proceeding will be posted on ETO website and relevant websites for wider dissemination.
There will be optional pre- and post-conference tours to organic farms and processing plants and to touristic areas.