Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Greetings from southern Germany. You have probably heard about the extreme weather conditions and serious floods in the West and South of Germany and neighbour countries. At the same time we have seen extreme heat and extended fire events in North America. Not only farmers but also many other people suffer from these current catastrophees. But climate change may cause even greater damage in years to come.
All we, as breeders and farmers, can do is to develop varieties and agronomical practices better adapted to heat and drought stress. The coming Technical Meeting of GCIRC, organized by our friends in Poznan headed by Dr Iwona Bartkowiak will be an opportunity to exchange experiences in this matter and discuss possible ways to support the production of canola and rapeseed under extreme climates as experienced in Australia, Canada and other parts of the world.
In detail, this online meeting will focus on two issues, expected to be particularly important for the future of rapeseed/canola:
Sept. 28: Insect pest management in rapeseed: technical situation and research progress towards sustainable control (coordinated by Samantha Cook, Rothamsted).
Sept. 29: Rapeseed protein production and added value: research issues from agronomy to product quality and process (coordinated by Veronique Barthet, Winnipeg).
The final programme will be distributed in due time.
With best wishes,
Wolfgang Friedt, July 20th, 2021
