WMFmeetsIUPAC Belfast: Looking beyond horizons

Prof. Manfred Grasserbrauer of Vienna University, Austria opened the conference addressing one of the main challenges of the coming years: Climate change. “If we are continuing with ‘business as usual’, we are likely to encounter a doubling of annual CO2 emissions till 2100 and temperature will increase from now by 3.7 degrees. Leading to an unpredictable occurrence of mycotoxins.”

Can technology be party of the solution?

According to Prof. Josse De Baerdemaeker of KU Leuven, digitalisation of agriculture, so called agriculture 4.0, will assist in reducing the risk of mould contamination. “The Food Agricultural Organization of the United Nations has given recommendations for Good Agricultural Practices to reduce the risk for mycotoxins. Recommendations about soil, crops, weeds etc.. All these management measures can be connected to advanced technology, for better information processing and decision making.”

Or will vertical farming be the future?

A controlled environment that is less subject to variation in climate and pathogens. “Vertical farming provides faster and more precision production. One acre of vertical farming can provide a production equivalent to 10-20 acres of conventional production. Also the high levels of control will reduce the interaction between crops and pathogens,” according to Nigel D Scollan of Queen’s University, Belfast. Unfortunately, there is no research regarding mycotoxins in vertical farming systems.

During the coming days, WMFmeetsIUPAC will offer an programme with high-quality speakers, discussing strategies for prevention and control of mycotoxin contamination, protecting human an animal health.