The Soil Health and Modern Plant Nutrition Techniques event, organized in partnership with EIT Food and Yaşar University through the “Nati00ns” project has been completed successfully! The event was held in Altın Yunus Hotel, Çeşme, İzmir, on 16 May 2024 . The Molen PI Dr. Umut Toprak delivered a talk on “New Generation Biopesticides and Biotechnology” and introduced some of the novel technologies (dsRNA, venom, microbial based biopesticides) in pest management and the new generation biopesticides (baculovirus, venom and dsRNA) developed in Molen!
The event started with the opening ceremony and talks of Mr. Ahmet Yiğitbaşı, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Yaşar University, Prof. Dr. Levent Kandiller, President of Yaşar University, and Prof. Dr. İsmail Türkan , Dean of Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies and Ms. Paula Hafner on behalf of EIT Food. The event continued with the scientific sessions. In Session 1, Ms. Çınar Adalı Öner (National Contact Point for Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment, TUBITAK) gave a talk on “EU Mission “Soil Health for Europe” and Key Features of Living Laboratories”, Paula Hafner (EIT Food) spoke on “Soil Health Call and NATI00NS Support Tools”, and Prof. Dr. İsmail ÇAKMAK (Sabancı University) spoken on “Agronomic and Genetic Solutions to Reduce Hidden Hunger in Humans”. In Session 2, the MOLEN PI Prof. Dr. Umut Toprak spoke on “New Generation Biopesticides and Biotechnology”, Mr. Yener Mercanköşk ( Izmir Commodity Exchange) spoke on “Agriculture and Living Lab Concept in the Digital Future”, and Prof. Dr. İsmail Türkan (Yaşar University) spoken on “A New Approach to Plant Nutrition: Nanomaterials”.. Session 3 inluded “The Role of Vermiculture and Use of Active (Beneficial) Microorganism Products in Soil Fertility and Pest Control Methods in Organic Agriculture” by Dr. Fariz Alekberov (Azerbaijan State Agricultural University), “The Importance of Rotational Planting in Protecting the Soil and Increasing its Productivity” by Dr. Dünya İsayeva (Azerbaijan State Agricultural University) and “Land and Plant Health” by Melissa Commellas (EIT Food). The final session included “Geographic Information Systems in Improving Soil and Crop Productivity” by Beti Barki (Doktar), “Institution-Producer and Entrepreneur Collaborations on Soil Health” by Şeref İyiuyarlar (Farmer), “90th Anniversary of Accreditation in Agricultural Higher Education” by Prof. Dr. Gökhan Söylemezoğlu (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Education Programs of Agricultural Faculties (ZİDEK) & Ankara University) and “Global Climate Change and Biotechnology in Agriculture” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özhan ŞİMŞEK (Erciyes University). The event was closed with a gala dinner in Alaçati! Thank you all organizing such a spectacular event!
