One of the established agricultural research conferences is back on tow.

Prof. Dr. Mathias Becker
, University of Bonn started by stating that he was sure topics titled such as “Iron Assimilation pathways are not the blockbusters” for participants to trail back year after year to this conference. He feels this year’s theme “Development on the margin” reflects the present scenario in the world very well with issues like soil degradation, inequality and so on being on the rise with globalisation aggravating the situation. This situation does not make the achievement of MDG’s easy. The worst hit due to these issues are the people living on the margins. It is one of the priority areas of the Federal Ministry of Economic Corporation and Development in Germany and hence Tropentag 2011 was strongly encouraged by the Federal Minister of BMZ, Dirk Niebel.

Just one day before the Tropentag 2011 conference in Bonn, Prof. Dr. Asch of the University of Hohenheim and Chair of ATSAF, pointed out his main ambitions for this year's conference. He encourages especially the opportunities for young scientists to get in touch with colleagues, get feedback on their research and find out about jobs.

Over 500 participants attended the welcome address of Tropentag. According to Prof. Mathias Becker, Chairman of organizing committee, the topic of Development on the Margin was chosen as a "top priority topic" aimed at helping to achieve the Millenium Development Goals. To be updated...

Tropentag is just two hours away now. All student reporters are ready to bring interesting updates as the conference progresses on the following events: At 13:00 is the welcome address by Prof. Dr. Christa E. Muller, Prorector, University of Bonn At 13:30 Gordon Conway from Imperial College London speaks on 'the double green revolution' At 14:00, Rattan Lal from the Ohio State University, USA, speaks on marginal soils. At 14:30 comes a talk on marginal people: "Surplus Youth" in the Global Taxonomy of Insidious Harm by Paul Richards from Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands Also, there is a guided poster session at 17:00 and a social gathering at 18:30 to wrap up the day's events.

Tropentag is a good platform for getting connected and to know about the various opportunities and current trends in agriculture and natural resource management research, according to three agricultural graduates from the University of Hohenheim. Master's student Dusenthi Manoharan thinks the conference is a good starting point for young researchers. She is presenting her work on a course module of Food Ethics in the Vulnerable People that she helped designed this year. As an advocate for Food Ethics her experience from last year’s theme "World Food System - A Contribution from Europe” in Zurich, Switzerland was contrary to the actual practicality during the conference meals.

With only one day to go, Professor Dr Asch, president of ATSAF, is looking forward to the event that can be seen as a ‘hub of discussion’. ‘We can cause shifting paradigms’. The German based organization ATSAF, the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research, is organizing the Tropentag this year and combines the expertise of development oriented agriculture research in the tropics and subtropics. With ‘people on the margin’ as a central theme of the Tropentag 2011, there are a lot of scientific issues that will stir up the debate and may be controversial. Asch: ‘I’m pretty sure that we will have a lot of interesting keynotes and discussions at the conference. How to empower people who are marginalized through globalization, climate change, food insecurity and life style, such as the nomadic ethnical groups? This will be an important discussion point.’ Food insecurity But there is more, according to Asch. ‘The debate about bio energy versus food will be controversial. Furthermore, there is a whole discussion going on about what the meaning is of food insecurity. Do we have to go to local smallholder decentralized systems or do we have to emphasis large production units? What are the benefits and constraints?’

International conferences, like Tropentag, are excellent platforms for scientific knowledge exchange, networking, and for talented new professionals to present themselves. At least this is the experience of Dr. Barbara Ramsperger, the Executive Manager of the center for Agriculture in the Tropics and Subtropics of the Univesity of Hohenheim. This experienced researcher also has advice for new and ambitious researchers: - If you have a poster, show what you have already done with confidence. Exploit your 3 minutes of fame! - Be proactive and don’t be afraid to approach people and talk to them - Participate in the conference activities that you’re interested in. Environmental issues in tropical countries have different dimensions: There are many researchers working with these issues from different perspectives, such as poverty and development. Tropentag brings together Universities, researchers, students, NGOs and other institutions and allows them to share their knowledge in several poster sessions, oral presentation, plenery sessions and social events.

In less than 24 hours Tropentag 2011 in Bonn will begin. This event is not only interesting for well-known speakers, but it’s also a unique opportunity for young scientists to present their research and meet with people from all over the world. This event will be covered by a group of 12 selected students of 11 different nationalities and 10 European universities. Last weekend, all student reporters arrived from different corners of Europe to attain two days of training session at the University of Hohenheim. After workshops such as ‘journalism ethics and standards’ and ‘how to catch attention’ by Mr. Florian Klebs from the Press Office of Hohenheim University, we got an introduction of the use of social media and trained on reporting skills. The next coming days, we will keep you updated on all the most important activities and outcomes of Tropentag 2011. What are the controversial issues around themes such as food security, biodiversity, climate change and development on the margin? We will help you to find out! You can read our blogs, watch our videos and look at the photographs that will be published on this website and social media. So follow us on Twitter and Facebook! We are ready, are you?