here are some pictures of the day. enjoy. get your bag get some fruit get connected get started

Welcome to the 17th Tropentag, the conference for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural and Natural Resource Management! This year hosted by the Humboldt University in Berlin, it is brimming with participants from many countries and from all different backgrounds and experiences. Continue...

Tropentag is a fantastic opportunity for young researchers to not only present their findings, but also to try their hands at communicating the exciting science gathered here from around the world. This year we have student reporters from Nigeria, Italy, the Philippines, Germany, the United States, Thailand, Kenya, the Netherlands, and Rwanda. Get the latest updates here on the blog, and through our social media channels: Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

Participants of Tropentag 2014, I hope you feel accomplished. With the wealth of excellent and groundbreaking work presented this year, it looks like we’re indeed one step forward in “bridging the gap between increasing knowledge and decreasing resources”. As we settle back in our home universities and institutes to catch up on work and resume our routines, it’s also perhaps a good time to reflect on what happens next. Conferences are great, but why end at the conference? I found Dr. Richard Hall’s plenary speech, “Orienting and Keeping Scientific Research for Development On Track”, a timely reminder of what it is we conduct research for. Even at conferences such as Tropentag, where researchers address urgent issues of climate change and food security, “applied research” doesn’t necessarily translate to real change on the ground. Scientists don’t have the power or resources to implement policies, or to organise extension programs for farmers – that’s someone else’s responsibility. Or so we argue. Read more

For more, you can also access the blog post and part I of the video.

You might wonder why, as a long-time vegetarian, I am writing on a topic that so blatantly opposes my own dietary inclinations. Yet, the topic of the keynote address given by Louwrens Hoffman at Tropentag’s closing plenary is exactly why I must. Though many choose vegetarianism in response to animal welfare issues or because they “love” animals too much to eat them, consuming few or no animal products is a growing response to an unsustainable system of meat production. The livestock sector accounts for 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and contributes to soil erosion and freshwater pollution. At the same time, over a quarter of the Earth’s land surface is not suitable for growing crops, yet could support livestock. (Continue...)

“Gender” has become quite a buzzword in development circles these days. This is increasingly evident with prominent publications by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the emergence of the new UN Women. Though at the moment this topic may be en vogue, the long-time neglected issues related to gender are important blocks missing in the bridge from agricultural research to practice. It was therefore encouraging to see several posters at this year’s Tropentag conference conveying the multi-faceted nature of gender-sensitive approaches and issues. (Continue...)

Michael Hauser: “we are dealing with a systemic challenge” by Juan José Egas Video Interview