Announcement and Events
Autumn-school 2009: "Post-harvest technology and renewable energy" in Goettingen/ Hannover
The workshop in Chiang Mai in 2008 will be mainly focused on technical aspects of drying systems while the summer school in 2009 is thought to be a continuation of those aspects with deeper focus on the sources of the energy supply. Renewable energy sources will presumably gain more importance in future and therefore, those systems are intended to be main focus of the summer school. For the one- week school the arranged activities will combine (a) trainings in analytic experiments at the Department of Crop Science of University of Goettingen, (b) visits to subject-specific events, and (c) excursions to industrial plants. In addition to agricultural crops, the post-harvest processing of horticultural products will be subject of an informative lecture at the University of Hannover.
The time slot of the summer school offers Alumni/Alumnae the opportunity to visit the largest international trade fair for agricultural technology ‘Agritechnica’ in Hannover. Conservation technologies and the exploitation of renewable energy sources in agriculture will be hot topic and presented by a considerable number of exhibitors. In addition to the exhibition of modern technologies and industrial plants, the fair will offer excellent possibilities to get in deep discussion with experts coming from specific fields and to get in touch with the leading industry.
Ahead of the ‘Agritechnica’ the annual conference of the Max-Eyth Society of Agricultural Technology is hold in Hannover and will offer the possibility to get an overview on the latest scientific knowledge, especially in the field of renewable energy. Beside the visits of the fair ‘Agritechnica’ and the conference of the Max-Eyth Society several excursions to new and high-tech plants in the field of treatment and conservation processing of agricultural products as well as of renewable energy systems are planned.
For the next years an intensive development of the post-harvest technology is expected, thus the detailed program of the workshop in Kenya 2008 will be discussed among all participants at the end of the summer school to guarantee a training on the latest stage in that field.
Expert workshop for international alumni: “Ensuring Food Quality within the Value-Added Chain: Demands under Global Conditions”at the Georg-August-University Goettingen (Germany)
New research results in the field of food quality were in the focus of the expert seminar during the 21st – 25th July 2008 in Goettingen. The volatile nature of this topic, also for the end consumer, results among others from continuously occurring food scandals like the contamination of cereals with nitrofen, the pollution of wine with glycol, or eggs contaminated with salmonellae.
The implementation of the EU regulation EC No 178/2002 will lead to serious changes in the processing and trade of food. To those belong a sophisticated quality management, the traceability of products, higher demands on hygiene during harvest, transport, storage and processing, up to the adequate adaptation of machines. Furthermore, effects on the food consumption are also expected.
The aim of the expert seminar was to discuss the consequences of the above mentioned regulations and to conclude need for action, considering the increasing expansion and more intensive international cross linking within the area of food production and processing, both for European countries and countries importing to Europe. The harmonization of fields of research and an accordingly exchange of experiences among involved scientists, politicians and representatives from the private sector are also aimed.
The participants of the seminar came from Benin, Brasil, China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Sudan, Spain and Thailand. The seminar included lectures from experts from research units of the university (Departments of Crop and Animal Sciences, of Agronomy and Rural development, respectively), federal research units (Max-Rubner-Insitute, Detmold), the German Institute of Food Technology and the private sector (Nordzucker AG, Braunschweig) as well as an excursion to a potato processing factory. Contributions from the alumni were also presented and led to intensive exchange of knowledge among the participants.
Workshop 2007: "Drying methods and post-harvest technologies" at the Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai (Thailand)
The final discussion among the Alumni/Alumnae during a DAAD-workshop at the Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai (Thailand) in 2007 pointed at the high need for a continuous update on economic aspects of post-harvest technologies. Thermal methods for conservation and storage of agricultural and horticultural products gain more and more importance as the quality standards of the end products increase. Therefore, a DAAD-workshop about drying methods and post-harvest technologies was carried out within the GAFooN during 27. February until 5th March 2008 at the Chiang Mai University in Thailand. This workshop was initiated in order to offer practice-orientated knowledge and trainings for alumni and provided a valuable platform to set up and expand a South-South network connecting South-East Asia and West / East Africa. The participants of the workshops came from Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.
During the workshop several excursions were conducted, e.g. to the Central Laboratory, the Singha Brewery and Talaad Thai (agricultural wholesale market) in Bangkok and to companies in the Chiang Mai areas, as the Chiangmai Beverage, Premium Foods and a longan drying factory. Those companies are experienced in various drying and post-harvest processing. Beside the practical part of the workshop, also lectures were hold at the Post-harvest Technology Institute (Chiang Mai University) on the issue of drying technologies. Also the alumni presented their current research in the area of drying methods and post-harvest technology. The workshop offered an excellent possibility for an intensive knowledge exchange among the participants of the different countries.