Potato growing and supply: reset post COVID and Brexit
15th-16th December 2020
2-day ticket: CUPGRA members £60, non-members £80
REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT
Registration is open for CUPGRA's 31st Annual Cambridge Potato Conference on 15th and 16th December 2020, being held for the first time as a hybrid real-virtual conference.
This year's conference title is Potato growing and supply: reset post COVID and Brexit, with speakers covering nutrition, climate science, future retailing, education, labour, soil and water resources, research strategy, breeding and storage on Day 1 and workshops on zoning field operations and virus control on Day 2. The conference is sponsored by Frontier Agriculture, Grimme UK and Syngenta and organised by NIAB CUF.
Conference organiser Dr Mark Stalham, Head of NIAB CUF, said: "After much discussion and planning by the CUPGRA Executive Committee, it was decided to go ahead with a hybrid real-virtual conference on 15th and 16th December 2020 to continue the unbroken run of 30 successful CUPGRA Cambridge Potato Conferences. A great line-up of speakers has been secured and the event looks set to maintain the high standards of previous years, albeit without the networking and dining opportunities that the real conference offer."
The presentations on Day 1 will be filmed live and go out online. Delegates will be able to access the video feed on PC, laptop and phone via a password supplied after registration. Each session will have all the speakers in the auditorium at the Sophi Taylor Building at NIAB Park Farm. These will be run by a Chair and a Facilitator, together with a small invited audience, allowing compliance with existing COVID restrictions on gatherings, but providing the feeling of a real event and promoting discussion. There will be a Q & A period at the end of each session where delegates will be able to submit written questions during the presentations which will be read out by the Chair.
Day 2 will be run as a Zoom event, with speakers presenting remotely. With the use of facilitators for each workshop, Dr Stalham hopes to allow verbal questions as well as written. Similar to Day 1, a remote login and password will be supplied to registered delegates.
