International Symposium on Improvement of Nutrient Use Efficiency under Zero Growth of Chemical Fertilizers in China was held in Beijing

March 16-18, 2016 - International symposium on improvement of nutrient use efficiency under zero growth of chemical fertilizers in China was held in Friendship Hotel, Beijing. The International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning (IARRP), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), and the Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Science jointly organized this symposium. Professor & Dr. Huajun TANG, Vice President of CAAS, expressed warmly wishes to the symposium. Dr. Ping He, IPNI China Program Director, representing the organizing committee chaired the opening session. Dr. Quanbao YE, Deputy Division Chief of American and Oceania Affairs, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, made the opening address. Dr. Minggang XU, Deputy Director General, IARRP, CAAS gave a welcome speech. Dr. Adrian Johnston, IPNI Vice President, make a speech representing IPNI. Dr. Wei ZHOU, Vice President of Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Science presented the opening session.

The symposium has two plenary presentations talking about the solutions or strategies to improve nutrient use efficiency. In each of the five sessions including nutrient management on cereal crops, cash crops, vegetables, fruit trees and new fertilizer technology, the invited keynote speakers talked about advances and experience in developed countries on improvements in nutrient use efficiency, followed by Chinese speakers from a comparable China scenario. Through the overall 31 presentations in the above fives sessions, the conference formed the BEIJING DECLARATION aiming to provide the solutions to improve nutrient use efficiency, which is the program theme of this symposium.

At the opening session, Nutrient Expert for Rice and Soybean, Nutrient Expert for Wheat based on ipad and iphone was launched. User can free download from the website. IPNI Scholar Award was also presented to the four winners of the graduate students.

The conference attracted great attention from different parts of the world and was attended by 300 participants, from USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Germany, France, Russia, and China, representing government, academic, extension and industry representatives from 110 different organizations.

The Canpotex International Limited, and the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) have provided financial support and other coordination.