From 4-8 September, Huesca hosted the prestigious international scientific meeting "International meeting on weed management in arid and semi-arid climates and weed management systems in vegetables."
Two work groups of the European Weed Research Society (EWRS) met for the first time at Huesca's Higher Polytechnic from 4-8 September. Under the title "International meeting on weed management in arid and semi-arid climates and weed management systems in vegetables," the aim was to allow researchers to share their experiences of weeds and their control, particularly in the cultivation of Mediterranean vegetable. It is one of the most important international meetings in the field of weed science, where the exchange of results and debate on the latest issues in the study of weeds is encouraged and promoted, with the accent on the development of new projects and networks.
The meeting was jointly organized by the European Weed Research Society, researchers Carlos Zaragoza and Alicia Cirujeda, together with technician Maria Leon of CITA Aragon, Sonsoles Fernandez-Cavada of the Department of Agriculture and the Environment of the government of Aragon, and Professor Joaquin Aibar of the University of Saragossa.
With the attendance of 50 scientists from Spain, Italy, France, Israel, Turkey, Hungary, Iran, United Kingdom, USA, Greece, India, Egypt, Jordan, Algiers, Serbia, Ghana and South Korea, 54 studies were presented, which goes to show the meeting's popularity among the scientific community.
The programme was divided into three main sessions: "Weed Biology, Ecology and Modelling," "Resistance to Herbicides and Integral Control in Vegetable Cultivation," and "Invasive Species and Parasites," in addition to a roundtable discussion on the subject of "Weed Biology in the Mediterranean" and tours of the area's vegetable farms.
For the first time a joint meeting took place between two work groups of EWRS, on the proposal of their coordinators Dr Baruch Rubin of the University of Rehovot (Israel) and Dr Euro Panacci of the University of Perugia (Italia).
The meeting was organized with support from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Research Department of the University of Saragossa, the Department of Agriculture and the Environment of the government of Aragon, the Centre of Agri-Food Research and Technology (CITA) and the Huesca Congress Foundation.
