Farm base serves up healthy dose of events

The 2015 World Potato Congress, as well as three other major agriculture conferences, is currently being held in Yanqing county, Beijing's main agricultural base.

About 3,000 researchers, entrepreneurs, government officials and growers in the potato industry from more than 30 countries are showing up for the world's top potato event, presented by the World Potato Congress Inc, based in Canada, every three years since 1993.

Apart from the three-day congress, Yanqing is also hosting three other activities: the China International Potato Industry Expo, the China Potato Congress and a seminar on the development of potatoes as a staple food. The events take place from July 25 to 30.

The WPC, which features exchanges of technologies, trade cooperation and exhibitions, has been held in Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, China's Yunnan province, the United States and New Zealand.

China has its own congress on the potato industry, aptly called the China Potato Congress, which has been held annually since 2006. Agricultural trade is a major component of the conference.

It evolved out of an annual conference from the Crop Science Society of China, which dates back to 1998.

The event aims to promote the sustainable development of the potato industry in China through research, communications about agricultural technologies and marketing.

The meeting has been held in the main potato production regions of China, which includes Beijing, Shaanxi and Heilongjiang provinces as well as the Ningxia Hui and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions.

The China International Potato Industry Expo was launched in 2010 and has attracted more than 200 enterprises and thousands of visitors from home and abroad. Expo officials said the event has played an important role in strengthening industrial cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises.

The International Seminar on Potato Staple Food and Industry Development discusses developments in the potato food industry, the nutritional value of the tuber, how to sustainably grow, process and consume it, and the opportunities and challenges within the industry.

The event will have various exhibitions about how to cook a potato and inform attendees how dietary structures can improve by eating potatoes as a staple food.

Yanqing county is hosting this year's World Potato Congress after county officials attending the eighth WPC in Britain in 2012 expressed their wishes to host this year's event. On July 22, after a long vetting process, WPC Inc's inspection team agreed to allow Yanqing the right to host the congress.

The events cover all aspects of the industry, from genetic breeding, production and processing, to sales and promotion, to developing international cooperation and exchanges about the development of the industry.

Many experts, including Barbara Wells, director-general of the International Potato Center; Percy Misika, United Nations' food and agriculture representative in China; Cedric Porter, managing editor of World Potato Markets; Jin Liping, chief scientist of China's Potato Research System; and Ke Bingsheng, president of China Agricultural University, are attending the events.

The China International Potato Industry Expo has attracted 195 enterprises this year, 42 of which are international companies such as Bayer, DuPont, Syngenta and BASF.

The expo has nearly 450 booths in a 15,000-squre-meter exhibition hall.

The WPC is also a bridge of cooperation between Yanqing and Zhangjiakou, a neighboring city to the north of Hebei province.

Yanqing and Zhangjiakou will sign a cooperation framework agreement during the WPC. In the deal, Yanqing will test and promote its potato breeds in the agricultural parks of Zhangjiakou.

liyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/28/2015 page7)