Dr. Klaus Erdle

| Division Manager Plant Production and Field Operations, DLG e.V. (German Agricultural Society), Germany


Moderator

Dr. Klaus Erdle, Division Manager Plant Production and Field Operations, DLG e.V. (German Agricultural Society), Germany

Sebastian Smija

| Area Sales Manager for Asia and Oceania, Fliegl Agrartechnik GmbH, Germany


Topic: “Manure Application for Improved Nutrient Management in Crops”

 

 

Mr. Sebastian Smija, Area Sales Manager for Asia and Oceania, Fliegl Agrartechnik GmbH, Germany

Sebastian Smija studied industrial management at the University of Passau, after graduating high-school and finishing military service. Graduated of business administration with a focus on distribution management and trade, as well as business English.

After studying: 1.5 years trainee program at the Tengelmann Group in the division of distribution management. Working at Fliegl since 2007, 4 years of that as the area sales manager in Spain at Fliegl Iberica S. L. From 2011 until now as the Area Sales Manager for Asia and Oceania at Fliegl Agrartechnik GmbH in Mühldorf am Inn

Claudia Ebach

| Christine Zimmerman-Loessl, Chairwoman, Association for Vertical Farming e.V


 

 

Christine Zimmerman-Loessl,

has a background based on studying political science, sinology and philosophy at Munich University – which was the starting point for her interest in international work. She has worked in different Asian countries which has given her experience and deeper insight in the culture and people. In Germany, she benefited from this as a project manager for risk analysis and crisis management. Networking was always easy for Christine and she founded the Asia Network Information Center – combining her talents for projects, research and ideas. Later on, as the representative for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in China, she took responsibility in different areas and led a German-Chinese Management Institute, initiated environmental protection and poverty alleviation projects, as well as engaged in women’s programs.

Christine was inspired by her son’s interests in Vertical Farming and got involved. She was able to use all of her experiences and networking skills to found with a group of like minded young people the first nonprofit in the world – the Association for Vertical Farming (AVF) in 2013, since then she is acting as the chairwoman of AVF . “Through AVF we are raising awareness and building a network of like-minded people for the implementation of Vertical Farming around the world”.

 

Naveen Kulkarni

| Abiotic Stress Management & New Technology Lead, Product Biology, APAC, Syngenta Crop Protection Limited


Topic: Improving Sugarcane Yields Through New Technologiesy

Mr. Naveen Kulkarni, Abiotic Stress Management & New Technology Lead, Product Biology, APAC, Syngenta Crop Protection Limited

 

Dr. Pipat Weerathaworn

| Committee for Agricultural and Biological Research Group, National Research Council of Thailand; Thai Bioplastics Industry Association (TBIA)


Topic: Innovation and Changes of the Southeast Asian Sugar Industry

Dr. Pipat Weerathaworn, Committee for Agricultural and Biological Research Group, National Research Council of Thailand; Thai Bioplastics Industry Association (TBIA)

Dr. Pipat Weerathaworn obtained his doctorate from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. He worked in various research organizations both public and private on research aspects and modern technologies. He was a researcher in Kasetsart University, the vice president for R&D at Mitrphol, the biggest sugar company in Thailand, the vice president for Green Business Development at PTT Global Chemicals Company (PLC), and nominated as the president of the Thai Bio-plastics Industry Association (TBIA) in 2011.
Now, he has been retired and still being the honorary president of TBIA, consultant, committee and reviewer for research projects of various organizations in Thailand.

 

Abstract:

Economic growth and population is increased in SE-Asia, the sugar-imported region. The government of SE-Asia has been announcing the sufficient policy in sugar industry. Therefore, sugar industries have to be developed and increasing efficiency and productivity. Sugar, the food additive, is one of the products from Sugarcane, an industrial crop. The new technologies mechanization and others modern agriculture has been studied. However, environmental conditions, enterprises and farmers are different among countries. Only, the appropriated technology has to be adopted for the achievement.

Dr. Wolfgang Pfeiffer

| Director – Asia, Research & Development, HarvestPlus


Topic: Catalyzing biofortified food systems with partners in supply chain and market development

 

 

Dr. Wolfgang H. Pfeiffer, Director – Asia, Research & Development, HarvestPlus  

HarvestPlus works with 400+ research and implementation partners to tackle hidden hunger globally by breeding iron, zinc and vitamin A into staple food crops, in building food systems through inclusive, sustainable markets. To date, 200+ biofortified varieties in 30+ countries, reached 40+ million at-risk consumers. An action-oriented agenda scaling biofortification spans the value chain with its multidisciplinary network of expertise. Scaling innovation requires focus on building demand, markets, and supply chains, engaging the public and private sectors to overcome deployment challenges.

Dr. Pfeiffer is a project manager and scientist with 37 years of experience in crop improvement, commercialization, and international agriculture. He has been with HarvestPlus for over 15 years, serving in a variety of capacities, including Global Director of Product Development & Commercialization and Plant Breeding Coordinator. During his time with HarvestPlus, Dr. Pfeiffer has led HarvestPlus through the initial phases of gene discovery, product development, and commercialization, while expanding organizational capacity and building an interdisciplinary global alliance of research and implementation partners.

Mr. Roland Treitler

| Project Director – German International Cooperation (GIZ)


Topic: Financial Innovation for Mitigation Measures in the Agricultural Sector

Mr. Roland has built the foundation of profound understanding of market forces and dynamics, arbitrage opportunities and risk management by 15 years of experience in the Capital Market trading Derivatives. The combination of experiences in the Capital Market as well as the environmental / agricultural sectors lead me to several financial innovations in these sectors. The most recent ones are the Revolving Fund Structure for introducing new technologies in the agriculture sector, an incentive scheme for Ecosystem Services (Intrinsic Ecological Value) and a Concept for a Cryptocurrency for Natural Capital.

The fund’s objective is to promote the spread of climate-friendly agriculture extension services like Laser Land Levelling (LLL) to Thai rice farmers using an innovative financial mechanism. Once LLL service delivery is complete, service providers are paid by the fund thereby taking farmer credit risk out of the transaction equation. Farmers subsequently repay the fund in 3 instalments. The fund pays service providers an amount less per hectare than what it charges farmers. The differential is retained by the fund to continue the capitalization of the fund for growth so that the fund can provide more climate-friendly services to farmers going forward.