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1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology

10–25 Feb 2022

Crop Productivity, Livestock Production, Genetics, Pest Management, Soil Management, Water Management, Agriculture Engineering, Agricultural Economics and Policy, Ecosystem Services
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IOCAG 2022 has now come to a close!

A huge thank you for our Chairs, Committee Members, Speakers, and Participants, for making this conference a great success!
The recordings of live sessions are available on the website. Feel free to watch them.Electronic Certificates of Attendance are available upon request. Please email the conference secretariat to receive yours.
See you all at the next edition!

Winners Announcement ------ Best Paper Award, Best Poster Award and Best Presentation Award

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Best Paper, Best Poster Award and Best Presentation Award.

The Best Paper Award has been granted to:

Peanut Lines for People with Foodborne Disorders

https://sciforum.net/paper/view/12221

Sachin Rustgi

The Best Poster Award has been granted to:

EcoChestnut Learning Model: A Complex and Adaptive System and Process of Change

https://sciforum.net/paper/view/12265

, ,

The Best Presentation Award has been granted to:

The potential of the application of Phytoremediation derived Biomass for Energy production

Ana Marques

Each contribution will receive 500 CHF, We would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Welcome from the Chairs

Dear Colleagues:

It is a pleasure to announce the 1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology (IOCAG2022). This e-conference is organized by Agriculture, a peer-reviewed open access international journal of MDPI (2020 impact factor 2.925). IOCAG2022 will be held online (Sciforum) from February 10 to 25 in 2022.

Agriculture was a major development in human history, leading to the rise and flourishing of civilization. It plays a critical role in human society, serving as the backbone of the economic system. Modern agriculture provides the raw materials for most of the world’s food and for many industrial products, including textiles. Significant scientific and technological advances over the years have led to great increases in agricultural productivity as well as to reducing environmental impacts. Nevertheless, agricultural systems of the future face huge challenges in balancing and optimizing productivity and profitability against stewardship of ecosystems and natural resources. This conference will provide an online open forum for agricultural scientists and engineers to discuss these challenges and share their latest research achievements in agricultural science and technology. Topics of the conference will be organized around the following sessions:

  • Crop Production
  • Farm Animal Production
  • Delivering Genetic Gains through Breeding with Appropriate Genotype Evaluation
  • Zero-pollution Solutions in Crop Protection
  • Agricultural Soils
  • Agricultural Technology: State of the Art and Future Prospects
  • Life Cycle Assessment of Agricultural and Agro-food Aystems
  • From Field to Consumers: Challenges and Approaches to High-Quality Agricultural Products
  • Challenges of Agriculture and Rural Development Sectors in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030
  • Smart Farming: From Sensor to Artificial Intelligence
  • Agricultural Systems and Management
  • Agricultural Water Management
  • Seed Science and Technology
  • Poster Session

This online IOCAG2022 Conference will bring together researchers from all over the world without concerns over travel or other related expenditures. The Conference will feature live-streamed webinars and will include both invited speakers and contributed speakers selected from submissions received. The webinars will contain a Q&A session to for live online audiences.

Participation in and “attendance” at IOCAG2022 will be free of charge.

The conference invites submissions of abstracts, which will be reviewed by the conference committee. Authors of accepted contributions will be invited to submit a proceedings paper, a slide presentation, a poster and/or a video presentation of their work. All participants will have the opportunity to examine, explore and critically engage with research findings published in Sciforum during the conference.

All accepted proceedings papers will be published in the proceedings of this e-conference within a dedicated issue of the MDPI journal Proceedings. In addition, all participants will be encouraged to submit a full paper to one dedicated Special Issue in Agriculture with a 20% discount on the Article Processing Charges (APC).

I hope that you will join this e-conference to exchange ideas, start fruitful collaborations, and make the IOCAG2022 a great success.

Best regards,

Prof. Bin Gao

Chair, IOCAG2022

Conference Secretariat

Ms. Leda Xuan
Ms. Miguel Zhou
Ms. Rebecca Lian

Registration | Live Session

Welcome! You are invited to join in IOCAG 2022 | Live Session.

It is totally free to attend. You only need to register for the live session you want to join in. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. The number of participants to the live session is limited but the recording will be made available on Sciforum shortly afterwards.

  • Live session 1 is on 11 February 2022 at 9:30am CET. You register by clicking the button:
  • Live session 2 is on 23 February 2022 at 9:00am CET. You register by clicking this button:
  • Live session 3 is on 25 February 2022 at 9:00am CET. You register by clicking this button:

Thanks for following our detailed session program. They will be released soon.

Live Session Program

There will be three live sessions, held on 11 Feb 2022 at 9:30am,

23 Feb 2022 at 9:00am and 25 Feb 2022 at 9:00am.

The detailed program is listed below. Please keep updated with this.

IOCAG 2022 | Live Session 1 11 Feb 2022 at 9:30am
Chaired by Prof. Dr. Daniel Tan

TIME

CETCentral European Time

Speaker

Title

9:30 - 11:30

chair

Introduction

9:30 - 9:40

Prof. Dr. Daniel Tan

Opening of Webinar

9:40 - 10:05

Prof. Dr. Martin Weih

Nutrient limitation of crop yield and the agro-ecological sustainability challenge

10:05 - 10:15

Discussion and Q&A

10:15 – 10:40

Prof. Dr. Renata Bažok

Resistance of the sugar beet flea beetle (Chaetocnema tibiallis Illiger) to pyrethroids - a growing problem in sugar beet cultivation

10:40 - 10:50

Discussion and Q&A

10:50 - 11:15

Dr. Ana Marques

The potential of the application of Phytoremediation derived Biomass for Energy production

Discussion and Q&A

IOCAG 2022 | Live Session 2 23 Feb 2022 at 9:00am
Chaired by Dr. Francesco Marinello

CET

Speaker

Title

9:00 - 11:00

chair

Introduction

9:00 - 9:10

Dr. Francesco Marinello

Opening of Webinar

9:10 - 9:40

Dr. Paolo Barsocchi and Dr. Manlio Bacco (Dr. Paolo Barsocchi: 9:10-9:25; Dr. Manlio Bacco: 9:25-9:40)

Digitalization of agriculture: data collection and networks

9:40 - 9:50

Discussion and Q&A

9:50 – 10:15

Dr. Yang Li

Artificial intelligence for agriculture

10:15 - 10:25

Discussion and Q&A

10:25 – 10:50

Dr. Francesco Marinello

From data to precision farming practice

Discussion and Q&A

IOCAG 2022 | Live Session 3 25 Feb 2022 at 9:00am
Chaired by Dr. Jacopo Bacenetti

TIME

CETCentral European Time

Speaker

Title

9:00 - 11:30

chair

Introduction

9:00 - 9:10

Dr. Jacopo Bacenetti

Opening of Webinar

9:10 – 9:35

Prof. Dr. Ilaria Marotti and Prof. Dr. Giovanni Dinelli (Prof. Dr. Ilaria Marotti: 9:10-9:23; Prof. Dr. Giovanni Dinelli: 9:23-9:35)

Climate change adaptation/mitigation: the role of agricultural practices and Life Cycle Assessment

9:35 – 10:00

Prof. Dr. Martin Caraher

Food insecurity and Equity: a necessary, but neglected aspect, of life cycle analysis

10:00–10:25

Dr. Michele Zoli

Life Cycle Assessment of an alternative water management to reduce the environmental impact of Italian rice cultivation

10:25-10:50

Dr. Michele Costantini

Carbon credits system in the dairy sector: possibilities and challenges. An Italian case study

10:50-11:15

Prof. Dr. Sachin Rustgi (recorded video)

Reduced-immunogenicity wheat and peanut lines for people with foodborne disorders

Discussion and Q&A

Live Session Recordings

To view this content, you need to be registered and logged in to Sciforum platform.

List of accepted submissions (131)

Id Title Authors Presentation Video Poster PDF
sciforum-054354 Monitorization through precision agriculture of a rice (Oryza sativa L.) culture production in Ribatejo region , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , N/A Poster PDF Show Abstract
sciforum-054400 FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN TRACEABILITY: A multiple case study from Alto Tietê Region, Brazil

, ,

Submitted: 29 Oct 2021

Abstract: Show Abstract
, , Video Thumbnail Poster PDF Show Abstract
sciforum-055607 Antioxidant Capacity with Physical Property Variations of Morinda citrifolia L. Juice in Traditional Fermentation , , , N/A Poster PDF Show Abstract
sciforum-052227 Molecular investigations about the Peach post-harvest ripening processes and VOCs biosynthesis pathways: a review focused on integrated genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches , , N/A Poster PDF Show Abstract
sciforum-053960 Fertilizer management strategy to reduce global warming potential and improve soil fertility in a Nitisol in Southwestern Ethiopia , , N/A Poster PDF Show Abstract

Invited Speakers

Department for Agricultural Zoology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Introduction
Talk
Resistance of the sugar beet flea beetle (Chaetocnema tibiallis Illiger) to pyrethroids - a growing problem in sugar beet cultivation
Bio
Renata Bažok, is full professor who has worked for 27 years in high education. She coordinated the specialist study program in Plant Medicine, undergraduate study program in Plant Protection and graduate study program in Plant Medicine. She was involved with three specializations granted by USDA/ARS, Cochran and Fullbright fellowship. She was involved in two TEMPUS projects and she coordinated one other TEMPUS project (544595-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-HR-TEMPUS-JPHES). She was an investigator in two USDA/CRO projects and in several national scientific projects. She was the principal investigator in three national scientific projects, and the National Training Coordinator of the FAO Project (GTFS/RER/017/ITA). She coordinated one structural project financed jointly by the EU and Croatia (IPA 2007/HR/16IPO/001-040511) and one project aimed at developing human potential in Plant Medicine (ESF project). She was a principal investigator of the project founded by the Croatian science foundation related to pest resistance to insecticides. Currently, she coordinates one capacity-building Erasmus+ project on PhD study programmes in Plant Health and is the national leader of three Erasmus+ strategic partnership projects related to the development of innovative teaching methods for sustainable entrepreneurship, education and food system sustainability, as well as on developing training tools for education for plant protection in organic farming. Her R&D competences are in applied entomology, integrated pest management, plant protection, and phytopharmacy. Under her mentorship, five students have completed their dissertations. Currently, she is mentoring five PhD students. Since 1993, she has conducted research on integrated control of Colorado potato beetle, wireworms, sugar beet pests, oilseed rape pests, western corn rootworm and other maize pests. Her publication record ranges from 120 referred journal articles and # 200 miscellaneous (Web of Science Index Expanded – SCI-Expanded, 62 articles, 440 total citations:, h-index: 12; Scopus, 70 articles, total citations: 522, h-inde

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy

Introduction
Talk
Climate change adaptation/mitigation: the role of agricultural practices and Life Cycle Assessment
Bio
Giovanni Dinelli (Ph.D.) is currently a full professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna (Italy), working in organic farming, agro-ecology, and studying the effect of agricultural practices and environmental factors on the quality of agricultural production. Specifically, his expertise is nourished by his research activities regarding the impact of agricultural management on ecosystems, the effects of agricultural practices on biodiversity, and the relationship between the use of agricultural technical tools and environmental pollution. In the last decade, his activities have mainly focused on organic farming, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between agricultural practices and the nutritional/functional properties of organic foodstuffs. He increased his job-related skills through working on/leading various European projects of the 7th Framework Program, Horizon 2020, LIFE+ and EIT-FOOD. The scientific production consists of more than 200 published papers, including 137 papers in international journals with an impact factor (1990-2021). His h-index is 37.

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Ilaria Marotti (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, of the University of Bologna (Italy). Her research interests and main field of expertise are the study of resilient agro-ecology approaches in plant productivity and quality, with a particular focus on bioactive compounds from food and non-food crops (cereals, legumes, medicinal and aromatic plants) cultivated in sustainable agro-ecosystems. She has co-authored more than 60 scientific papers in international journals indexed by WoS and Scopus, as well as monographies, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. She also serves as an editorial board member of two international scientific journals covering agriculture and food subjects. In 2012, she received the sixth Montana Prize for Agri-food Research (category: Nutrition and Health). Research Interests: medicinal and aromatic plants; food crops; agrobiodiversity; sustainable cropping systems; organic farming; natural products; phytochemicals; nutraceuticals; essential oils; bioactivity assays; bioactive compounds

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Francesco Marinello is an Associate Professor at the Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Padova (Italy). After his PhD in precision engineering and metrology, he was jointly supervised by the Technical University of Denmark (Lingby, Denmark), and he spent two years at the InterUniversity Center for Nanotechnologies (Venice, Italy) and two years at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland). Since 2012, he has been a researcher at the University of Padova, and since 2017, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia (Athens, USA): he is responsible for the courses in “Agricultural Mechanics”, “Precision Farming”, “Applied Statistics”, “Sustainable resource-efficient food production and processing” and “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agriculture”. Marinello was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of the journal Agriculture (Digital Technologies section).

College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shihezi University, Xinjiang, China

Introduction
Bio
Yang Li is a lecturer at the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Shihezi University (China). His research interests include machine learning, few-shot learning, data mining, image processing, precision agriculture and quality assessment. In these areas, he has published more than 20 technical articles in highly ranked journals, focusing in particular on specific applications of artificial intelligence in agriculture, e.g., in plant diseases, pests, classification and phenotyping. Yang Li has been an active peer reviewer for dozens of flagship journals and has served as a Guest Editor for Special Issues mainly related to machine learning. His research has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Dept. of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Introduction
Bio
Martin Weih is a professor of plant ecology and the eco-physiology of agricultural crops. The main research focus of his lab is on 'Plant Genotype and Environment Interplay in Crop Production'. His major research activities focus on improving the yield and ecological sustainability (e.g., resource use efficiency) of agricultural crops grown for food, feed and biomass. He also evaluates how genetic variations with respect to specific traits or functions of plants (e.g., different species or varieties, including genetically modified plants) affect other functions of the same plant and the ecosystem in which it is grown.

Portuguese Catholic University, Oporto, Portugal

Introduction
Bio
Ana Marques is a researcher at CBQF (Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina) from the Portuguese Catholic University, in Oporto, Portugal, working in the remediation of disturbed soils using plant-based technologies. The importance and quality of her work is reflected in the following indicators: cited 620 times with an h-index of 14. More recently Ana is interested in the perspective of using biomass resulting from such remediation processes for energetic purposes and on the evaluation of the sustainability of these pathways.

Institute of Science and Information Technologies (ISTI), National Research Council (CNR), Pisa

Introduction
Bio
Manlio Bacco received his PhD degree in Information Engineering and Science from the University of Siena, Italy, in 2016. Since 2012, he has worked as a researcher at the Institute of Science and Information Technologies (ISTI), National Research Council (CNR), Pisa, Italy. He has been actively participating in European-funded, national-funded, and ESA-funded research and development projects. His research interests include wireless communications for aerospace and IoT scenarios, cyber-physical systems, and the use of digital technologies in agriculture, forestry, and rural areas. He has been serving as guest editor for MDPI’s Special Issues entitled "Advanced Subsystems and Technologies for Space and Airborne Communication Networks" (Sensors) and "Internet of Remote Things for Remote Sensing" (Remote Sensing).

Institute of Information Science and Technologies, National Research Council, 1-56124 Pisa, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Paolo Barsocchi is a senior researcher at the Information Science and Technologies Institute (ISTI) of the National Research Council (CNR) in Pisa, Italy. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in information engineering from the University of Pisa in 2003 and 2007, respectively. In 2004, he was assistant researcher at the ISTI-CNR Institute, and in 2008, he was visiting researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Barcelona, ES). Since 2017, he has been Head of the Wireless Networks Research Laboratory. In 2017, he obtained the "National Academic Qualification as Associate Professor" for Information Processing Systems and for Computer science. Dr. Paolo Barsocchi is included in the World's Top 2% Scientists according to the Stanford University List in 2020 and 2021. He has co-authored more than 100 papers published in peer-reviewed international journals and conference proceedings. He has been a reviewer for several international journals and conferences, a member of several international program committees of conferences and workshops, and member of the editorial board of several journals. In particular, he is an editorial board member of MDPI’s Sensors and of the Sensors section, “Navigation and Positioning”; he is also co-editor of the Special Issue entitled “Artificial Intelligence for Ambient Assistive Living and Healthcare Solutions” and "Advances and Trends in Sensors and Sensing Technologies for Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation" for Sensors. In 2012–2016, he was one of the founders and the chair of the EvAAL Competition, which aims at establishing benchmarks and evaluation metrics for comparing ambient assisted living solutions. His research interests are in the areas of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless sensor networks, cyber-physical systems, machine learning and data analysis techniques, smart environments, ambient assisted living, activity recognition and indoor localization.

Centre for Food Policy, School of Health Sciences, Northampton Square, City University, London EC1V 0HB, UK

Introduction
Bio
I was a founder member of the London Food Board and was the public health representative on the London 2012 Olympic Food Advisory Board. In 2012/13 I was the ‘Thinker in Residence’ at Deakin University, Melbourne and was the Australian Healthway’s fellow for 2008 and again in 2016. My publications cover a range from food access in local communities, through work on food taxes, school food, cooking, fast food to food banks and food poverty. Current research includes a focus on food systems and their contribution and possible amelioration of food insecurity. At the 1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology (IOCAG2022) my presentation –`Food insecurity and Equity: a necessary, but neglected aspect, of lifecycle analysis’ - will focus on how the food system needs to adopt an inequality/food security audit within life cycle assessments. This will draw on work on cocoa and chocolate supply chains to demonstrate how the existing supply chains disadvantage the majority of farmers and producers.

University of Milan, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Michele Zoli is a PhD student in Environmental Sciences at the PhD school of the University of Milan. Dr. Zole received his master's degree in Crops and plant sciences degree. His main research interest is the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to agricultural processes. Actually, his research focuses on the environmental impact of cropping, agricultural and livestock systems.

University of Milan, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Michele Costantini received his master's degree in Agricultural Sciences with full marks in 2019 with a thesis carried out after a training period in a cattle farm in Paraguay. He is currently a PhD student in Environmental Sciences at the University of Milan and deals with the study, reporting and management of the environmental impact of livestock systems, using methods ranging from environmental life cycle assessment; on-field monitoring of greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions; up to the economic and social analysis of the supply chain.

Call for submissions

The 1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology (will be held on 10-25 February 2022. IOCAG2022 aims to increases in agricultural productivity as well as to reducing environmental impacts All proceedings will be held online at https://sciforum.net/event/IOCAG2022.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

1) Crop Production

2) Farm Animal Production

3) Delivering Genetic Gains through Breeding with Appropriate Genotype Evaluation

4) Zero-Pollution Solutions in Crop Protection

5) Agricultural Soils

6) Agricultural Technology: State of the Art and Future Prospects

7) Life Cycle Assessment of Agricultural and Agro-food Aystems

8) From Field to Consumers: Challenges and Approaches to High-Quality Agricultural Products

9) Challenges of Agriculture and Rural Development Sectors in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals by 2030

10) Smart Farming: From Sensor to Artificial Intelligence

11) Agricultural Systems and Management

12) Agricultural Water Management

13) Seed Science and Technology

14) Poster Session

IOCAG2022 is a virtual conference sponsored by Agriculture. Participation is free of charge for authors and attendees. Accepted papers will be gathered in the proceedings of the conference. After the conference, the Committee will select manuscripts that may be included for publication in journal Agriculture and undergo full peer review (ISSN 2077-0472; impact factor: 2.925 (2020)) with a 20% discount on the article processing charge. IOCAG2022 offers you the opportunity to participate in this international, scholarly conference without the concerns or expenditure of travel—all you need is your computer and access to the internet. We would like to invite you to attend this conference and present your latest work.

Abstracts (in English) should be submitted online by 30 November 2021 at https://sciforum.net/event/IOCAG2022. For accepted abstracts, the proceedings can be submitted by 15 January 2022. The conference will be held on 10–25 February 2022.

Paper Submission Guidelines

For information about the submission procedure and preparation of a full presentation, please refer to the "Instructions for Authors".

Time Schedule

  • Abstract Submission: 30 November 2021
  • Notification of Acceptance: 15 December 2021
  • Paper Submission Deadline: 15 January 2022
  • Conference Open: 10–25 February 2022

We thank you in advance for your attendance of this conference and look forward to a stimulating exchange.



Conference Chair

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida, USA

Introduction
Bio
Bin Gao is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Florida (UF). His research interests lie primarily in biochar technology, environmental nanotechnology, and contaminant fate and transport. Prof. Gao is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Web of Science. He is also a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the UF Term Professorship, UF Research Foundation Professorship, Gamma Sigma Delta Junior Faculty Award of Merit, Giglia Endowment Award, FASABE Outstanding Young Researcher Award, and NSF CAREER Award.

Session Chairs

Development Consultant (Freelance), Newton Abbot, UK

Introduction
Bio
Professor Dr. Sanzidur Rahman is a leading researcher on development and production economics with a focus on the developing economies, specifically South and Southeast Asia, China and West Africa. The core concern of his research is to improve understanding of the range of factors influencing economic development in developing economies and to promote their integration into policy and practice. He also has a keen interest in environmental and/or resource economics, energy economics, climate change and factors influencing household-level decision making. His main analytical approach is the use of econometric methods. Professor Rahman has published 135 peer-reviewed articles in world-leading international and national journals, 27 book chapters and several research reports in the field of applied economics, climate change, energy economics, poverty and livelihoods. He has a significant and sustained international reputation for academic excellence, a h-index 24 with 1950+ citations in SCOPUS, h-index 22 with 1600+ citations in Web of Science, and h-index 33 with 5000+ citations in Google-Scholar. He was Associate Professor/Reader in International Development at the University of Plymouth, UK, until 2019 and is currently affiliated with the Plymouth Business School, UK. Currently, Professor Rahman holds the position of Distinguished Professor (non-residential) at Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan, China. He also has held the position of Adjunct Professor of Economics, Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Thailand, and senior research positions at the University of Manchester, UK; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC, USA; University of Reading, UK; Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand and BRAC, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Chair Professor of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden

Introduction
Bio
Rodomiro Ortiz is Faculty (Chair) Professor of Genetics and Plant Breeding at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He holds a PhD in Plant Breeding & Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked as a young researcher at UNALM (Perú) and Rutgers University. He has been a scientist and director at various CGIAR Consortium Centers, and held a Nordic professorship on plant genetic resources at the then Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University. He has written more than 800 reports, of which around 50% are journal articles or edited book chapters with an h-index of 68 and cited by 17,445 scholars (as per Google Scholar on 2021.04.19). The CGIAR awarded IITA the prestigious 1994 King Baudouin Award for multidisciplinary research of a team working in plantain and banana improvement; he was program leader. In 2012, Plant Breeding Reviews dedicated him in Vol. 36. He was PI of the SLU/ICARDA-led research development partnership project Adapting durum wheat varieties to the Senegal Basin for food security that won the 2017 Olam Prize for Innovation in Food Security. He was a member of CGIAR Independent Science and Partnership Council (2015–2019), is an international fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and member of the Royal Physiographic Society (Lund).

Department of Chemistry, Postharvest Unit, University of Lleida - Agrotècnio Center, Spain

Introduction
Bio
Isabel Lara obtained her PhD at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), and currently holds a full professor position at the University of Lleida (UdL), Spain. She is a member of the Postharvest Unit, a consolidated research group (Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain), and of the Postharvest Biology and Technology group at the AGROTÈCNIO-CERCA center (UdL). She has also held institutional positions as the Coordinator of a UdL Doctorate Programme, and as the Deputy Head of Studies at the School of Agri-food and Forestry Science and Engineering (ETSEA) of the UdL

Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Anna Andolfi is Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Naples Federico II (Italy) and an associate of the BAT Center—Interuniversity Center for Studies on Bioinspired Agro-Environmental Technology. She graduated in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, and successively obtained a PhD in Agrochemistry and a post‐PhD in Organic Chemistry. Currently, she is Editor‐in‐Chief of the Section “Crop Protection, Diseases, Pest and Weeds” of the journal Agriculture (MDPI Publisher). Anna Andolfi’s research is in natural product chemistry, with special reference to fungal secondary metabolites. These studies are aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of plant–microbe interaction and at identifying eco-friendly pesticides and/or drugs. In particular, numerous bioactive compounds belonging to different classes of natural compounds were isolated and characterized. She has collaborated with many national and foreign research groups, and she has also taken part in several research projects financed by foreign and national institutions.

Department of Agricultural and Forestry scieNcEs (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Massimo Cecchini is Associate Professor in Agricultural Mechanics at the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy), where he is also Head of the Laboratory of Ergonomics and Work Safety. Since 2000–2001, he has held several courses, including: "Ergonomics and accident prevention in agriculture", "Safety at work in agriculture", "Machines for the food and wine industry", "Machines and plants for biosystems". Since 2000, his scientific activity mainly concerns: the analysis of the main workloads in agro-forestry and agro-industrial environments; the ergonomics and safety of the machines; the mechanization of some tree and industrial crops; renewable energy sources in agriculture.

Department of Environmental Science and Policy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy

Introduction
Bio
He is a researcher at the Department of Environmental and Policy Science—State University of Milan. His main research focus is the application of the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach to agricultural processes. Since 2015, he has been a member of AgriFood LCA Laboratory, a multidisciplinary laboratory for the application of LCA to agricultural and agro-industrial systems. Actually, his research interests focus on biosystems engineering, with particular attention paid to the environmental impact evaluation of agricultural and agro-food systems (in particular with the life cycle assessment approach). He is a member of the Editor Board of Cleaner Environmental Systems (Elsevier), Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health (Elsevier) and Agriculture (MDPI). Research Keywords His main lecturing and research activities concern the environmental impact assessment of the food and agro-energy supply chain.

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry, University of Padua, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Francesco Marinello is an Associate Professor at the Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Padova (Italy). After his PhD in precision engineering and metrology, he was jointly supervised by the Technical University of Denmark (Lingby, Denmark), and he spent two years at the InterUniversity Center for Nanotechnologies (Venice, Italy) and two years at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (Lugano, Switzerland). Since 2012, he has been a researcher at the University of Padova, and since 2017, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia (Athens, USA): he is responsible for the courses in “Agricultural Mechanics”, “Precision Farming”, “Applied Statistics”, “Sustainable resource-efficient food production and processing” and “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agriculture”. Marinello was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of the journal Agriculture (Digital Technologies section).

Sydney Institute of Agriculture, The University of Sydney, Australia

Introduction
Bio
Professor Daniel Tan graduated from the University of Queensland with a BAppSc (Hort Tech) (Hons 1) in 1991 and a PhD in 1999. He is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (2015), a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology (FAIAST), and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SF HEA). He was elected a Director for the AIAST National Board in 2015 and re-elected in 2017 and 2020. In recent years, Daniel has presented papers at the International Crop Science Congress in Brisbane, the 4th, 5th and 6th International Cotton Conferences in Texas, U.S.A., Mumbai, India and Goiania, Brazil, and convened sessions at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna, Austria. Daniel is on the Editorial Boards of Agriculture and Frontiers of Plant Science.

Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, 315 Woodward Hall, 9 E. Alumni Ave, Kingston, RI 02881, USA

Introduction
Bio
Soni M. Pradhanang is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, and USA. She is the director of the Global Water Resources Minor Program at the University of Rhode Island. Dr. Pradhanang has over 15 years of experience developing water quantity, availability and quality models using GIS and programming platforms. Her research focuses on developing hydrogeologic and hydrodynamic models to evaluate reliability, predictability and vulnerabilities of the water infrastructure including reservoirs, dams and spillways in maintaining safe and clean water to the communities. Her approach to integrated analysis of source water (both surface and ground) is central to evaluating management practices to develop guidelines to ensure the ecosystem protection. She conducts field, lab experiments/monitoring, numerical and physical modeling studies to uncover new knowledge about how natural and human-altered systems function and how they respond to change. She has served as a NYC Watershed Program Review Committee led by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, USA. Dr. Pradhanang also served as the lead scientist for the Thriving Earth Exchange, American Geophysical Union and was involved in evaluating urban flood in Connecticut and worked with the vulnerable communities to identify problems and address them through science and communication. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 peer reviewed journal and serves as the guest editor and reviewer for various journals in the field of water research.

Department of Geology and Geochemistry, Autonoma University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain

Introduction
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Raimundo Jimenez-Ballesta, Professor/Researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in the Geology and Geochemistry Department. Holder of Bachelor´s Degree in Chemistry (1973) and a PhD in Soil Science (1977). He has been active for more than 45 years, both in the academic world, as a Professor & Researcher in soil science, cartography, soil quality-land evaluation and soil contamination, and as a Technical Scientific Advisor for environmental projects. Their areas of expertise and research activities are mainly Soil Science, Agrochemistry and Environment. He has investigated a wide range of issues in these fields. Their main research interest span different domains of Soil Science, with strength in soil morphology, genesis, classification, and mapping. He has also been involved in the areas of: paleopedology and characterization of soil degradation processes, soil evaluating, environmental pollution, etc. He is an ardent proponent of the integrative role of soil in ecosystems, with a huge passion for: identification and communication of Soil Science in the field. Their scientific work has been funded by the CICYT, National Parks Authority, Spanish Autonomous Counties, Council, and private companies.

Conference Committee

Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Italy

Introduction
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Dr. Gaetano Pandino received his master’s degree in Food Science and Technology, 110/110 cum laude, in October 2005, and PhD in “Productivity of Cultivated Plants” curriculum “Biology of Mediterranean Crops”, in March 2010, where he studied in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania (Italy). In October 2008, Pandino was a visiting PhD student in the “School of Food Science and Nutrition” at University of Leeds (England), where, under the guidance of Professor Williamson Gary and his team, he was able to further deepen his knowledge about the techniques of extraction and analysis of polyphenols. He has been a part of several scientific collaborations with other national and international institutions, focusing on the following research subjects: i) Yield and nutritional responses of different Mediterranean crops to environmental conditions; ii) Effects of crop management (fertilization, irrigation, pest control, etc.) on the quality of Mediterranean crops, particularly globe artichoke and potato; iii) Bioactive compounds in globe artichoke and cardoons; iv) Possible alternative utilization of Cynara cardunculus L.; v) Effects of organic farming on food quality; vi) Interaction between pre-harvest factors and post-harvest treatments on the quality of open-field crops. From April 2018, he was honored with the National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) as Associate Professor within the Competition Sector 07/B1 “Agronomia e sistemi colturali erbacei ed ortofloricoli”. Finally, Dr. Pandino is the author of over 100 scientific publications in both national and international journals.

Sceince and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada

Introduction
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Dr. Jiali Shang is a research scientist at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre (ORDC), Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) of the Canadian Federal Government, and adjunct professor of two Canadian Universities, York University and Nipissing University. She received her BSc in geography in 1984 from Beijing Normal University, China, MA in Geography in 1996 from University of Windsor, and PhD in 2005 in Environmental Remote Sensing from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research focuses on the methodology development and application of Earth observation (EO) and sensor technology to vegetation biophysical parameter retrieval, crop growth monitoring and modeling, precision farming, detection of field operation activities related to crop production using both optical and radar data, and assessment of soil nutrient runoff. She has authored/co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal publications and book chapters. In addition to research, Dr. Shang is also actively involved in student education, postdoc supervision, international scientific collaboration, and capacity building. She is currently serving as president of the Economics Community under International Society of Precision Agriculture. She is the Canadian representative serving in the Capacity Development Working Group (CD-WG) of International GEO under the United Nations, facilitating GEO’s efforts on capacity development, promoting the principle of co-creation and providing support to the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of capacity development activities to fully use open EO data and tools. She is also a working member of the UN Open GIS Initiative.

School of Agriculture & Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Introduction
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Dr Senaka Ranadheera is a food scientist at the School of Agriculture & Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia. He has a PhD (Food Science) from the University of Newcastle, Australia, and a BSc Honors (Agriculture) from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Currently, Senaka coordinates the Honors degree program and teaches a number of subjects, including subject coordination, both at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. He was an Early Career Research Fellow at Victoria University before joining the University of Melbourne in 2017. Senaka has published over 65 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Currently, he supervises 4 PhD candidates and he is collaborating on some projects, nationally and internationally. Along with his research, Senaka is passionate about science communications.

Council for Agricultural Research and Economics. Current address: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Universiy of Naples Federico II, Italy

Introduction
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Dr. Rosario Nicoletti is a Senior Researcher in Mycology and Plant Pathology employed by the Council of Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA, Rome, Italy), currently working at the Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Naples ‘Federico II’ (Portici, Italy), where he obtained a National Academic Qualification as an Associate Professor in Plant Pathology. Besides a general interest in plant diseases, Rosario Nicoletti’s research interests mainly concern the ecological interactions between fungi and other organisms, both in agricultural and natural contexts, including in the sea. Special attention is dedicated to the role of fungal secondary metabolites as mediators of these symbiotic relationships and influencers of plant fitness, to the characterization of bioactive products, and to their possible pharmaceutical applications.

Horticultural Sciences Department, University of Florida/IFAS, USA

Introduction
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Dr. Guodong Liu (David) is an associate professor and state extension specialist at the University of Florida/IFAS in Gainesville, Florida. David obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Nutrition from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, China, and both his M.S. in Plant Physiology and Biochemistry as well as his B.S. in Agronomy from Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China. David’s research interests focus on improving nutrient use efficiency for commercial crop production. David uses solid oxygen fertilizers for his research program. Applying solid oxygen fertilizers maximizes the nutrient use efficiency of crops suffering from flooding. David also employs solid oxygen fertilizers to minimize the emission of greenhouse gases from agricultural soil such as nitrous oxide (N2O). He works closely with the state and county faculties and growers to enhance their economic and environmental sustainability as part of best management practices (BMPs).

Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) - University of Catania (Italy), Italy

Introduction
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Dr. Sara Lombardo graduated in Food Science and Technology, 110/110 cum laude, in October 2004 at Catania University (Italy). In April 2009, she obtained her PhD in “Productivity of Cultivated Plants” curriculum “Biology of Mediterranean crops” at Catania University. From September 2007 to February 2008, she was a visiting PhD student at the Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology at the Hohenheim University (Germany) where, under the guidance of Prof. Reinhold Carle and his team, she was able to deepen her knowledge on the techniques of the extraction and analysis of polyphenols. Currently, she is a researcher of the scientific sector AGR/02 “Agronomy and Herbaceous Field Crops” at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), Catania University, and professor of the module “Agronomy and Field Crops” for the Bachelor’s Degree program in Food Science and Technology at the Di3A, Catania University. Since 2005, she has been involved in several national and international research projects, and also is a member of the “Steering Committee” and “Project Manager”. In July 2017, she obtained the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) as Associate Professor within the Competition Sector 07/B1 “Agronomia e sistemi colturali erbacei ed ortofloricoli”, and in July 2020, the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) as Full Professor within the Competition Sector 07/B1 “Agronomia e sistemi colturali erbacei ed ortofloricoli”. Her scientific activity has mainly focused on: i) yield and nutritional responses of different Mediterranean crops to environmental conditions; ii) effects of crop management (fertilization, irrigation, pest control, etc.) on the quality of Mediterranean crops, particularly globe artichoke and potato; iii) bioactive compounds in globe artichoke and cardoons; iv) possible alternative utilization of Cynara cardunculus L.; v) effects of organic farming on food quality; vi) interaction between pre-harvest factors (genotype, fertilization regime, location, harvest time) and post-harvest treatments (ozone application, packaging, minimal p

Research Unit on Plant Induce Resistance and Bioprotection, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne (URCA), France

Introduction
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Prof. Dr. Florence Fontaine is a full professor of Plant Biology and Physiology at the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, where she is also the co-head of the research unit on plant resistance and bioprotection and the head of the Chaire MALDVIE dedicated to grapevine trunk diseases. She is currently a member of the editorial board of the journal Agriculture. Florence Fontaine’s research interests mainly concern the impact of trunk diseases on grapevine physiology, the understanding of plant responses to control the diseases, and finally, she is also interested in developing new environmentally friendly solutions to manage trunk diseases in both the nursery and vineyard. The characterization of effectors associated with the aggressiveness of pathogens is also a subject of her research.

LEAF - Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture And Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Introduction
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Gonçalo C. Rodrigues is currently an Assistant Professor at Instituto Superior de Agronomia, University of Lisbon, where he teaches courses at the Bachelor level in general agriculture and machinery. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Instituto Superior de Agronomia/University of Lisbon, Portugal, a PhD in Biosystems Engineering from Instituto Superior de Agronomia/University of Lisbon, Portugal, and a postdoc in Management from Nova School of Business and Economics, Portugal. His research interests and main fields of expertise are areas of irrigation management, precision irrigation, sustainable agroecosystems, climate change impacts, and technology dissemination and adoption. He has published several scientific and technical papers and book chapters, mainly in the areas of irrigated agriculture.

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy

Introduction
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Ilaria Marotti (Ph.D.) is an assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, of the University of Bologna (Italy). Her research interests and main field of expertise are the study of resilient agro-ecology approaches in plant productivity and quality, with a particular focus on bioactive compounds from food and nano-food, crops (cereals, legumes, medicinal and aromatic plants) cultivated in sustainable agro-ecosystems. She has co-authored more than 60 scientific papers in international journals indexed by WoS and Scopus, as well as monographies, books, book chapters and conference proceedings. She also serves as an editorial board member of two international scientific journals covering agriculture and food subjects. In 2012, she received the sixth Montana Prize for Agri-food Research (category: Nutrition and Health).

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy

Introduction
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Giovanni Dinelli (Ph.D.) is currently a full professor at the Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences of the University of Bologna (Italy), working in organic farming, agro-ecology, and studying the effect of agricultural practices and environmental factors on the quality of agricultural production. Specifically, his expertise is nourished by his research activities regarding the impact of agricultural management on ecosystems, the effects of agricultural practices on biodiversity, the relationship between the use of agricultural technical tools and environmental pollution. In the last decade, his activities have mainly focused on organic farming, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between agricultural practices and the nutritional/functional properties of organic foodstuff. He increased his job-related skills through working/leading on various European projects of the 7th Framework Program, Horizon 2020, LIFE+ and EIT-FOOD. The scientific production consists of more than 200 published papers, including 134 papers in international journals with an impact factor (1990-2021). His h-index is 35.

Department Producción Vegetal en Zonas Tropicales y Subtropicales, Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias, Spain

Introduction
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Dr. María Gloria Lobo is currently a researcher at the Instituto Canario de Investigaciones Agrarias (ICIA) in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain), and since 2004, she has been the manager of the Postharvest and Food Technology Laboratory at the Department of Crop Production in Tropical and Subtropical Areas. She completed a Master's degree in Bromatology and Food Quality Control from 1992 her 1994, and also took a technical course in Food Quality in 1993. She was granted two postdoctoral fellowships: one awarded by the University of Wageningen (Holland) (1995–1997); and the other by the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) (1997–1999), inviting her to spend a 4-month internship at Manoa University in Hawaii. Her research is focused on the evaluation of the postharvest behavior of horticultural products, quality, processing and packaging, fresh-cut or minimally processed products (IV gama), antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds from waste, obtaining by-products (flour, pulp, etc.) from waste, etc. Her research has led to improvements in production practices, as well as the postharvest handling and marketing of these products. All her research has been performed in conjunction with and in support of local industries and individual growers, shippers and marketers.

Laboratory of Bee Diseases, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW), Poland

Introduction
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Dr. Anna Gajda is an assistant professor at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences in Poland, where she is the head of the Department of Pathology and Veterinary Diagnostics, as well as the head of the Laboratory of Bee Diseases. She has been conducting research into bee diseases for more than a decade and is a beekeeper herself. She collaborates with the COLOSS Association, which she is an Executive Committee member of, and has also been on the editorial team of the Journal of Apicultural Research since 2018. Her interests focus on bee diseases, both in wild and managed bees, as well as host–pathogen–environment interactions. She is particularly interested in Nosema ceranae and its impact on global beekeeping, as well as new ways of controlling this pathogen. She actively cooperates with many beekeeper associations, both locally and internationally, giving talks and training courses about bee diseases. She also runs a laboratory that examines samples sent in by beekeepers to investigate the cause of the death or weakness of the colony.

Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (DOCPAS), University of Ferrara, Italy

Introduction
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I am a researcher at the Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (DOCPAS) of the University of Ferrara (Italy). Since 2007, I have been working on different research projects and teaching activities. I obtained a PhD in Environmental Sciences in 2012 with a dissertation on “Ecological Weed Management”, working on ecological approaches to weed management, such as cultivar choice and cover cropping, on crop yield and weed flora composition. I am mainly engaged in the development and the evaluation of management practices for improving the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, with a particular focus on weed community composition, nitrogen dynamics and GHG emissions. Such issues are mainly investigated by field experiments performed under different environmental conditions. I am the co-author of 45 peer-reviewed papers in international journals. Moreover, I am a member of the Scientific Committee of Agriculture, Sustainability and Agronomy, wherein I helped with the organization of several Special Issues. I am currently involved in many different research and teaching activities at the Department of Chemical, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural Sciences (University of Ferrara, Italy).

CESAM, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Introduction
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Ana Cristina Esteves is an associate researcher at Aveiro University and the vice-coordinator of CESAM–Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies. She was an invited professor at Aveiro University from 2006 to 2018, and an assistant professor at the Portuguese Catholic University. She is mainly interested in the interaction of microorganisms with their environment and their hosts. Her research interests are microbial fitness, microbial pathogenicity mechanisms, microbial interactions, protein structure and function, proteomics, metabolomics, and genomics. She has recently been involved in the characterization of marine fungi and their potential in biotechnological applications.

Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

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Dr. Marina DellaGreca has been an Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at Chemical Sciences Department of University of Naples Federico II since 2000. RESEARCH INTERESTS: Her scientific research, documented by more than 170 publications in international journals and participations in scientific conferences, concerns the chemistry of natural vegetal compounds, in the photochemistry of xenobiotic in the environment, and more recently, at the synthesis of natural product analogues. She is a Member of the American Chemical Society and International Allelopathy Society. She is referee of many scientific journals. She has participated in international conferences as a scientific committee member. TEACHING: 1994–2003: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry fourth level for students of Chemistry 2003–2009: and Laboratory of Organic Chemistry second level for students of Chemistry. 2009–2014: Organic Chemistry and Laboratory first level for Industrial Chemistry student and Environmental Organic Chemistry for students of Chemistry 2014–today Organic Chemistry and Laboratory for students of Biological Sciences.

LIGM, University Gustave Eiffel, France

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Éric Renault is Full Professor at ESIEE Paris and a member of LIGM (UMR CNRS 8049) at University Gustave Eiffel, France. He completed his MSc in Computer Engineering at ISTY and his MSc in Computer Science (DEA) at UVSQ in 1995, his PhD in Computer Science at UVSQ in 2000 and his qualification in advising PhD students (HDR) at UPMC in 2011. His research interests include high-performance computing and messaging, compilation, virtualization, positioning and lightweight security for mobile, sensor and vehicular networks. He worked on several European projects and served as an expert for the evaluation of French national projects (ANR), private company research works (MESRI) and Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Program applications (Campus France). He authored more than 100 articles in international journals and conferences.

Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Italy

Introduction
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Prof. Dr. Roberto Mancinelli is an associate professor in Agroecology, Agronomy and Crop Science at the Department of Agricultural and Forestry Science (DAFNE). He graduated in Agricultural Science and completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Science at the University of Tuscia. He is the head of the M.Sc. Degree in "Agricultural and Environmental Sciences". He was became a Full Professor at National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) in 2016, in Agronomy and Crop Science. His teaching activities have consisted of many different courses in the Agroecology, Agronomy and Crop Science fields. Since 1995, he has participated in a multitude of national and international research projects as the scientific manager or a participant in research unit, focusing on aspects of environmentally friendly agriculture and agro-ecological interest. His studies and research are closely related to the science of agroecology as a discipline, based on ecological principles of the study, design, and sustainable management of agro-ecosystems that maintain production levels and natural resources, and which are important from cultural, social and economic points of view in terms of sustainability. In particular, his research focuses on the analysis of agro-ecosystems through the use of sustainability indicators at different hierarchical levels (field, farm and landscape); the design and management of organic and conventional farming systems; the study of soil fertility in conventional and alternative management; agronomic strategies in the environmental friendly weed control; the use of cover crop to improve the sustainability of cropping systems in the Mediterranean environment; the study of greenhouse gas emissions and accumulation of soil C in agro-ecosystems under the conventional and organic farming and cropping systems with alternative farming techniques; the effects of alternative agronomic techniques on arsenic uptake in different herbaceous and vegetable crops; and the effects of agronomic practices on agriculture’s GHG emissions. He has been a reviewer of a multitude of manus

Institute of Agricultural Sciences (ICA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Serrano 115-dpdo., Spain

Introduction
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Azucena González Coloma is a Professor/Researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in the Geology and Geochemistry Department. Holder of Bachelor´s Degree in Chemistry (1973) and a PhD in Soil Science (1977). He has been active for more than 45 years, both in the academic world, as a Professor & Researcher in soil science, cartography, soil quality-land evaluation and soil contamination, and as a Technical Scientific Advisor for environmental projects. Their areas of expertise and research activities are mainly Soil Science, Agrochemistry and Environment. He has investigated a wide range of issues in these fields. Their main research interest span different domains of Soil Science, with strength in soil morphology, genesis, classification, and mapping. He has also been involved in the areas of: paleopedology and characterization of soil degradation processes, soil evaluating, environmental pollution, etc. He is an ardent proponent of the integrative role of soil in ecosystems, with a huge passion for: identification and communication of Soil Science in the field. Their scientific work has been funded by the CICYT, National Parks Authority, Spanish Autonomous Counties, Council, and private companies.

Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Productions, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Introduction
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Francesco Vinale is an Assistant Professor at University of Naples Federico II, and an Associate Researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection (IPSP) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). His research interests concern the purification and characterization of bioactive metabolites of microbial origin and deciphering their role in biological systems and complex plant–microbe interactions using a metabolomics approach. Dr Vinale is involved in several research projects financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and the European Union, and collaborates with various companies for the development and commercialization of biopesticides and biostimulants. Francesco Vinale is the author of 4 patents and over 100 articles published in scientific journals, book chapters, abstracts and proceedings of national and international congresses. Since January 2020, he has been a member of the Italian Phytopathological Society (SIPaV) board.

Laboratory of Pomology, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Greece

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Dr. Peter A. Roussos was born in Greece in 1972. He completed his MSc in 1995 and his PhD in 2001 at the Agricultural University of Athens. From 2002–2006, he worked as Deputy Director in the R&D department of Hellafarm SA, being responsible for trials executed under GEP and GLP legislation. From 2006, he has been serving as a teacher at Agricultural University of Athens, Laboratory of Pomology (currently as Associate Professor). He has published more than 55 papers, reviewed more than 80 manuscripts in more than 20 international scientific journals and awarded as top referee for 2006 by the journal “Scientia Horticulturae”. He is the writer of six chapters in international books (three already published and three to be published). He has served as a reviewer of two books and is a member of the editorial board of five international journals. He has participated in numerous national and international scientific programs and served as reviewer in three international ones. He has supervised more than 60 graduate and 10 MSc theses, as well as three PhD theses, and is the writer of two textbooks on plant propagation. His research interests are stress responses of fruit crops, in vitro and in vivo propagation of fruit crops, use of PGRs in fruit crops and cultural management affecting fruit quality.

Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore 560065, India

Introduction
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I received my PhD from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India. After six years of extensive research experience at the University of Arkansas, USA, I returned to India with a prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship from the Government of India. My research is primarily directed towards understanding the molecular basis of abiotic stress tolerance in plants using genetic, genomic, and molecular tools. I have been using finger millet, rice and Arabidopsis as systems for my research. Towards the development of climate resilient crops, my present research focusses on understanding the responses of rice plants to a combination of drought and heat stress. Besides, using the unique drought simulator mini-lysimeter phenomics facility, I am working towards the identification of genes contributing to WUE through the precise monitoring of water use and biomass (imaging) in rice.

Department of Plant Breeding, The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden

Introduction
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Eva Johansson is a full Professor of Agricultural Sciences, with a specialization in Product Quality at the Faculty of Landscape Planning, Horticulture and Crop Production Sciences, SLU in Alnarp, heading the division, “Plant Product Quality” of 35 people. Furthermore, she is coordinating "SLU Grogrund", a collaborative innovation initiative between academia, industry and the society, including ca. 20 projects with ca. 85 researchers and industrial partners. She is also the program leader of “C4F” (within Trees and Crops for the Future—TC4F), the strategic research environment grant from the government; forests and other plants. TC4F is a collaborative research initiative, including around 150 scientists at three faculties at SLU. Additionally, she is the initiator of the "Plant Proteins Factory", a Vinnova UDI, collaborating with ca. 15 industrial partners to use the white protein and other components from the green biomass for novel food products. Her professional training is in biology at undergraduate level and in plant breeding at graduate level, with a PhD degree from the Department of Plant Breeding Research at SLU in 1995. Thereafter, she continued as a postdoc and assistant professor within the research area of combining agronomy, environment and plant breeding to obtain quality in food plants. As an associate professor, the focus has turned more and more to the area of biomass uses for industrial applications. A specific interest has been opportunities to use plant proteins for various applications and their behavior during processing. The current main focus of her research group is to combine agronomy, environment and plant material in a way to obtain the most suitable crop-based biomass for the production of food, feed, material, chemicals and biogas. Furthermore, the bioeconomy aspects of crop-based biomass uses, including economy and environmental calculations of crop-based biomass uses as well as socioeconomic values, have become an increasingly important aspect in her work. In order to evaluate biomass for various aspects, she has collaborated

School of Science and the Environment, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Introduction
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Dr. Mumtaz Cheema, is a Professor (Agronomy) in Boreal Ecosystems and Agricultural Sciences, School of Science and the Environment, Memorial University of Newfoundland, NL, Canada. Dr. Cheema’s research program aims to develop productive and sustainable cropping systems to combat the challenges of climate change and food security. He uses innovative approaches to improve soil quality and health to maximize nutrient use efficiency through efficient nutrient cycling and management strategies. Currently, he is collaborating with three industry partners to develop and test growth media/formulations (wood ash, paper sludge, dairy digestate, rock dust, etc.) to boost the growth and quality of horticultural and agronomic crops under controlled and field conditions. Dr. Cheema has published more than 120 research articles in peer-reviewed journals. He presented many keynotes invited speeches and chaired technical sessions in professional societies meetings, national and international conferences, symposiums, and workshops. Dr. Cheema has supervised/co-supervised 44 MSc and 10 PhD students. At present, he is supervising or co-supervising 10 MSc and three PhD students. He is actively involved in community services, and is a member of the editorial boards of many journals and provincial research advisory committees. He currently holds the position of Associate Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland and President Elect—Canadian Society of Agronomy (CSA).

Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland

Introduction
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Pirjo Mäkelä has been a full Professor of Crop Science at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland since 2003. Her research interests are related to the roles of osmolytes in plant growth, stress tolerance and yield quality, and crop physiology and yield formation as well as agronomical aspects related to cropping systems. She has been visiting scientist at the CSIRO, Canberra, Australia, University of Delaware and University of Missouri, United States. She has published over 60 scientific articles in international peer-reviewed journals.

Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, New Zealand

Introduction
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As Professor of Plant Biology at Lincoln University, I lead a research platform to study plant stress responses. In my lab, we apply physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches to improve crop responses to changes in the environment. A particular emphasis of my work is on pasture plants, especially legumes. This includes the development of clover and grass germplasm for improved water-use and nutrient-use efficiency in future pastures under a changing climate. We also study horticultural crops to increase the quality characteristics and environmental sustainability of horticultural practices. Another aspect of my research is dedicated to the examination of plant–environment interactions in native New Zealand plants.

All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Russia

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Dr. Professor Olga S. Afanasenko Affiliation: All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, 196608 St. Petersburg, Russia Head of Lab of Plant Resistance to Diseases Research Interests: genetic of plant disease resistance; plant breeding; molecular markers; agricultural biotechnology; plant genomics; marker assisted selection; plant phenotyping; genetic of host–pathogen interaction

International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Italy

Introduction
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Vittorio Venturi (born in Treviso, Italy, on the 6th August 1965) graduated from Edinburgh University, UK in 1988, and completed his PhD in Microbiology at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 1994. During his PhD research, he focused on the regulation of the iron transport processes of the beneficial plant-associated bacteria which promote plant growth; the monopolization of iron nearby plant roots is an important trait that keeps microbial pathogens away. He then moved as a postdoctoral fellow to the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste, Italy, where he started investigating intercellular signaling among bacteria. He then went on to become Group Leader at ICGEB in 1998, continuing his studies on intercellular signaling. He is now particularly interested in (i) how plant associated bacteria undergo interspecies communication and interkingdom signaling with plants and (ii) plant microbiomes and the development of microbial products for a more sustainable agriculture. He has published over 150 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, over 80 of them as the leading or corresponding author. He has supervised 15 PhD students and over 12 postdocs, been invited as a speaker to many international symposia, organized several international workshops and courses and managed numerous national and international grants from government agencies, foundations and industry. Since October 2019, he has also been the Scientific Coordinator of ICGEB.

Department of Biosystems Engineering, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poland

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Maciej Zaborowicz University Professor Dr. Eng. Deputy Head of Department of Biosystems Engineering Head of Scientific Council of Discipline Mechanical Engineering Professor at Poznań University of Life Sciences. Interested in computer image analysis, neural modeling, and the application of computer science methods in agricultural engineering. Manager of research tasks in projects carried out by the National Center for Research and Development. Reviewer of scientific projects and scientific papers published in Scopus and Web Of Science databases. Chairman of theme sessions and member of technical committees of international scientific conferences. Guest Editor of the Special Issue on “Image Analysis Techniques in Agriculture” and Guest Editor of Special Issue on “Energies Advances in Biomass for Energy Technologies”, and Section Board Member of MDPI’s Agriculture open access journal.

Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Pee Dee Research & Education Center, Clemson University, USA

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Dr. Sachin Rustgi is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Breeding at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, and Faculty Scholar at the Clemson University School of Health Research, as well as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman. Dr. Rustgi’s research primarily focuses on developing dietary therapies for individuals with celiac disease or allergy to wheat or peanut and novel strategies to mitigate the major insect pests or fungal pathogens of the primary South Carolina crops. His research has resulted in several high-impact publications in internationally recognized journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, the Plant Journal, the Journal of Experimental Botany, and Plant Molecular Biology, to name a few. Additionally, Dr. Rustgi has authored or edited three books. Given his academic contributions, he was awarded the Faculty Excellence in Research Award of the Washington State University College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences and invited to join the Wheat Initiative Expert Working Group on Wheat Quality for Processing and Health.

Department of Biology and Geology, Higher Engineering School, Research Centres CIAIMBITAL and CeiA3, University of Almería, Spain

Introduction
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Manuel Jamilena is currently Full Professor of Genetics at the Department of Biology and Geology of the University of Almería, Spain. Head of the research group “Genetics and Breeding of horticultural crops” at UAL, and Principal Investigator of several research projects and contracts with breeding companies. His main lecturing and research activities concern plant genetics and breeding, mainly in cucurbits crop species. His research is focused in the genetic and molecular control of important agronomic traits such as flower and fruit development, fruit quality and parthenocarpy, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.

Environment and Resources, Centro de Biotecnologia e Quimica Fina, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal

Introduction
Bio
Ana Marques is a researcher at CBQF (Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina) at the Portuguese Catholic University, in Oporto, Portugal, working in the remediation of disturbed soils using plant-based technologies. The importance and quality of her work are reflected in the following indicators: cited 620 times with an h-index of 14. More recently, Ana has been interested in the perspective of using biomass resulting from such remediation processes for energetic purposes and on the evaluation of the sustainability of these pathways.

Agricultural School (ESAV) and CERNAS-IPV Research Centre, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (IPV), Portugal

Introduction
Bio
Vítor João Pereira Domingues Martinho is Coordinator Professor with Habilitation at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal and Invited Professor of University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Portugal, and holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He was President of the Scientific Council, President of the Directive Council and President of the Agricultural Polytechnic School of Viseu, Portugal, from 2006 to 2012. He was an Erasmus student at the Faculty of Economics from the University of Verona, Italy, participated in various technical and scientific events nationally and internationally, has published several technical and scientific papers, is a referee of some scientific and technical journals and participates in the evaluation of national and international projects.

Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Introduction
Bio
PD Dr. Dimitrios S. Paraforos is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. He completed his foundation studies in Automation Engineering in Greece, where he also worked for some years in the industry. In 2012 he moved to the University of Hohenheim where he finished a PhD and a Habilitation in 2016 and 2020, respectively. He has participated in more than 20 European and National research projects, while at the moment, he is co-ordinating the ICT-AGRI project iFAROS and is a WP-Leader in the H2020 project ROBS4CROPS. He is the author or co-author of more than 47 papers indexed by Scopus and published in journals or presented at national and international conferences. His research interests include agricultural machinery automation, ISOBUS technologies, unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, and decentralized and resilient digital farming systems. In 2020, he was awarded the GIL prize for his Habilitation Thesis.

CREA-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, Via Ardeatina 546, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Alessandra Durazzo was awarded a master’s degree in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology cum laude in 2003, as well as a PhD in Horticulture in 2010. Since 2005, she has been a Researcher at the CREA-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition. The core of her research is the study of the chemical, nutritional and bioactive components of food, with particular regard to the wide spectrum of substances classes and their nutraceutical features. For several years, she was involved in national and international research projects on the evaluation of several factors (agronomic practices, processing, etc.) that affect food quality, the levels of bioactive molecules and the total antioxidant properties, as well as on their possible impact on the biological role played by bioactive components in human physiology. Her research activities are also addressed towards the development, management and updating of bioactive compounds, nutraceuticals and dietary supplements databases; particular attention was paid to the harmonization of analytical procedures and the classification and codification of food supplements.

Agronomy and Crop Sciences Research and Education Center, University of Teramo, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Michele Pisante, Professor of Agronomy, Faculty of Biosciences and Agro-Food and Environmental Technology, University of Teramo and teacher of the PhD in Crop Science, University of Padova, Italy. His research activity is focused on sustainable intensification of agricultural production, soil and water conservation, decision-making tools for digital agriculture for improving national and international cooperation for sustainable agriculture growth and natural resource management. Scientific Director of the Edagricole "University and Education" editorial book series. He is the author of books (7) and publications (over 200), of which 60 are in international journals (Scopus: h-index 18; T-citations 1709); Guest Editor of a Special issue of AIMS “Agriculture and Food” international open access journal on topic “Sustainable Crop Production Intensification”; "Conservation Agriculture for Ecosystem Services" of the journal Agriculture, and Research Topic (article collection) “Digital imaging of plants” of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science. Co-inventor of European patent “Method for increasing the content of useful components in edible plants”.

CREA-Research Centre for Food and Nutrition, Italy

Introduction
Bio
He completed his master’s degree in Industrial Chemistry "cum laude" at the University of Rome "La Sapienza", Italy, in 1992, and then completed his PhD in Chemistry there as well. He works as a researcher at CREA—the Council for Agricultural Research and Agricultural Economics Analysis, the leading Italian agri-food research organization. The organization has 12 research centers, more than 1500 researchers and technologists, 500 ongoing research projects and 66 experimental fields. His research activity is mainly focused on the evaluation of nutrient content, molecules with biological and anti-nutrient activity in foods and diets, and studies of the stability of technological treatments of food products using specific process markers. He has a particular interest in the evaluation of the nutritional quality of foods, the bioavailability of nutrients and bioactive components and their interaction with the food matrix (using in vitro models and cellular models), and to applications in the nutraceutical field; he has recently been working on the exploitation of waste from the agri-food industry, with a view to sustainable agri-food production. In relation to the study of bioactive molecules, the experience gained in this field is wide ranging, from carotenoids to phenolic substances, from caseinophosphopeptides (CPP) to the components of dietary fiber. An integral part of the research carried out is linked to institutional activity, including: food composition tables, guidelines for healthy nutrition, evaluation of fraud risk in the agri-food system. In relation to the production system, the effects of technological treatments on molecules of nutritional interest are also evaluated. He is also interested in using natural substances with strong antioxidant properties to improve the shelf-life of food products. His research activity is also focused on the development of new analytical methods, the exchange of scientific information and the acquisition of new skills, both at the national and international level, through training courses, participation in congresses

Institute of Animal Science, Biotechnology and Nature Conservation, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, 138 Böszörményi Street, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary

Introduction
Bio
Dr. István Komlósi is a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Food Science and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen, where he holds leadership positions. He graduated from the University of Agriculture (now University of Debrecen) in 1985, and started his academic career in 1987 at the same university. He conducted postgraduate studies at the University of New South Wales, Kensington, and University of New England, Armidale, Australia, studying breeding programs, quantitative genetics, and biostatistics (1989/90). He was a postgraduate student at University of Wales, Bangor, UK (1991/94), and completed his PhD in 1994. The title of his thesis was “Computer image analysis in sheep to predict carcass conformation”. He initiated TEMPUS projects, national research projects, and was a referee for EU research projects. His major areas of research are breeding programs and breeding value evaluation. He has contributed to the Hungarian national breeding programs of sheep, pig, and beef breeds. He has published 385 papers, of which 41 are in impact factor journals, as a (co)author. His areas of teaching are Principles of Animal Breeding, Biostatistics, and Animal Genetics. He (co)supervised 9 PhD students and currently advises on 4. As a visiting lecturer at Curtin University, Perth, Australia, he taught Applied Statistics (2004/5). He was awarded a Doctor of Science by the Hungarian Academy of Science (2013). He is the head of the Animal Science Doctoral School at University of Debrecen. He received recognition from the Ministry of Education (2012).
Research Keywords
animal breeding; design and evaluation of breeding program; biotechnology; livestock farm management; biostatistics

Texas A&M Univ, Zachry Dept Civil Engn, College Stn, TX 77843 USA

Introduction
Bio
Dr. Samuel Ma is currently an associated professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station. He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, with a specialization in Environmental Engineering, from Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2004. He obtained his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tongji University in 2000 and B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Taiyuan University of Technology in 1997. Dr. Ma is well established in the field of environmental remediation using plants and in the investigation of fate and transport of conventional and emerging environmental pollutants in water, plant and soil systems. He has published 97 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and has been an invited keynote speaker in several international conferences. His recent interests include developing novel bioinspired materials for water treatment; applying advanced oxidation/reduction processes for contaminant removal; plant-based water/soil treatment technologies; ecosystem restoration; understanding the fate, transformation and health implications of conventional and emerging environmental pollutants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and micro- and nanoplastics. Even though his previous research is mostly based on experimental investigations, he is currently incorporating data science in his research.
Research Keywords
environmental nanotechnology; biogeochemistry; advanced materials; emerging contaminants; photocatalysis

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, (DISTAL), University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40124 Bologna, Italy

Production and Resource Economics Group, TU Munich, Germany

Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures: Architecture, Environment, and Cultural Heritage, University of Basilicata, 75100 Matera, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Vitale Nuzzo is an agronomist working as an associate professor of Pomology and Viticulture at the University of Basilicata. His research is largely directed towards understanding how cultivated fruit trees and grapevines respond to temperature, water and solar radiation availability, and his long-term research aims are to contribute to improving sustainable management techniques to be able to maintain yield and fruit quality, improve soil fertility and reduce greenhouses gas emissions from fruit trees to orchards. His research activities also include phenotyping methods and image analysis applied to the study of water relations and the mitigation of water and thermoradiative stresses on fruits, leaves and plants. Fruit tree and grapevine biodiversity exploration and characterization also constitute another research field of his.

Center of Excellence in Walnut Improvement, Department of Horticulture, Aburaihan Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Name: Silvia Tavarini Position: Assistant professor (senior, RTD-B) Affiliation: Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment - DAFE University of Pisa Via del Borghetto, 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy

Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems-National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (Fi), Italy

Introduction
Bio
Sara Di Lonardo is currently a permanent researcher at the Research Institute on Terrestrial Ecosystems (IRET) of the National Research Council (CNR). She graduated in Environmental Biology, and then obtained a PhD in Biosystematics and Plant Ecology. She has been involved and has collaborated in national and international research projects at various research centres related to soil–plant–water–nutrient relations and environmental sustainability of food/no food production chains. She is Editorial Board Member of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395) and Guest Editor in three special issues (two in Agronomy [ISSN 2073-4395], one in Agriculture [ISSN 2077-0472]), Reviewer Editor of the Frontiers in Sustainability section 'Circular Economy' (ISSN 2673-4524), and Reviewer Board Member of Pollutants (ISSN 2673-4672). She has published about 70 manuscripts in journals and acta with selective editorial policy, a book, eight book chapters, and about 30 manuscripts in no-peer-reviewed journals. She has about 900 citations received in the international scientific literature according to Scholar. Research Keywords soil–plant–water–nutrient relations; ecological restoration; plasma applications in agriculture; biostimulants; plant ecophysiology and signalling under abiotic stress; cropping system modelling; greenhouses gas emissions; biosphere-atmosphere interactions; micrometeorological measures; precision agriculture

Soil Physics and Land Management Group, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands

Introduction
Bio
Dr. Luuk Fleskens obtained a PhD in Production Ecology & Resource Conservation from Wageningen University in 2007 and currently holds a position as Associate Professor in Sustainable Land Management at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. Dr. Luuk Fleskens specializes in impact assessment of land and water management. He has worked extensively in Africa and Southern Europe and has taken leadership roles in several large interdisciplinary research and innovation projects funded by the European Union, World Bank, national research councils and others. Working at the interface of natural and social science, his current research focuses on integrated environmental modeling of mitigation strategies for land degradation, addressing issues of economic evaluation across scales in spatially explicit scenarios. He develops and applies qualitative and quantitative methods that address local realities and that are capable of assessing the impact of environmental change, as well as evaluating the effects of adaptation and mitigation strategies on rural livelihoods and ecosystem services. Strategies thereby include both farmer management practices and policies. A key interest of Dr. Fleskens is supporting improved environmental outcomes through informing land managers and policy makers, e.g., by bringing together global soil information and user information for tailored agricultural management practice recommendations in the soil quality app (SQAPP).
Research Keywords
unlocking spatial soil management information; assessing viability and sustainability of land management; appreciating land management decisions

Department of Agriculture Microbiology, Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation – State Research Institute, Czartoryskich 8, 24-100 Pulawy, Poland

Introduction
Bio
Dr. hab. Anna Gałązka has more than 16 years of experience in the field of agricultural sciences and in the discipline of environmental protection and soil microbiology. She has experience in the assessment of microbial diversity and soil biological activity with a focus on agricultural practice and environmental protection. She specializes in determining the functional diversity and metabolic potential of microorganisms. Currently, she holds a position as a researcher at the Department of Agricultural Microbiology IUNG-PIB in Puławy. Her research focuses on molecular biology, the assessment of genetic differentiation and identification of microorganisms, and the characterization of the metabolic profile of bacteria and fungi, as well as the practical use of bacteria capable of binding atmospheric nitrogen and symbiotic bacteria for plants such as the Fabaceae. She participates in international and national projects and coordinates the tasks in the Multiannual Program IUNG-PIB. Dr. hab. Anna Gałązka has been a member of the Polish Microbiological Society since 2004. Her scientific achievements covers 260 publications, including 75 original scientific publications, 2 scientific monographs in Polish, 2 chapters in a monograph in English, 16 chapters in a monograph in Polish, 39 reports from conferences at international conferences, and 140 reports from conferences at national conferences. She is the author and co-author of 60 original research and review papers published in IF journals. Dr. hab. Anna Gałązka has participated in several training courses in molecular biology and genetics. She has been the Head of the Department of Agricultural Microbiology at IUNG (since 2013). Dr. hab. Anna Gałązka and her team received a distinction from the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for their work in the "Implementation of new vaccines containing symbiotic bacteria of legumes into agricultural practice” in 2016. Since then, she has received the Minister of Agriculture Rural Development award once more (2017) and the Bronze Medal for Long Service was awar
Research Keywords
the evaluation of microbial diversity of soils associated with agricultural practice and environmental protection (research in molecular biology; evaluation of genetic differentiation and identification of microorganisms and characterization of metabolic

Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Olive, Citrus and Fruit Crops, Rende, CS, Italy

Introduction
Bio
At present he is the Director of Research center for olive, citrus and fruit crops of Consiglio per la ricerca in agricoltura e l’analisi dell’economia agraria (CREA). Research experience Main field: olive growing, olive oil quality and traceability, genotype identification by morphological, biochemical and molecular methods, analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, sensory analysis of olive oils. Other fields: Food safety and quality by mass spectrometry, chemiometry - Number of papers in refereed journals: > 100 - Invited speaker to national and international conferences >15 - Number of communications at scientific meetings: >200 - Books (as Editor): 5 - Books (as Chapter author): 10
Research Keywords
olive growing; olive oil quality and traceability; genotype identification by morphological, biochemical and molecular methods, analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, sensory analysis of olive oils; food safety and quality by mass spectrometry, chemiome

CREA Research Centre for Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy, Via Po 14, 00198 Rome, Italy

Introduction
Bio
He has more than 15 years of experience as a researcher and consultant in the development of GIS and Remote Sensing methodologies for the analysis of agri-environmental issues and statistical data collection and analysis. He has been principal investigator for several projects funded both by European Commission and Italian public organisations. He has been project evaluator for Italian and European funded research projects. He is the author of over 100 publications. Interests: geospatial information; precision agriculture; remote sensing; administrative and statistical data for agriculture; open data

Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

Introduction
Bio
Andrea Pezzuolo is a researcher at the Department of Land, Environment, Agriculture, and Forestry of the University of Padova in the agricultural and biosystems engineering field, focussing on rural buildings and agro-forestry land planning. His main research interests include agricultural/livestock engineering; precision livestock farming; automation and sensor technology; agro-environmental sustainability; and bioenergy from biomass, by-products, and biowaste. He has authored several publications in national and international journals as well as conference proceedings and has published various papers in ISI WoS and Scopus journals. He acts as a referee for various international scientific journals. Andrea Pezzuolo is member of the Italian Association of Agricultural Engineering/Associazione Italiana di Ingegneria Agraria (AIIA) and the Interdepartmental Centre "Giorgio Levi Cases" for Energy Economics and Technology of University of Padova. He is also a member of the Editorial Boards of Sustainability; AgriEngineering; Animals (in the System and Management section); Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining; and Research in Agricultural Engineering.
Email
andrea.pezzuolo@unipd.it

Dept. of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Introduction
Bio
Self-introduction and research interests: Martin Weih is a professor of plant ecology and the eco-physiology of agricultural crops. The main research focus of his lab is on 'Plant Genotype and Environment Interplay in Crop Production'. His major research activities focus on improving the yield and ecological sustainability (e.g., resource use efficiency) of agricultural crops grown for food, feed and biomass. He also evaluates how genetic variations with respect to specific traits or functions of plants (e.g., different species or varieties, including genetically modified plants) affect other functions of the same plant and the ecosystem in which it is grown.

Instructions for Authors

Submission Information

Submissions should be submitted by the authors online by registering at https://sciforum.net, and using the “Submit Abstract” function once logged into system.

  1. Scholars interested in participating with the conference can submit their abstract (about 200–250 words covering the areas of manuscripts for the proceedings issue) online at this website up to 30 November 2021.
  2. The Conference Committee will conduct a pre-evaluation, based on the submitted abstract, of whether the contribution from the authors of the abstract will be welcome for the 1st International Electronic Conference on Agricultural Science & Technology. All authors will be notified by 15 December 2021 about the acceptance of their abstract.
  3. If the abstract is accepted for this conference, the author will be asked to submit a conference manuscript, and optionally along with a PowerPoint and/or video presentation of his/her paper (only PDF), up to the submission deadline of 15 January 2022. Authors that wish to present only a poster, without a conference paper, can do so in poster section.
  4. The conference proceedings papers and presentations will be available on IOCAG2022.sciforum.net for discussion and rating during the time of the conference, from 10–25 February 2022.
  5. All accepted proceedings papers will be published as one dedicated volume in Chemistry Proceedings ( ISSN: 2673-4583 ). Publication of proceedings paper is free of charge.
  6. The open access journal Agriculture (Impact Factor 2.925) will publish a conference Special Issue “Selected Papers from 1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology (IOCAG2022)”. Conference participants are encouraged to submit a full paper to the dedicated Special Issue and will receive a 20% discount on the Article Processing Charges (APC).

Proceedings Paper Introduction

Manuscripts for the proceedings issue must have the following organization:

First page:

  • Title
  • Full author names
  • Affiliations (including full postal address) and authors’ e-mail addresses
  • Abstract (200–250 words)
  • Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results and Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • (Acknowledgements)
  • References

Manuscripts should be prepared in MS Word or any other word processor and should be converted to PDF format before submission. The publication format will be PDF. The manuscript should be at least 3 pages (incl. figures, tables, and references) and should not exceed 6 pages.

Presentation Slides

Authors are encouraged to prepare a presentation in PowerPoint or similar software, to be displayed online along with the manuscript. Slides, if available, will be displayed directly in the website using the proprietary slides viewer at Sciforum.net. Slides can be prepared in exactly the same way as for any traditional conference where research results can be presented. Slides should be converted to PDF format before submission so that we can easily and automatically process them for online display.

Video Presentations

Authors are also encouraged to submit video presentations. This is an unique way of presenting your paper and discussing it with peers from all over the world. Video should be no longer than 3-5 minutes and prepared with one of the following formats: .mp4 / .webm / .ogg (max size: 250Mb). It should be submitted with the full manuscript before 15th January 2022.

Presentation of Posters

Authors that wish to present only a poster, i.e., without a proceedings paper, can do so in section J. Posters will be available on the conference website during and after the event. Similarly to papers presented at the conference, participants will be able to ask questions and make comments about the posters. Posters that are submitted without a paper will not be included in the proceedings of the conference.

Submission of Manuscripts

Submission: Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://sciforum.net/event/IOCAG2022 by registering and logging in to this website.


Accepted File Formats

  • MS Word: Manuscript prepared in MS Word must be converted into a single file before submission. When preparing manuscripts in MS Word, the 1st International Electronic Conference on Agricultural Science & Technology Microsoft Word template file (see download below) must be used. Please do not insert any graphics (schemes, figures, etc.) into a movable frame which can superimpose the text and make layout very difficult.
  • LaTeX: Manuscripts prepared in LaTeX must be collated into one ZIP folder (include all source files and images so that the Conference Secretariat can recompile the submitted PDF). When preparing manuscripts in LaTeX, please use the 1st International Electronic Conference on Agricultural Science & Technology. LaTeX template files (see download below).

The the 1st International Online Conference on Agriculture - Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology Microsoft Word template file and LaTex template file

ECCS2021 Word template.docx
ECCS2021 Latex template.zip

Manuscript Preparation

  • Paper Format: A4 paper format, the printing area is 17.5 cm × 26.2 cm. The margins should be 1.75 cm on each side of the paper (top, bottom, left, and right sides).
  • Paper Length: The conference proceedings paper should not be longer than 6 pages. The conference manuscript should be as concise as possible.
  • Formatting/Style: The paper style of the journal Chemistry Proceedings should be followed. You may download the template file to prepare your paper (see above). The full titles of the cited papers must be given. Reference numbers should be placed in square brackets [ ], and placed before punctuation; for example [4] or [1–3], and all the references should be listed separately and as the last section at the end of the manuscript.
  • Authors List and Affiliation Format: Authors’ full first and last names must be given. Abbreviated middle name(s) can be added. For papers written by various contributors, a corresponding author must be designated. The PubMed/MEDLINE format is used for affiliations: complete street address information including city, zip code, state/province, country, and email address should be added. All authors who contributed significantly to the manuscript (including writing a section) should be listed on the first page of the manuscript, below the title of the article. Other parties who provided only minor contributions should only be listed under Acknowledgments. A minor contribution might be a discussion with the author, reading through the draft of the manuscript, or performing English corrections.
  • Figures, Schemes, and Tables: Authors are encouraged to prepare figures and schemes in color. Full color graphics will be published free of charge. Figure and schemes must be numbered (Figure 1, Scheme I, Figure 2, Scheme II, etc.) and an explanatory title must be added. Tables should be inserted into the main text, and numbers and titles for all tables supplied. All table columns should have an explanatory heading. Please supply legends for all figures, schemes, and tables. The legends should be prepared as a separate paragraph of the main text and placed in the main text before a table, figure, or scheme.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

It is the authors’ responsibility to identify and declare any personal circumstances or interests that may be perceived as inappropriately influencing the representation or interpretation of clinical research. If there is no conflict, please state here “The authors declare no conflict of interest”. This should be conveyed in a separate “Conflict of Interest” statement preceding the “Acknowledgments” and “References” sections at the end of the manuscript. Financial support for the study must be fully disclosed under the “Acknowledgments” section.

Copyright

MDPI, the publisher of the Sciforum.net platform, is an open access publisher. We believe that authors should retain the copyright to their scholarly works. Hence, by submitting a Communication paper to this conference, you retain the copyright of your paper, but you grant MDPI the non-exclusive right to publish this paper online on the Sciforum.net platform. This means you can easily submit your paper to any scientific journal at a later stage and transfer the copyright to its publisher (if required by that publisher).

Event Awards

To acknowledge the support of the conference’s esteemed authors and recognize their outstanding scientific accomplishments, we are pleased to launch the Best Paper Award , the Best Poster Award and the Best Presentation Award.

    The Awards
    Best Paper Award 500CHF

    Number of Awards Available: 1

    The Best Paper Award will be presented to honor the paper that is judged to make the most significant contribution to the conference.
    Best Poster Award 500CHF

    Number of Awards Available: 1

    The Best Poster Award has been established to recognize the scientific merit exhibited in poster presentation and preparation.
    Best Presenataion Award

    Number of Awards Available: 1

    As a sponsor, AgriEngineering would like to present an award for the best presentation, as determined by the conference committee. The recipient of the award will receive CHF 500. We look forward to reviewing your contributions. Best Presentation Award Criteria Presentations will be evaluated based on the following criteria: • Submit full files (e.g., video/PowerPoint/poster) after a short abstract is accepted; • Originality and novelty of the submitted file; • Significance of content; • Scientific soundness; • Interest to the readers; • English language and style. Requirements for Best Presentation Award: The presentation should contain the following information: • Title (with authors and affiliations); • Introduction, objectives, and aims; • Methods; • Results; • Conclusion; • References; • Acknowledgements; • Contact information; • A video presentation within 20 minutes. Evaluation • Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above; • Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest; • If two or more authors get the same score, further evaluation will be carried out; • All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final.
    Terms and Conditions:
    Best Paper Award

    As a sponsor, Agriculture would like to present an award for the best paper, as determined by the conference committee. The award will consist of 500 Swiss Francs. We look forward to reviewing your contributions.

    Best Paper Award Criteria

    Only full papers submitted to IOCAG 2022 will be considered. Papers will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

    • Originality/novelty of the paper;
    • Significance of content;
    • Scientific soundness;
    • Interest to the readers;
    • English language and style.

    Evaluation

    • Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above;
    • Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest;
    • If two or more authors get the same score, further evaluation will be carried out;
    • All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final.

    Best Poster Award

    As a sponsor, Agriculture would like to grant an award (500 Swiss Francs) for the best poster presented at the conference. This prize will be determined by a jury and awarded to the best-designed poster presented at the conference.

    Posters should have the following information:

    • Title (with authors and affiliations)
    • Introduction/Objectives/Aims
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Conclusion
    • References
    • Acknowledgments
    • Contact information

    For consideration for this award, posters should be accompanied by a three-minute video presentation. During the conference, the chair will be invited to judge the quality of the video presentations and posters. Presentations will be judged on how well they are able to summarize the content of the work and make the observer interested in viewing the poster. Posters will be judged on clarity quality of appearance.

    Best Presentation Award

    As a sponsor, AgriEngineering would like to present an award for the best presentation, as determined by the conference committee. The recipient of the award will receive CHF 500. We look forward to reviewing your contributions.

    Best Presentation Award Criteria

    Presentations will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

    • Submit full files (e.g., video/PowerPoint/poster) after a short abstract is accepted;
    • Originality and novelty of the submitted file;
    • Significance of content;
    • Scientific soundness;
    • Interest to the readers;
    • English language and style.

    Requirements for Best Presentation Award:

    The presentation should contain the following information:

    • Title (with authors and affiliations);
    • Introduction, objectives, and aims;
    • Methods;
    • Results;
    • Conclusion;
    • References;
    • Acknowledgements;
    • Contact information;
    • A video presentation within 20 minutes.

    Evaluation

    • Each Evaluation Committee member will assess each entry in terms of the criteria outlined above;
    • Total scores for each presentation will be ranked, from highest to lowest;
    • If two or more authors get the same score, further evaluation will be carried out;

    All decisions made by the Evaluation Committee are final.

    Sponsors and Partners

    Organizers


    Media Partners

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