XVI European Society for Agronomy (ESA) Congress

The sixteenth edition of the congress of the European society for agronomy (ESA) will be held in Seville from September 1 to 4, 2020. As organizing committee, we would be delighted to be able to count on you in the celebration of this event. In this edition of the congress we have tried to maintain the usual lines of scientific discussion of the ESA, together with some innovations accounting for new scientific and technological trends related to agriculture and new societal challenge and demands. Our expectation is to be able to attract the attention of the members of our scientific community and to generate a fruitful and constructive debate during the celebration of the event.

As you probably know, the structure of society has changed, becoming a network with the same scientific objectives. In this context, the ESA congress has great relevance to maintain relations and scientific collaboration within our community. The ESA congress is the forum that will keep our scientific network alive.

The great challenge facing humanity is the need for quality food for a growing population. As scientists, we should contribute to meet this demand. In this congress, we want to emphasize the need for an intelligent use of resources in agriculture. Agricultural production depends to a large extent on limited, non-renewable, and strategic resources: soil, water, nutrients and energy. Therefore, we considered important to have 3 special sessions, which have the consideration of “workshop”: site-specific management as a tool for efficient resource use; rice, as a critical crop in human nutrition, and intensive horticultural sustainable systems, as a critical case of agrosystems where the use of resources should be efficient. Probably, these three sessions-workshops will involve an interesting interaction beyond the usual ones within the ESA.

Besides covering food needs, our society also demands preservation of natural resources and ecosystem services that should be also guaranteed and provided by agrosystems. Agricultural production should face all these demands and challenges. We have tried to take into account these new challenges in the scientific program.

There will be 3 main lines of discussion within what are the usual themes of ESA: Crop functioning and crop quality, Farming systems and ecosystem services, and Efficient use of resources in agriculture. These lines of discussion will be articulated in 13 sessions. Everything will be completed with social activities that we hope will be of interest to you and several field visits for your election.

Within the innovations, we have tried to concentrate the scientific activity so that the attendance to the congress does not affect your professional commitments. We will have 3 days of intensive scientific discussion and an optional field day on the last day with a visit to different types of agricultural productions representative of the Mediterranean environment.

With the support of ESA, we have also tried to organize a congress that provides the necessary services so that during 4 days we can focus on the scientific debate at a competitive cost, making an effort so that as many students as possible can attend.

We will be happy to welcome you to Seville, an emblematic city in the south of Spain in the center of a highly important agricultural region, representative of Mediterranean environments.