IIRB Congress 2018
The IIRB (roughly translated to International Institute of Sugar Beet Research) Congress is a biannual event, which, sitting at the airport before catching the flight there, seems to be a standard academic conference with the very specific focus of sugar beets. NBR of course has strong ties to the organization, so we’re all going. I feel particularly lucky to be attending given it’ll be an awesome source of knowledge and inspiration, and given that I don’t have anything to present. Lucky the ‘no data, no conference’ rule of some Institutes is, in the eyes of NBR, heavily outweighed by the other benefits of attending this particular event.
Below are my Tweated highlights from the Congress. For more twitter about it, search for #IIRB or #IIRB2018.
@VandergetenJP on the big stage, declaring the #IIRB2018 Congress open #IIRB pic.twitter.com/kui7DPPy13
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Australia rates a mention at #IIRB2018 . 5th largest exporter of sugar in the world (from 0 sugar beet tonnes) https://t.co/4owtfdHzvy
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Had the pleasure of sitting next to @ITBetterave President Alexandre Quillet at dinner last night. He was rightly very proud of the 5 years of effort that went into #IIRB2018 Congratulations to him and ITB! pic.twitter.com/lrkN3cEtjT
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Syppre from @ITBetterave and partners looks a project to watch: innovative cropping systems for beet farmers, innovation WITH beet farm. #iirb2018
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Not only an impressive logo at @AKERBett but also impressive number of trials plots: 70000.
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Phenotyping leaf spots by @AKERBett presented at #IIRB2018 shows drones most efficient at 5-10 out of 10, phenomobile best at 1-5, but hyperspectral most importantly allows for pre-visual assessment
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Now Schumpeter rates a mention at #IIRB2018 by @ChristianHuygh1 . More surprising than the mention of Australia and more satisfying. Interesting presentation on Societies' perception of tech progress.
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Great information from Dr Anne-Katrin Mahlein on the use of optical sensors for the detection of stresses in sugar beets at #IIRB2018. Scale matters. So does expert interpretation. Where do we get the app?
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Separating out light and dark green pixels from UAV images looks the business for improving green leaf index (LAI) and leaf chlorophyll content (Cab). Looking forward to reading the publication @maupas_itb #IIRB2018
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Favourite #IIRB2018 poster so far; simple poster, simple tool (undoubtedly with complex tech inside), potentially huge learning. Nice one @Tereos pic.twitter.com/TbDOfQdMv7
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 5, 2018
Just a reminder to anyone still on the streets of Deauville/ in bed: more great #IIRB2018 presentation to be heard, starting with this mob, talking pests, disease, weeds pic.twitter.com/QrzGj3v0nu
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
Cercospora, taken from Jay Miller, USDA, at #IIRB2018: severity in US increasing from SW to NE, severity in EU increasing from N to S, beet yield vs resistance inverse, yield gains for resistant varieties 2-3%/yr, 2018 in US looking a high pressure year, CRISPR in US soon…
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
Ok, I'm not a breeder/ pathologist/ geneticist, but the presentation from @Melvin_Bolton at #IIRB2018 on cercosporin biosynthesis was fascinating. Others clearly thought so too – lots of questions. Well done to him and his team. pic.twitter.com/nIfdKvtJuU
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
Crowd favourite Mark Stevens from @BBRO_Beet doing his best to ignore the groupies at #IIRB2018. Also giving a really timely and important presentation on our ironic free future pic.twitter.com/mQKqQV76Jc
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
That was novel! Thanks André from @IRBAB_KBIVB. But also no thanks; you can keep your Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. betae and its silvering disease. #IIRB2018 pic.twitter.com/0JTfbtT3QI
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
Leaving the best of #IIRB2018 for last!? In my completely biased opinion, yes. pic.twitter.com/IUfr8uS3GV
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
Saving beet seeds for next year? Whack 'em in the freezer. Or in a sealed container with moisture absorbers. But don't forget to double check the state of the neonic laws (if using 2017 seeds in 18). Thanks @IRS_suikerbiet Martijn at #IIRB2018 pic.twitter.com/PckhXjrrzp
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
The (pen-)ultimate presentation of #IIRB2018 Joakim Ekelöf from #NBRf presenting COBRIs work on marc content and storability. More marc, tougher beets, less damage, less rot, more sugar pic.twitter.com/k5OBbk4dqJ
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 6, 2018
My highlight of #IIRB2018? Simple: a Tweet of mine was seen by Dutch farmer @dinkland, who got in contact with me again, 33 years after he lived with my family for an exchange year. Awesome! Here's a photo he sent of me chasing my dad as he rides my first bike pic.twitter.com/Hbrj1yC5uj
— William English (@meran_bioph) June 8, 2018