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SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2016.
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INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STUDENTS IN AGRICULTURAL AND RELATED SCIENCES
September-October ’16. / ’17.
Contents EDITOR’S NOTE .............................................................................................. 3 Stepping into the new year......................................................................... 4 Our Vision for 2016/2017 .........................................................................................................................4 Executive Committee (EC) .........................................................................................................................5 EC/CC Weekly Meetings .............................................................................................................................5 Member support ............................................................................................................................................5 Projects & IAAS2020 ....................................................................................................................................5 Applications for Boards and VPF ............................................................................................................6 Administration ...............................................................................................................................................6 Control Committee (CC)........................................................................................................................... 11
The Network ................................................................................................. 12 IAAS and PARTNERS .................................................................................. 13 ICA..................................................................................................................................................................... 13
IAAS ACTIVITIES ......................................................................................... 13 VCP IAAS LC-UB .......................................................................................................................................... 15 The IAAS 2020 ............................................................................................................................................. 13 The 8th IAAS LC IPB Olympic: IAAS on Action ............................................................................... 16 WoCo Indonesia .......................................................................................................................................... 18 IAAS ECUADOR ............................................................................................................................................ 20 IAAS MONTENEGRO.................................................................................................................................. 20 IAAS INDONESIA......................................................................................................................................... 21 IAAS ZIMBABWE......................................................................................................................................... 23 IAAS CHILE ................................................................................................................................................... 26 IAAS ECUADOR ............................................................................................................................................ 27 IAAS INDONESIA......................................................................................................................................... 28 IAAS FRANCE ............................................................................................................................................... 37 IAAS SPAIN .................................................................................................................................................... 38 IAAS HOHENHEIM ..................................................................................................................................... 40 IAAS BELGIUM ............................................................................................................................................. 42 IAAS SWITZERLAND ................................................................................................................................. 45 IAAS GERMANY ........................................................................................................................................... 46 IAAS BULGARIA........................................................................................................................................... 49
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IAAS CROATIA.............................................................................................................................................. 50 IAAS GREECE ................................................................................................................................................ 53
Upcoming events......................................................................................... 54
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EDITOR’S NOTE
Hello everyone, We present you the first edition of this year’s newsletter. Special thanks to all of you who contributed, your hard work is essential to the newsletter‘s success. In this edition‘s Publications section we have included a list of past and upcoming events, opportunities to join partner events and all other news that might be relevant to you as an IAAS Member or a partner. As always we would like to encourage you to write us and let us know about all the achievements and events in your IAAS life. You can do that by sending us your report to: vpcommunication@iaasworld.org -VP Communication & team
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Stepping into the new year Welcome to the first EC/CC Courrier! Your new EC is supermotivated and working hard for the association we all love so much. What were they doing for IAAS in the start of their term? Read further to find out! Cheers, Your EC & CC 2016/2017
Our Vision for 2016/2017
To be a global inclusive and life science focused network of personally and professionally developed members. Our Mission for 2016/2017
To launch worldwide challenges and projects to create a strong lively community that will have an impact in our global society.
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Executive Committee (EC) President - Ruth Vandeputte, president@iaasworld.org Dear IAAS’ers, The first months have already been a wonderful experience! I was in contact with so many motivated members, with organizing committees of our events, with students passionate about agriculture who would love to have their own committee, with rectors and deans who very supportive and with potential new partners who were positively surprised by the potential of our association. It also makes me very happy to see and feel the motivation, hard work and team spirit within our Executive and Control Committee. A few people, different personalities, different backgrounds and nationalities, but with so many plans to fulfil in our IAAS term. Step by step and together with our members from all over the world, we will bring IAAS further.
EC/CC Weekly Meetings Starting from our very first day, the 1st of September, the EC and CC met at least once a week to discuss different ongoing projects and new ideas. I prepared the Agenda for all those meetings with the input of the whole board. In the middle of September, we had our first live Strategy Meeting in Ghent, what was the start of great team spirit and a clear strategy for our year.
Member support Most of my time was devoted to the support of members. I was in contact with so many IAAS members, with National and Regional Directors, Organizing Committees… I spent many hours on Skype to discuss challenges and to offer guidance and support. I finished the IAAS World Visual Identity and shared everything on our new Outlook group. Furthermore, I was working on guides to provide more useful information to all members in the future.
Projects & IAAS2020 We started working on two of our main global projects for this year: NoFoodWaste, to create awareness about the huge amount of food wasted
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every year, and WomenInAgriculture, to support the role of women in agriculture. Next to those projects, we also shared and started implementing the IAAS2020 strategy
Applications for Boards and VPF One of the first decisions our new Executive Committee made, was the fact that we would like to have all Vice Presidents working together with IAAS members from all over the world in Quality Boards. So together with Ana, I opened the applications and encouraged our members to get involved in IAAS World. The EC was happy with the results and we are looking forward to work with the new Board members. In October, Mirjam Baumgartner, decided to resign from her function as VPF, so I informed all members and opened new applications, which our board reviewed.
Administration I went with the VPF to our bank in Leuven, Belgium, to arrange our bank access and I completed all documents for our official registration at the court in Leuven. If you have any questions about IAAS or myself, feel free to contact me, I will be happy to answer! I’m looking forward to work together with all of you! Many greetings, Ruth
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Mirjam Baumgartner – Vice President of Finance (until 31/10), vpfinance@iaasworld.org So what does a Vice President of Finance do? During the last 2 months I got the chance to experience the daily business of an IAAS VPF, including the highs and the lows, the fun parts and the tedious ones. I hope to be able to give you an insight in my work and also an overview of what I accomplished. 1. Definitely a High: During the first live meeting with the amazing EC and CC in Leuven at the beginning of our term we officially registered at our bank. I got brand-new cards and we were good to go with the finances, this felt great! 2. Then, unexpectedly a lot of my energy went into troubleshooting with the bank. So basically I was busy with solving numerous difficulties with the ebanking, the credit card and telling people I am sorry to not be able to pay them back yet. But we’re getting there! 3. The fun part: The VPF got a great board to work with! Linda form Indonesia, Ramdane from Benin and Hristiyan from Bulgaria applied and are highly motivated to work for IAAS during this term. We had our first skype meeting and I am very happy. As 3 IAAS regions are represented in the board, I have hope that we can improve the financial situation of IAAS all over the world. 4. An accomplishment: The board and me just recently updated the application procedure for the Development Fund. By making the process easier, we hope that more people form A and B countries can profit from monetary support for the upcoming Regional Meetings! 5. The EC/CC chose a new VPF and I am happy that it is Ellen Van Mello to take over the duties of the VPF. She got officially elected by the General Assembly in Indonesia and knows the EC/CC team and way of working very well already. We will have a handover as soon as possible and I am sure she will be successful with keeping track of the budget, applying for grants and accomplishing all other duties of the VPF! I wish her the best of luck with all my heart!
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Ana Poštek – Vice President of Communication, vpcommunication@iaasworld I joined IAAS three years ago, with one thought in mind- I needed something more than my Faculty related to the world of agriculture. Few weeks after officially joining IAAS Croatia, I went on my first Exchange Week and there I realized that IAAS is so much more than I could ever expect. Not only I got more knowledge in the field of agriculture and related sciences, I have also met so many wonderful people with similar visions and interests, and those people soon became my motivation to become more involved in IAAS. Looking back at my first two months as a VP of Communication, I have to say I am pleased with my job. I have been in contact with many National Director, giving them advices and motivation they needed. Here I need to thank all of the wonderful Regional Director, who were a big help, especially in reaching the National Directors of the candidate member countries. Also, I have been working really hard on making IAAS more visible on the social media platforms – Facebook and Instagram – by sharing all information related to IAAS World and our network but also our future plans and projects, such as IAAS 2020 and No Food Waste project. By updating the website regularly, we inform all or our partners and sponsors about the progress of our network. Last but not least, I am happy to thank my wonderful Communication Board, who are great, motivated IAAS members ready to implement their ideas in a global environment. Lots of love, Ana Poštek, VP of Communication
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Nastya Bodarenko – Vice President of Exchange, vpexchange@iaasworld.org The first Strategy Meeting, beginning of September, was the first moment the whole EC-team was gathered together. There we worked on many different topics, one of it was of course ExPro. It was clear that this year, after the decisions made on WOCO, ExPro would change in many different ways. I started my term by contacting all the Exchange Coordinators, showing them my support and asking about recent developments in ExPro in their committee. The update about the financial changes followed soon, where I highlighted how beneficial these changes are for the local committees. Furthermore, I updated all the internships on the website. Recently, I’ve composed the EQB (Exchange Quality Board). I’m really looking forward to work with these enthusiastic and motivated members! I hope that together we will be able to work on different aspects of ExPro. I attended, together with Ruth Vandeputte, the ICA meeting. It was a nice opportunity to present IAAS and ExPro, to network and make good connections with deans and rectors. Next to that, I try to take every possibility to attend company presentations and networking events and to promote the Exchange Program on my own university. Besides the communication in real life, I’m also often having Skype meetings: weekly with the EC&CC, board members, ExCo’s and other members. Last but not least, the database is one of my main tasks: general check- and follow-ups. Above that, it will be my goal this year to activate, improve and make this system more efficient. It has been a challenging two months, but still going further with the same motivation as in the beginning of the year!
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Constantine Sarafis - Vice President of External Relations, vppartnership@iaasworld.org Hey guys, My name is Constantine Sarafis and I’m the Vice President of External Relations for this year. I'm from Greece, I’m on my 5th year of studying Agriculture/Crop Production in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and mainly I’m a 3rd year IAASer. Since September lots of work was done by our amazing team. • Our year started by organizing our team during the first Strategy Meeting in Belgium. • Next step is this year’s work was my participation in Youth Alliance’s International Conference in Krusevo, FYROM. Got a lot of new ideas and networked with really interesting people. • Following up I continued working on last year’s partnership building with Study Portals and had a briefing update with Though For Food for this year’s plans. • Hardest task was applying for European Youth Foundation Grant. Three full days on my laptop writing down our propositions for the Council of Europe (and many more preparing for it). P.S. We already passed two rounds of applications and waiting for the final call) • Final days of October had me helping with European Directors Meeting and their budget, having skype meetings together with Ruth with the Organizers of African Directors Meeting and WoCo 2017 in Mexico My next year’s plan is to create a big International event for IAAS and through this the goal is to get more exposure, publicity and visibility for our Association. First small (and bigger) steps have already been and I couldn’t be more excited about this project. I believe it will be the step we needed for a long time to upgrade our global image, attract more members to join our Network, more Universities to contribute to our work and more professionals to believe in Youth and support it. I won’t reveal more… Build a little bit of suspense. Big things are coming!
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Control Committee (CC) During the World Congress Giannis (ex VP of Finance), Josipa (ex President) and Ellen where chosen to fill in the position as Control Committee (CC). The CC tries to support the Executive committee and makes sure decision are taking according to the constitution, they facilitate meetings and will lead the general assembly. During this term Giannis from Greece will support the VP of Finance and the VP of Exchange, with his experience he will try to give them the best advice. Josipa from Croatia will help the President and VP of Communication during this year and Ellen was assigned to follow the VP of External Relations. During the first strategy meeting in Ghent Ellen (from Belgium) facilitated the meeting where the EC discussed the one-year strategy and the future events. After Mirjam decided that she would not longer be VP of Finance, there was a new election in which Ellen stepped up and was elected by the EC as new VP of finance.
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The Network Every year the IAAS Network goes through some changes, declared by the General Assembly. In this section an overview of our committees is given. The detailed overview can be found on our website www.iaasworld.org. Message to local and national committees If information on the website is missing/incorrect, if you changed local and national boards since last year, please inform me (Ana, vpcommunication@iaasworld.org).
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IAAS and PARTNERS
ICA In the end of October Ruth Vandeputte, President of IAAS World, and Nastya Bondarenko, Vice President of Exchange, had the chance to present IAAS on the 6th ICA Rectors and Deans Forum. IAAS was invited to present its association to the rectors and deans of European universities, which was a great opportunity to grow our network! IAAS members got the chance to share their opinion about 'Students in the Global World', how universities can prepare and support their students in the best way possible. It was a wonderful experience and many universities were interested in starting new committees or supporting IAAS via the Study Abroad Program. We would like to thank all IAAS members who gave their input and contributed to improve our relationship with universities. Together IAAS and our universities can grow further!
IAAS 2020 Strategy IAAS 2020 was created as aa long-term ambition that shows us a clear strategic direction with measurable progress, challenges IAAS and refreshes the ambition and excitement, and aligns what we do with what the world needs.
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About IAAS 2020 The IAAS2020 Strategy was created during the General Assembly on the IAAS World Congress in July 2016 in Indonesia. The creation process was guided by the Executive Committee of 20152016 under the leadership of former President Josipa Arapovic. IAAS 2020 strategy is striving for excellence by empowering future leaders in a diverse, innovative and team focused environment. We believe that it is highly important for the members of IAAS at both national and local level, to be involved in the IAAS activities, in order to develop their leadership potential through experiential learning, training experiences and professional General Assembly attendance. IAAS events can have a global impact and enable the members to discover and activate their potential as well as transforming the participants with life changing experiences abroad that redefine the way they see themselves, and the world.
Find more about our IAAS 2020 values on www.iaasworld.org/iaas-2020.
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IAAS ACTIVITIES
VCP IAAS LC-UB VCP (Village Concept Project) is a social service program which is dedicated for some villages in Indonesia with the purpose of increasing the concern from the villagers about the development of the village itself. Located in the east side of Malang City, East Java, Indonesia, VCP IAAS LC UB is holding a service in a village named Taji Village. A Village which is included on the list of “under-developed Village” is the goal of VCP IAAS LC UB up to the next 5 years. What do we do? This year, VCP IAAS LC UB is focusing on the three main problems in the village; education, environment, and entrepreneur. These problems will always be analyzed, and we have to find the solutions up to the next 5 years. For example, the problem in the education field is the lack of passion for studying from the elementary school children. Another example is from environment field, that is the greening system which does not have any positive correlation towards the environment. From the entrepreneur field is the lack of concern from the people about making income by producing a processed product which has high value sales. Because of those problems, VCP IAAS LC UB Team tries to look for the solutions by taking the concept of “clean village”. For the problems from education field, VCP IAAS LC UB Team is focusing on the increase of passion for studying from the children with “fun learning” activity, with the help from the school relating about the output to bring out the concern of how important education is, and with the hope that they will be the people that are responsible for the village’s future. The solution for the problem from environment field is to focus on the increase of concern from the villagers, by facilitating them with trash bins, and empowering them to make a usage from the waste to make compost. We hope that the output from this problem would increase the concern of the villagers to keep the environment clean, so that the village could be a tourist destination in the future. The problem from entrepreneur field, VCP IAAS LC UB Team is focusing on the increase of concern from the villagers to make a product
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with processed food. We hope that the output from this problem would make the villagers have sufficient earnings and they could use technology nicely.
The 8th IAAS LC IPB Olympic: IAAS on Action IAAS on Action or IOA is an annual event held by IAAS LC IPB Chapter Indonesia, as part of The 8th IAAS Olympic. The IAAS Olympic is a series of events that differ annually. This year we have taken the theme ‘Encouraging Local Agricultural Products in order to Ensure Sustainable Consumption and Production Pattern: Caisim Cultivation at Cinangneng Village’ and implementing two main events which is IAAS on Training and IAAS on Action. This report will focus on IAAS on Action which was held on the 16th of October, 2016. This year’s IAAS on Action is aimed to bring students and farmers together to discuss about how to better the agricultural and business system currently running in Cinangneng Village. We also contribute to local villagers by distributing and planting Caisim seeds in their neighborhood as a source of healthy consumption. The participants, made up of both IAAS members and non-IAAS volunteers, are divided into four groups directed to four locations of cultivation in the village. By doing this activity, we hope to ease the burden of travelling and cost to buy fresh vegetables from the market as these vegies are planted very near their homes. We also hope that the villagers, especially housewives, will make a habit of planting and maintaining their own food. Through this event, students who interact with farmers learn the skills earned only by experience of long time work in the field. All the seeds distributed in this event was provided by Indonesian Center for Biodiversity and Biotechnology (ICBB) as IAAS LC IPB’s partner. After the field work was done, the students, farmers, and representatives of ICBB gathered together at the Village Office’s Hall for a sharing session and Focused Group Discussion (FGD). A lot of students were curious about the farmers’ plans to develop their ‘business’. This is
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interesting because this ‘business’ involves a chain of people with their own roles to get food from the ground and onto dining tables. It’s a problem because some money can get ‘lost’ on the way of this long chain, resulting in more money for some and less money for others. Farmers often become the victims of this business chain and are forced to lower their prices enormously. Students also ask local farmers about the processes of traditional farming. The event then continued on to the FGD between participants. They were grouped into four different groups, each discussing one of four points which are: 1. The agricultural condition in Cinangneng Village, 2. Pest problems and their solutions, 3. Strategies of marketing, and 4. Agricultural institutions of Cinangneng Village. The results of the discussion are then presented to the farmers in hopes that it can be implemented to better the overall agricultural system in Cinangneng Village. The representative of ICBB, Mr. Azwar, and the village secretary, Mr. Nanda both expressed their hopes that Cinangneng will keep improving, especially after IAAS on Action was held. Their closing speeches thus mark the end of IAAS on Action and The 8th IAAS Olympic. Before heading back to campus, we took a photo of all participants to commemorate the fun event. Our hopes for this event is for all participants to be more aware of problems in agriculture, and can work together to implement the basic foundation of our event which is the twelfth Sustainable Development Goals, ‘Sustainable Food Production and Consumption’. We hope the next IAAS Olympic will keep improving and keep benefiting both local students and farmers.
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WoCo Indonesia In order to be represented as IAAS Germany in IAAS World, I joined this year’s World Congress in Indonesia. It was an amazing event with great insights both into the culture and agriculture of the country. All in all there were members of around half of the member states and thus it was a great experience to just have chats with people from all over the world. I can only recommend to every member of IAAS to join an event like this and to take active part in the discussions about new member states, finances, the strategy of IAAS World for the next years or the constitution. It might sound a bit boring, but if you keep in mind that this is where you can bring in yourown ideas and shape our association it is just amazing! The different committees in Indonesia were very motivated and helpful; they tried to make the best out of our stay in their country and at their universities. After the WoCo, I had decided to stay four more weeks and do an internship with the Exchange Program from IAAS. It was a great opportunity to get a closer look on the work in a small company and of course to get to know more people and their way of life. My hosting committee was IAAS Indonesia at UGM, they were
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great. Not only did they organize everything for the internship, but also my accommodation and trips for the weekends. If anyone of you wants to learn more about agriculture or connected industries in a specific country, I can only recommend you to use the Exchange Program! To see also a different country with its agriculture, I joined the Green Week in Spain in octobre. It was all about sustainability and future agricultural possibilities. We had a great time, even though we were only four participants. Credits for that go to the committee in Madrid that consists of quite some amazing people. Also with this small number we had the possibility to get to know each other quite well. We visited the university and had a selfmade paella with some ingredients from their university garden, visited one of the biggest breweries in Europe, the Prada museum and a research center. Thanks to all the organizers, both in Spain and Indonesia, for making this year a great year with IAAS for me! Best regards, Elsa, IAAS Germany
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IAAS ECUADOR On Saturday, September 17, IAAS ECUADOR hosted the event that took place in the auditorium of the head office of the Cooperativa de Ahorro y Crédito Luz del Valle, one of our sponsors along with RENAJU PICHINCHA, SOTAM and CLIMATES COP in my City intended to be the letter of introduction to the largest event ever held in Ecuador COY 12 (World Youth Conference), we presented mock-up proposals representing countries that had a greater participation in the Paris COP. Movement aimed at empowering young people with the concept of "simul-action", which consisted in simulations of the Summit in ten different cities, paired with a debriefing phase and on-going mobilization. The core idea was to prove that youth was ready to play an active part in international negotiations and to shape its own vision for a sustainable world.
IAAS MONTENEGRO During the past period, IAAS Montenegro committee started developing plans for projects, local, national and international. Also, during the September and October, or members participated in Exchange Week by IAAS Slovenia and IAAS Bonn seminar, where our members had great time and brought beautiful memories. As a new committee, in order to present IAAS to new students and those who wanted to know more, we made Open day of IAAS Montenegro at Biotechnical faculty in Podgorica. There, students could find out more about who we are and what we do, so we received more than 50 new membership applications. *The day of apiculture* was a bigger project, where we made collaboration with National Association of bee holders of Montenegro.
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That project started with one-day seminar at the House of honey, where our professors from Biotechnical faculty held lectures about protection of bees and technology of bee keeping. Also, we represented IAAS to producers and students that attended to event. One of our members is also the youngest registered and very successful bee keeper in Montenegro so he shared his experience with participants as well. Future plans are based on education of younger population about interesting themes and connect it with our Village concept.
21 Future plans and projects are being developed, which means a lot of new, educational and funny projects from IAAS Montenegro soon! Author: Anđela Komnenić
IAAS INDONESIA One year snapfood campaign – encourage society to make zero food waste This year, Snapfood is celebrating one year since its official launch in commemorating World Food Day in 2015. It was born from the global problem that called FOOD
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WASTE in the world. The fact says that 1.3 billion tons get lost or wasted in the world, over 97% of food waste generated ends up in the landfill beside that the food waste is giving impact to environmental problem because every ton of food wasted results in 3.8 tons of greenhouse gas emissions and many more. We believe by finishing the food without leaving any waste is the littlest thing which bring a wide impact to appreciate all the agriculture role on how the food is processed. So Snapfood is an online campaign initiated by IAAS Indonesia that aimed to encourage society especially the youth to appreciate their food and the farmer works. It is formed by taking picture of food on before and after finish the food. Until now, more than 100 snapfood has been received to IAAS Indonesia. Besides, we held Snapfood special edition in commemorating special day like World Milk Day, Ied Fitri and Nasional Farmer’s Day. We’d like to say thank you to everyone who send their snapfood to inspire and encourage society to appreciate food and farmer works. Let’s do more positive action by joining Snapfood and invite people to finish their food. Then if you haven’t join Snapfood, please join us. Every Saturday is Snapfood Day. How to join snapfood? 1. Take picture of your food BEFORE you eat 2. Eat your food and finish it 3. Take picture of your food AFTER you eat 4. Then combine it, and share on your instragram Caption format:
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I Join Snapfood by @iaas_indonesia, (your best caption) Tag @iaas_indonesia and use #iaas #snapfood #worldfoodday #finishyourfood *Please don’t lock your instagram, so we can receive your Snapfood
IAAS ZIMBABWE Club exhibition We marked off the beginning of the semesters by exhibiting the club the general population of the University students especially the 1st year pupils. This was a success as we managed to sign-up over 30 students who were fascinated by the goals of the club. We also managed to exhibit the club at the Manicaland Agricultural Show. Upcoming Projects Aquaculture We proposed the resuscitation of the fish breeding site located at the University Farm. A lot of ground was made, which included consulting an Aquaculture expert on the requirements needed to kick-off the project. We did the costing of the project so that we could source funding of the project from faculty. They were happy to assist since want to have an integrated farming approach. Some of the benefits for this Project are as follows: As far as fish production is concerned, it serves the major purpose of providing cheap feedstuffs and organic manure for the fish ponds, thereby reducing the cost and need for providing compounded fish feeds and chemical fertilizers. By reducing the cost of fertilizers and feedstuffs the overall cost of fish production is reduced and profits increased. The profit from fish culture is often increased 3040 percent as a result of integration.
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Secondly, the overall income is increased by adding pig and/or poultry raising, grain and vegetable farming, etc., which supplement the income from fish farming. Thirdly, by producing grain, vegetables, fish and livestock products, the community becomes self-sufficient in regard to food and this contributes to a high degree of self-reliance. Fourthly, the silt from the ponds which is used to fertilize crops, increases the yield of crops at a lower cost and the need to buy chemical fertilizer is greatly reduced. It is estimated that about one third of all the fertilizer required for farming in the country comes from fish ponds. The production of freshwater pearls in fish ponds provides one more additional source of income. Biogas We are looking at a setting up a biogas digester at the University Farm for the purposes of managing waste and generating renewable that can cut down the electricity bill of the farm. We setup a prototype to find out which slurry produces the most methane. Since it can be a high capital project we still exploring the different avenues we can fund the project. Author: Scarlet Rutendo Zhangazha, IAAS Zimbabwe Secretary Letter from National Director (Miss Anne-marie Tafadzwa Dzinoreva) There is no greater joy than seeing what never existed, grow to existence. I officially opened IAAS Zimbabwe chapter in 2015. And I am very happy to see the organization grow. We are excited to have five of our members preparing to go for the African Directors Meeting in Kenya on the 1st of December to the 6th of December 2016.
[ Do not give up on something that brings good to the people around you, you never know how much they have been waiting for your idea to be brought to reality- Anne-marie Dzinoreva].
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Since my term as the National Director of IAAS Zimbabwe, I have met different IAAS members that have motivated me through their undivided love and attention for IAAS. And I was touched more by Mr Learnmore Manjengwa who is still in the process of starting a Local Committee, but greatly participates in our IAAS Activities. Even though he is facing difficulties in building up a committee at his Institution, he visits our IAAS World website, he is in the process of applying for our IAAS internships, he applied for ADM Kenya and follows up on our work daily. His drive got me wondering and thankfully he agreed to share his motivation with all of us, enjoy reading it. Thank you. Author: Mr Learnmore Manjengwa I would like to express my gratitude to the national director for such a golden opportunity to share my article with fellow students and the world at large. It has been my passion to be a forester one day and now my dream is in the making. My source of motivation comes from some success stories and great opportunities offered to students like Anne-marie and I think given the same opportunity future and current students are likely to benefit in more ways than one. I like the fact that IAAS promotes unity through group work. I believe together each produces more. Since I have been enrolled at our institution late August I have explained about opportunities offered by IAAS to the lecturers only to get little attention and postponements, nonetheless I think like any new system introduced people are likely to first critically analyze it before it is accepted. In order to achieve great things in life one must never take giving up as an option. I understand that the future is not promised to the faint-hearted, it may take long for people to embrace an idea but at the end they will accept it as long one keeps on pushing, delay is not denial. Likewise we all want to be associated with the enormous in any situation, IAAS being the
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biggest students association in life sciences has attracted my attention. Furthermore it tries to bring together people of diverse background and experience to explore ideas and share new technologies. It also incorporates less developed countries in its activities which is a very noble. I also like the idea of students having opportunities to get international internships in other countries. I would love to also grab such an opportunity with both hands. I salute IAAS for this, keep up the good work together we will make this world a better place.
IAAS CHILE October 3 rd : IAAS Chile participated in “ENAGRO 2016” National meeting in agriculture, there were presentations about Chilean agriculture sector and the new policies to be applied. October 12th: The 3rd version of the job fair was organized where agronomy students could get information and apply for jobs during summer. It was possible to gather 400 students of agronomy and 12 agriculture companies. October 23 rd: New directive 2016 - 2017 National director: Macarena Naranjo Exchange coordinador: Dennys Lizama Vp finance: Diego Bisquertt Vp communications: Paulina Carevic Vp external relationship: Diego Malagueño -Control Committee: Alejandro Torres, Agustin Nuyens, Barbara Teuber
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IAAS ECUADOR Mobilizing the youth and increasing knowledge about climate change and international climate negotiations during the next Conferences of the Parties (COP); Deepening the interconnections existing between international climate negotiations and local climate action; Creating a strong international and multi-cultural community of young agents of change committed to the fight against climate change. On Friday October 28 and Saturday October 29, IAAS ECUADOR in conjunction with RENAJU, UISEK, IAAS CHILE, GAD SANTO DOMINGO and others performed for the first time in the city of Santo Domingo, Ecuador the COY12 a presentation of associations and organizations from a variety of Disciplines. Participated in numerous conferences, workshops, exhibitions, creative events, which were held daily. More than 500 young were also present. Several th connected to climate change were covered: agriculture, water stress, biodiversity, sustainable transport and energy. Organized in line with the COP22, COY provided a forum for the world’s youth to discuss and exchange experiences and solutions against the effects of climate change. In terms of civil society, the youth are an important component in taking concrete action against climate change.
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IAAS INDONESIA IAAS Summit - “Bringing Agriculture to the New Sexy” Jakarta-Indonesia, Saturday, October 22nd, 2016 IAAS Indonesia successfully held The First IAAS Summit. IAAS Summit is a breakthrough that initiated by IAAS Indonesia that brings a mission to “re-branding” agriculture in Indonesia especially for the youth. As “Bringing Agriculture to the New Sexy” is chosen as the topic, IAAS Summit invited various stakeholders such as from government institution, companies, organizations, communities, and students to contribute together for developing agriculture in Indonesia and foster the young generation interest in agriculture to make it more knowledgeable as interesting, exploratory, and prospective sector. This year is an exceptional year for IAAS Indonesia.
The event opened by Mr. Ali Abdi from the Agricultural Sector of US
Dr. Ageng (FAO Indonesia) gave a keynote speech
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Embassy by giving his opening remarks continued by Mr. Harimurti who gave his keynote speech about history of IAAS Indonesia according to his personal view regarding youth involvement in agriculture. Mr. Ageng as one of the keynote speaker from the FAO Indonesia Representative talked about current condition and the reason why young generation should more involve in agriculture. He as well said “One of the biggest challenge of agriculture is climate change.” The importance of climate recurrence is relatively high. “Climate change shifts every aspects of life,” he added. IAAS Summit had two sessions of Agritalk, a seminar and Q&A sessions, with five speakers from several of backgrounds. The first topic was “Youth Agripreneur” which invited Thought For Food (TFF) Mashita Fajri, Mr. Kukuh Roxa Putra Hadriyani from PT. Pandawa Putra and also Ms. Kartinah Wahyu Wiyati from PT. Pupuk Indonesia. In this session, they talked about why young generation better to make new innovation for agriculture development. Agritalk The second topic was “Creating The Next Contributor of Indonesia’s Agriculture” with Dr. Rizki Pandu Pernama as Sector Leader Agriculture SNV Indonesia who gave explanation about SNV Contribution in Agriculture sector in Indonesia and Andi Cipta Asmawanty from OXFAM Indonesia who share their thought about Growing with Youth in Agriculture and explained about Duta Petani Muda the event that find young agriprenuer, she said “Indonesia has been lacking in agricultural especially in accessibility of good labors,” she mentioned. For 24 years, IAAS Indonesia has been developing many ways to create a sustainable living growth in agriculture and related sciences. Growing in more than 50 countries and about 10.000 members, IAAS is the
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largest international student association in agriculture and related sciences. IAAS Indonesia brought together many inspiring programs such as Snapfood Campaign (a movement to remind the society of no food waste measure), Village Concept Project (a program of which targets the empowering rural society); national and international exchange programs (a prospect of internship program made for the youths), AgriYouth (an original campaign aim to re-brand the agriculture by in an unique way), and also their vision towards the field of agriculture. IAAS Indonesia as the leading agricultural youth development and dedicated organization has a mission to create world class member with grassroots understanding particularly in agriculture. In addition, IAAS Indonesia aim to bring up the most important issues like rural community, education, environment, food waste on the subject of make a better change for the sake of sustainable living. IAAS Awarding The last session was IAAS Partnership Awarding. The event was made because IAAS Indonesia felt that it was time to give back to whom has been supporting their advancement. On that night, IAAS Indonesia was able to express their gratitude by awarding 6 partners, which are:
-PT. Indmira -ICBB (Indonesian Center for Biodiversity and Biotechnology) -IDKP (Gerakan Indonesia Diet Kantong Plastik) -Kelompok Wanita Komplek Al-ichwan Banjarbaru -Rumah Hijau Hydrofarm
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-PT. Pupuk Indonesia With highly appreciations from IAAS Indonesia, IAAS Partnership Awarding became one of the highlight at that night. Not only they wished that their ongoing partnership will be sustainable through the years but also wished to give back to more partners in the future. IAAS Summit would like to thank the honourable guests that came to the event; Mr. Ali from the Agricultural Sector of US Embassy who gave few opening remarks, Agritalk speakers from PT. Pandawa Putra Indonesia Group, TFF, PT. Pupuk Indonesia, SNV Indonesia and OXFAM Indonesia, partners of IAAS Indonesia, and also participants of the event. By this event, IAAS Indonesia hoped for sustainable strategic partnership and a new spirit of re-branding agricultural sector. IAAS, Think Globally, Act Locally! Written by: Tri Wahyu Melani
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59 World Congress of International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS) Indonesia, 2016 – IAAS Indonesia held an event which gathered over 60 agricultural students from around the globe to attend the biggest and most important event of the year: the 59th World Congress of the International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related Sciences (IAAS). This summer, the committee of IAAS Indonesia organised the World Congress across the Java Island from July 23rd until August 14th. The theme of the event was ‘Plant Your Future’. Quoting from one of the Sustainable Development Goals with 169 targets: ‘you reap what you sow’, what means that
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what happens in the future depends on which seeds and in which way the seeds are sown in the present. In other words, our committee wanted to make an impact in the agricultural sector on a large scale.
Day-1 Bogor was the city in which WoCo started with an official opening ceremony in Bogor Agricultural University. The representatives from the University gave lectures regarding the theme which would inspire the delegates throughout the whole event. The delegates were briefed by the Local Committee about their stay in Bogor. In the afternoon, they enjoyed a tour around the campus and later that night, the delegates were welcomed by the Mayor for a beautiful Gala Dinner.
Day-2 On July 24th, the WoCo delegates had an excursion and leisure time around the city, where they played traditional games and walked around the Bogor Botanical Garden. They also enjoyed an Orchid workshop and were able to discover a big variety of Orchid species.
Day-3&4 Time for the General Assembly (GA)! We discussed internal affairs of IAAS World among the acceptance of new Candidate Members, the amendments of the Constitution & By-laws of IAAS and we reviewed the work of the previous Executive Committee (EC).
Day-5 The 1st International Youth Symposium on Creative Agriculture (IYSCA) was held on the 5th day of the Congress, to promote IAAS on a national and international scale. The symposium’s purpose was to let the participants - not only the delegates but also other public international students -brainstorm about innovation in agriculture. Later that night, the participants of IYSCA and the delegates gathered together for a gala dinner accompanied by traditional dance and other local entertainment.
Day-6 The Congress visited ‘Sabisa Farm’ to get to know the cultivation of one of the most popular local tropical fruits, dragon fruit. The delegates from tropical countries would be able to cultivate different types of dragon fruit in their own hometown afterwards. After the farm visit, the delegates
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went on a trip to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. The presenter explained how Southeast Asia countries’ association might differ from any other regional association. To end the night, there was free time at a nearby mall.
Day-7 The 3rd session of the GA in Bogor was held to discuss our new long-term strategy ‘IAAS 2020’. The delegates gave ideas and hopes regarding the future of IAAS and added them to the IAAS Tree of Values. This was the last day for the delegates’ stay in Bogor, so the Local Committee organized a nice farewell party.
Day-8 The delegates travelled to Bandung where they were welcomed humbly by the Local Committee with a gala dinner for the first edition of the ‘IAAS World Excellence Awards’.
Day-9 In Bandung, we explored the Indonesian culture, so the Organizing Committee gave us the chance to play a very famous traditional music instrument, the Angklung. A wonderful experience, all playing and dancing together. Later that day, we visited ‘Jendela Alam’, a touristic farm where the delegates got to know more about the local agriculture in general, such as cultivating different commodities and a better view on the animal husbandry sector. Afterwards, we went for sightseeing and dinner to the city centre. To finish the day, we had our famous IAAS Development Fund night, where typical items which the delegates brought from their home country, were sold to support IAAS members from low income countries to attend international events.
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Day-10 On August 1st, cultural performances were held before the delegates moved to the next city, Semarang. We arrived late that night because of a long trip and crazy traffic.
Day-11 In Semarang, we could visit Sam Poo Kong, a local Chinese temple. Then, hours before the sunset, the delegates were invited to plant some mangrove at a Village Concept Project (VCP) site of mangrove plantation. The main purpose of mangrove trees is to prevent coastal land as such from flooding with their numerous sturdy trunks. This was a great experience for us, because we helped the locals restoring local animal habitats and protected the city from flooding.
Day-12 On Wednesday, we visited the sponsor, PT Sidomuncul, a famous local company based on traditional herbs. We got a tour around its production site and learned a lot about producing medicines from spices and herbs. The company also owned a little zoo for the visitors with local animals, in which our delegates could walk around. In the afternoon, we went to another VCP site which was in Gemawang Village. The people in this village have different occupations, from farming until crafting Batik. The delegates were impressed by the humbleness of the villagers and we also got to learn how to craft Batik. Before the sunset, we continued our trip to Yogyakarta, where we arrived during the night.
Day-13 After two full days in Semarang, we had our 4th GA session, where the next Executive and Control Committees 2016-2017 were elected, after they symbolically had to make wine from a bunch of grapes and watermelon with their feet.
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Day-14 The last GA day existed of brainstorming for global projects and discussion of the amendments that were proposed for changes in the Constitution & By-laws. In the evening, we had a huge ‘Trade Fair’ event where each delegate presented local food and drinks and everyone had the chance to taste meals from all over the world.
Day-15 Today, the delegates visited PT Indmira, a local farm of a VCP. We were invited to plant paddy in a rice field. Later that day, we went for a farm visit to Sabila farm. Unfortunately, due to heavy rain, we were not able to have a tour on the farm, but we enjoyed some cooking with dragon fruit.
Day-16 The delegates were divided in 2 groups. One group went to visit the famous Borobudur temple and another group visited Taman Sari and Keraton. All of them are touristic places. In the afternoon, we went to buy souvenirs in Malioboro Street and had dinner at Balai Raos, where we played games and were singing Indonesian songs, as well as ‘Happy Birthday’ songs in all different languages.
Day-17 The delegates had to wake up early in the morning and took the train to Malang, the last city. It took quite a long time to reach our final stop. During the trip, there were many beautiful views where we could see many farm fields and mountains.
Day-18 The International Youth Climate Summit (IYCS) was held in Brawijaya University with the theme ‘Environmental Conservation VS Industrial Development’ highlighting one of SDGs purposes: climate action. Industrial development should grow rapidly and cannot be separated from the needs of modern society. Unfortunately, industrial development has negative impacts, such as global warming, that threaten our world. We, as the next
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generation in society, are challenged to change what has been going wrong for the past decades.
Day-19&20 Taji village is the VCP site of the local committee of Malang. The delegates were asked here to stay at the homes of local villagers. This way they learned about the daily life of villagers in Indonesia. It was a great experience for them to have felt the nature of the countryside. The villagers invited the delegates for dinner, organized a bonfire and prepared many traditional games.
Day-21 The trip to the volcano site of Mount Bromo was another memorable activity for the delegates as they travelled by Jeep to get to the savanna and watched the sunrise there. Later that day, we enjoyed rafting in a local river.
Day-22 The time went way too fast and the end of WoCo was near. The closing ceremony was held in Batu City. Author: Moh Athif Virtino, Organizing Committee of IAAS Indonesia
Thank you, IAAS Indonesia for all your energy! Thank you for being so welcoming, kind and helpful during the whole event!
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IAAS FRANCE Integration On the 7th of September, for the integration of the new first year student at our school, IAAS France managed a stand. We made a world map with 4 colours to do a Twister. We try to get known the association because we were our berets and we explain what is IAAS and what we do! Breakfast On the 4th of October, in order to promote IAAS France in our university, we made a breakfast. The idea was to have all of the IAAS France members preparing something for a breakfast (cakes, chocolates, eggs and bacon, tea, pancakes…) and propose it to all the students at a low price from 8 am to 12 am. The money earned went to IAAS France founds for activities. It was a great experience for the IAAS members but also to help promote the organisation into our university environment. Trade fair for us On the 6th November, we organized also a kind of trade fair only between IAAS France members and with
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local food from different place in France. This trade fade was organized in order to let new members discover what’s a trade fair to show us what IAAS do during exchange weeks. It permits to know better each other and enhance group cohesion too!
IAAS SPAIN GREENWEEK 2016 REPORT Amazing week, even though planned for 7 participants, finally it was only four, which gave the event a familiar environment that allowed us to bond and share our experiences, opinions and knowledge involving many different topics. After several weeks of intense organization, the International GreenWeek took place between the 9th and 16th of October, 2016. Despite the enormous challenge of being a completely new CC board of IAAS Spain and having only four international participants, everything went smoothly! We started on Sunday, picked the participants up from the airport and, as we got to know each other, we took them to the center of Madrid to allow them to see the busy lifestyle of Madrid on Sundays. At night we spent a chill night at the hostel, as they were tired from the long journeys they had had. On Monday we took them to our university, showed them the faculty and the practice fields, where they attended a lecture of one of our Professors and showed them the greenhouse where they grow different vegetal species. They were also able to see all the machinery and crops, as well as the university’s eagle and how it’s trained. For lunch that day we made the traditional Spanish “Paella” a typical dish based on rice, which we all enjoyed while we got to share different aspects of our cultures. Monday afternoon we did a city rally around Madrid, during which we visited the most symbolic places of the city, such as the Royal Palace, the Almudena’s Cathedral, Spain square, the Oldest Flower Shop and many other symbolic places of the city.
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Tuesday morning we went to visit the beer brewery “Mahou”, which is the most well known beer in Madrid. There, we were able to visit the factory and try some of the beer varieties they produce. In the afternoon we went to the mountains in Madrid, where we took a trip around the area and spent the night in a shelter. During our stay in the mountains we were able to get to know the different plant species around there and at night, the traditional IAAS Trade Fair took place, where we could try all the specialties from each country. After spending the night in the mountains, on Wednesday morning we visited a small beer brewery, which allowed us to compare the differences between the two beer making processes; the big scale on Mahou, and the craft beer produced in small scale by the traditional brewery “Gabarrera”. After the visit, we returned to Madrid and the participants had some free time to buy souvenirs and other products. On Thursday we visited the Biotechnology laboratory associated with our university, the CBGP (Center of Biotechnology and Plant Genomics), where we attended to a lecture given by one of our professors, as well as a guided visit of the lab facilities and set some debates where the participants could ask the researches about different topics. In the afternoon we visited several urban orchards in different representative buildings around Madrid. At night we went to a traditional Spanish restaurant for dinner, to introduce the participants even more in the Spanish typical cuisine. Friday morning we attended a lecture at our University about “Crops adapted to climate change”, after which we organized a debate where we all could share our different points of view about the topic. In the afternoon we visited the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid, we did a guided tour among the garden and we could also visit the greenhouse. On Saturday we sent to the most representative park of Madrid, the Retiro, where we walked around the gardens and we got to visit an agroecological market and a giant pumpkin contest, as well as the lake located in the middle of the park, in which we rented some small rowing boats and fully experienced the typical Spanish Retiro. At night we had to say goodbye to the people who we had shared this magnificent experience with, we had the farewell dinner in which we talked about our impressions of the week and did a small feedback in order for us to improve our
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organization skills. The Greenweek has been a week of enjoying the true feeling of FamilIAAS, the fact that only four international participants attended allowed it to be even more familiar. We shared so many aspects of our lives that from IAAS Spain we are sure they all went home with a deep feeling that they belong in IAAS, and they all have a place to stay whenever they visit Spain. We have been blessed with all the amazing people we’ve met along the week and we will take these memories wherever we go, always bearing in mind that experiencing IAAS is one of the best ways to enjoy our time in university. Thank you to all the people who made this possible, you are true FamilIAAS. Go further, go IAAS!
IAAS HOHENHEIM In the winter period of IAAS Hohenheim we are focussing on ‘sustainability’ in every possible way. Because we are studying at a growing University, more room for our students is needed and in order to get some our University is building new lecture halls and a new canteen building. Unfortunately, many trees had to give way to those new buildings. That is why IAAS Hohenheim has decided to donate a small tree to our University park. As in the past years IAAS Hohenheim was organising a huge student party in October on our campus in order to improve our reputation at the University and also to strengthen our team. Not only was our Halloween party a huge success with more than 1’000 students participating also we were again particularly focussing on having a ‘sustainable’ party. In order to do that we were only selling reusable beer bottles on which we had a deposit of 2 € each in order to get the bottles back. Furthermore, we used reusable cups which were being washed after the party instead of using cups which are used once only. For the decoration we mainly used things that can be found outside. Just recently we were nominated by IAAS Spain to participate on the #IAASustainable cooking project and that is why on our last meeting we were cooking our traditional dish Käßspätzle, some sort of swabian pasta in
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the most possible sustainable way. For that reason we bought our products at local distributors or on farms and we were thinking of how to make creative use of our produced waste. For more of that you can have a look at our Facebook page within the next days. Warm regards from IAAS Hohenheim to all fellow IAAS committees. Join #IAASustainable
IAAS Party
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IAASustainable cooking
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IAAS BELGIUM Welcoming meetings for new members
At the start of the academic year, both IAAS Gent and IAAS Leuven held welcoming meetings, where people who are interested in joining IAAS can attend. Sadly, not that many new people showed up, but the meeting was very lively nonetheless. International Fika – 4/10/2016 As is a tradition, IAAS Gent organises an International Fika every year. ‘Fika’ is Swedish for a coffee break with a lot of desserts and that’s why IAAS Gent sells homemade desserts during this event. This year, a lot of desserts were sold out quickly and it was very successful. This event helps IAAS Gent to make some publicity for the students in their faculty.
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Trade Fair – 18/10/2016 For World Food Day, IAAS Leuven hosted a Trade Fair that every student could attend. A band took care of the music and all the food was sold out very quickly. It was a very successful event, yet it was a pity most of the crowd was gone once the food was sold out and didn’t stay afterwards for a drink and some music. Ghent by Night & Buddy Program– 18/10/2016 IAAS Gent also held an event in honour of World Food Day. They organised their yearly ‘Ghent by Night’, a city game through Ghent. The theme this year was farmers and food, everyone got dressed up and had a lot of fun. The amount of students who showed up were less than expected, but still enough to ensure a great game night. The winners got a prize of Belgian specialties when everyone went for a drink afterwards in a local pub. It was a great evening all in all. This event was also an opportunity to promote IAAS Gent’s Buddy Program, where international students at the faculty are linked to local students in Ghent. This year, there weren’t as many participants as last year in this Buddy Program, and not everyone was able to get matched to a local buddy.
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Exchange Week Slovenia – 25/09/2016 to 2/10/2016 End of September, three IAAS members (Nha Truc Van, Laura Moens and Eline Sonck, all from IAAS Gent) got the opportunity to visit Slovenia during an Exchange Week. They had a great time and visited a brewery, a genebank, a vertical farming company and much more. They had nothing but praise for this Exchange Week!
Conference “Designing the framework for bottom -up climate action” Brussels – 5/10/2016 Thanks to IAAS World, I myself got the chance to go with Nastya Bondarenko (VP of Exchange) to a climate conference in Brussels of the European Economic and Social Committee. The conference was extremely interesting and a great opportunity provided by IAAS!
Still to come: Exchange Week Belgium – 3/11/2016 to 10/11/2016 This year, IAAS Leuven and IAAS Gent are hosting an Exchange Week for IAAS members from Croatia, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and France. The general theme is tackling global challenges and sustainability. On the schedule: a visit to a brewery, visits to Brussels, Ghent, Bruges and Leuven,
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a pub crawl, a chicory farm, and much more! And you can always follow IAAS Belgium on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/iaasbelgium/), Twitter and Instagram (both @IAASBelgium) or our website (http://iaasbelgium.wixsite.com/iaasbelgium, in Dutch, but an English version of the website is in progress)! Author: Branwen Peddi, National Director of IAAS Belgium
IAAS SWITZERLAND Motivational Weekend “Back to the roots”, 13.-16.10.2016 Host: IAAS Switzerland Guests: see below From the 13th to the 16th of October, IAAS Switzerland has invited its neighbouring committees for a motivational weekend. Through this event the participants from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Slovenia had the chance to better get to know their region and make new friends. Around the topic “Back to the roots”, the IAASers got to enjoy the traditional Swiss cuisine and a live performance of the famous way of singing called “Jodel”. The highlight of the program was a full day of collecting our own food, followed by a cooking class where all ingredients were used. We started off with a tour in the forest where we learned about the local types of mushroom and how to distinguish the edible from the poisonous ones. Despite the very bad weather conditions we were lucky enough to find so many of the Chlorophyllum rachodes mushrooms to serve the 30 of us. We then continued our strawl in the city of Zurich, guided by one of the first Guerilla gardeners and author of the cooking book “Edible City”, Maurice Maggi. With his help we managed to collect a wild carrot, cornel cherries, blackthorn berries, beechnuts and stinging nettle (leaves and seeds) all grown in the city. The dinner tasted even better knowing that you collected the food yourself! After these 3 intense, interesting and exciting days we hope that our
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guests returned happy and full of new knowledge and we hope you all are motivated for our exchange week next spring!!
IAAS GERMANY Agriculture: Changing structures – new ways to success Here are some news on our exchange week that took place from October 23th to October 30th in Bonn (Germany). The topic was ‘Agriculture: Changing structures – new ways to success’ and we hope to have planned a diverse program in order to get an idea of this topic in Germany.
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Our guests arrived on Sunday from all over Europe. France, Montenegro, Greece, Sweden and the Netherlands were represented. We started our program on Monday with a visit to the sugar company Pfeifer & Langen in Euskirchen. Their main field of expertise is in the extraction of sugar from sugar beets. We were able to see all the procedures from the arrival of the beets to the end product: Liquid and solid sugar. Back in Bonn we were given a
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presentation by a physiotherapist who explained us how our body reacts to food and what you can achieve with different ways of eating. He also went into the different eating habits of the represented countries. In the spirit of a healthy nutrition we had some really good wraps afterwards. Tuesday began with a visit to the field laboratories from our university called Campus Klein Altendorf. We got a tour around the place, different projects on renewable energies were explained to us and we had a lot of fun during a tractor ride through the research fields. Later we went to the oldest Kölsch brewery in Cologne. After a good look at the factory and the machines we knew the difference between this typical beer and other German beers and rewarded ourselves with a cool Kölsch in the cellar of the brewery. The first thing to do on Wednesday was to go to the Federal Ministry of Nutrition and Agriculture. We listened to a presentation about their work and the recent struggles they are facing. Afterwards we had a controversial discussion mainly about the question if governments are doing enough to support farmers and promote awareness about the origin of food in society. Next stop on our journey to see how farmers try to face future struggles was at a bio-dynamic Demeter farm. Hearing about this way of farming was a very new experience for most of us and opinions differed a lot. On Thursday we visited two different kinds of dairy cattle farms. The first one works with two milking robots and the second one is in the transition to become ecological and additionally has a milk station where people can pass by and buy fresh milk from an automat. Before driving back to Bonn we toasted with a cold glass of milk. In the afternoon everyone had to prepare their food for the obligatory trade fair. After getting to know the various traditional foods and drinks from all countries the mood was perfect for some karaoke and we enriched the bar in question with our glorious singing talents. We started the next day visiting the large scale potato farm Gut Neu Hemmerich that is energy self-sufficient. After an introduction to
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the vivid history of this farm we got insights into their way of cultivating potatoes, sugar beets, barley and other crops as well as into agricultural engineering or plant protection. We closed the tour with a delicious home cooked three course menu. With new strength we went to explore Cologne at day and night. Saturday we had a long walk through the Wahner Heide – a natural reserve – were we saw a cattle and water buffalo farm. Their ‘task’ is to help keeping the biodiverse area open for seldom plants and animals. It was very interesting to see how agriculture and natural protection work hand in hand. We had a real good time walking through the sunshine and enjoying the nature. And without realising how fast time had passed the last evening had arrived and we used it to show our guests the beauty of Bonn. Sunday was all about saying goodbye. We are very pleased to have had you here. It was great that everyone took so much interest in our activities –
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that made it to an awesome exchange week on all levels. We hope you enjoyed the week as much as we did. Looking forward to seeing you on some other IAAS events in the future for more fun, exchange and experiences!
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IAAS BULGARIA Announcement On the 18th of November IAAS Bulgaria had its first official presentation. The national committee shared more about IAAS – the mission, vision, goals and opportunities of the global network. The National director of IAAS Bulgaria also shared more information about upcoming national events. The guests included students, professors, deans and the Bulgarian directors of SumiAgro, BASF, Bayer Crop Science and DuPont Pioneer. The event was also covered by different news channels and papers.
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Author: Hristiyan Uzunov, National Director of IAAS Bulgaria
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IAAS CROATIA Seminar „The importance of farmer's lifelong learning“ Monday October 3rd 2016 Picking up Foreign Students, getting to know them and a small tour through the city of Zagreb. Accomodation in Zagreb in the homes of Croatian Students or in hostels. Tuesday October 4th 2016 Departure at 7 am to Slavonia. Arrival in Kutjevo before noon and a visit to the Kutjevo Cellars where we learned about the production and storage of wine. Right after we had the chance of trying out young wines, Graševina, Pinot Black, and ice wine Graševina (Frost Harvest). In the Afternoon we ate lunch in Požega and visited Family Farm Egner who works with honey production. We got familiar with how the Honey was produced and could've tried the honey liqoure and honey that they had produced for this year. We were astonished by the Oak Honey which is very respectable as it is believed to have healing properties, was sold as medicine in pharmacies. Unfortunately, the production is very limited while it needs to have almost perfect condtions to be harvested and is only produced every 4 to 5 years because of the exact climate requirements it needs. Arrival at the hostel „Old Town Cinema“ at evening hours. Wednesday October 5th 2016 After Breakfast, we headed out to visit the Agricultural Faculty of Osijek. On the Faculty, Ana Puljko Presented the core meaning of IAAS and it's Goals, and after her, Mate from the company Agrivi introduced us to a Cloud-based program which helps farmers in controlling and maintaing their crops and production in general. Quick lunch at the Faculty cafeteria. In the Afternooon we visited the brewery of Osijek where we saw all the key components of making beer and all the machinery and tools that it takes to make beer. After the short tour, we relaxed with drinking unpasturized and pasturized beer that the brewery is producing. Departure for the Hostel and preparations for „Trade Fair“.
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Thursday October 6th 2016 Later waking up time for the crew. Small tour around Ilok and relaxing time on the shores of the river Danube. After Lunch, Soft skill training lead by Ana Poštek who showed us the ways of learning that was established by Mumford and Honey. Our goal after the presentaion was to solve the test Ana has given us and determine in which of the four categories of learning we belong to. Free time in the hostel and socializing with other fellow students. Friday October 7th 2016 As lunch surpassed, the German, Indonesian and Bangladeshi students held presentations about agriculture in their countries and explained the problems that they have in their homelands. In the Afternoon hours, we visited the Stud farm of Đakovo where they breed Lipizzaner Horses. The very lovable gentleman that works on the farm, showed us around and talked about the history of the breed, how they are trained and allowed us to pet and even take pictures with the horses. As we were in closer range of the Centre of Đakovo, we had the chance to visit the Cathedral of st. Peter where a wedding was held. On the way out of the city, we stopped at a farm of milking cows in the village Budrovci. The owner of the company Lactis d.o.o. showed us around and he taught us some fundamental things about producing cow milk. Quick milk tasting and we headed back to Ilok. Saturday October 8th 2016 After Breakfast, we visited teh Ilok Cellars and tasted the wines. Went back to eat lunch and after finishing, visited the Family Farm Barbarić where we saw the production of Rakija and Fruit Liqoures and had the chance to try 13 different types of rakija that they produce. Rest of the day, socializing and relaxing in the hostel. Sunday October 9th 2016 Derparture from the Hostel in the morning, heading to the winery Krešić on the shores of the river Danube. Quick look-around of the winery in the guidances of the family members. Wine tasting of different types of wine. Later that day, visit to the Krauthaker Winery and and also a tour on a grape wine sprout field. Arrival in Zagreb at evening hours.
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IAAS GREECE IAAS Greece, together with all student organizations of COMVOS, participated in a two day event, “Team Fair”. The event was held in 1819/10/2016 in order for many students and professors to get used to the team spirit. Our members were willing to give information to all participants about our actions in Greece and abroad, too. In our stand you could find everything related to our science and our projects, from informative material about food waste to some kind of projects such as an insect and also a plant collection. With much passion our members tried to inform many participants about Food Waste, a project carried out by many countries-members of IAAS World. Our aim was to get all students into the problem and make them realize the consequences of our daily waste. We succeeded that through integration games and everybody understood that with some small changes we can spare money and energy every day. The result is that we shouldn’t judge fruit and vegetables of how the look like because that doesn’t affect the characteristics of the product. So everybody realized we shouldn’t reject any product. The atmosphere between our members and the participants was excellent and we had the chance to know better our new members and also to get to know other students organizations. By doing that we managed to establish new cooperations and future actions. Our members also participated in three national events. The first one, the exchange week in Ljubljana, Slovenia was held from 25 September until 2 October 2016 and our four members had the chance to get motivated and experience the local agricultural sector. They visited many companies and also went on field trips during the week. They also had some lectures on wine production and a special visit to the gene bank at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia. The second event was the Seminar in Croatia, with the topic of “ The importance of farmer’s lifelong learning.” The seminar was took place in Slavonia, an area in the east part of Croatia and well known for its wine and meat production. Our five new members have met for the first time the real IAAS Spirit and have made some new friends during the week, together with visiting some farms, vineyards and wineries where they had also the
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chance for wine tasting. They enjoyed so much their week there, coming back full of new experiences. The last one event, “Green week”, took place in Madrid, Spain and our Spanish friends hosted one of our members from 09 till 16 October 2016. The aim of the week was to raise awareness between young people about the importance of sustainable agriculture to make sure that we pass on a suitable world for the next generations.
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Upcoming events European Directors Meeting – IAAS Croatia 29th December 2016. - 4th of January 2017 Dear FamilIAAS, With great pleasure and excitement , IAAS Croatia invites you to join us on this year's European Directors Meeting (EDM). During this week you can expect: General Assembly with country presentations and elections of the new European regional directors, many workshops, presentations and discussions, amazing soft skill training, meeting old and new friends, learning about different European cultures during Trade Fair and International Night, spending New year's Eve surrounded with your FamilIAAS and last but not least: lots of fun, education, inspiration and motivation! For more information, contact us at croatia@iaasworld.org Hope to see you all in Zagreb! ExCo Meeting – IAAS Austria 1st April – 9th April 2017 Dear all, The annual Exchange Coordinators Meeting 2017 will be held in Vienna at BOKU! We are super excited to welcome you to our lovely city and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna in April 2017. Currently we put all our creativity and motivation in developing an extraordinary program. Between tradition and innovation, presenting a sustainable Austria. Keep updated to be the first to know about applications. We are looking forward to see you soon!
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Also the following event is almost there: - African Directors Meeting – IAAS Kenya 1 December – 6 December 2017 Write also these IAAS events already in your agenda: - Directors Meeting of Americas – IAAS Uruguay 12 March – 17 March 2017 - 60th World Congress – IAAS Mexico 9 July – 31 July 2017 For more information about upcoming events, check our ‘events’ section on www.iaasworld.org. [National Committees can upload their international events on the website by using the login of their committee. For more information: vpcommunication@iaasworld.org.]
Did you organize an event? Do you want to share anything with IAAS World and its partners?
Send your article with pictures to vpcommunication@iaasworld.org before the 20th of December, 2016
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Go Further! Go IAAS!
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