IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Table of Contents Welcome new Regional Boards of IAAS .................................................................................................. 3 European Region ............................................................................................................................................. 4 African Region .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Asia – Pacific Region ....................................................................................................................................... 8 American Region.............................................................................................................................................. 9 EC Reports November/December 2016 .............................................................................................. 10 IAAS Activities ............................................................................................................................................... 14 IAAS Austria ............................................................................................................................................... 14 IAAS Belgium ............................................................................................................................................. 16 IAAS Chile ................................................................................................................................................... 19 IAAS Croatia ............................................................................................................................................... 20 IAAS France ................................................................................................................................................ 23 IAAS Greece ................................................................................................................................................ 24 IAAS Italy..................................................................................................................................................... 25 IAAS Kenya ................................................................................................................................................. 26 IAAS Montenegro ..................................................................................................................................... 29 IAAS Nepal .................................................................................................................................................. 29 FAO Symposium in Rome: Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition ...................................................................................................................................................... 31 IAAS Member’s insight on Agriculture ................................................................................................. 33 IAAS World and Sustainable Agricultural Development .......................................................... 33 A Harrowing Survival Story of Agriculture .................................................................................... 33 The role of young people of achieving food security in Africa ............................................... 35 Future events in IAAS ................................................................................................................................. 36 Directors Meeting of Americas 2017 ............................................................................................... 36 Exchange Coordinators Meeting 2017 ............................................................................................ 36 International Conference for Youth in Agriculture – ICYA ...................................................... 37 Seminar - Make Agriculture Great Again ........................................................................................ 38 60th IAAS World Congress 2017......................................................................................................... 38
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Welcome new Regional Boards of IAAS
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
European Region Monika Wroniszewska, North-East Europe Regional Director Email: north.east.eu@iaasworld.org Skype: Monika Wroniszewska Hello FamilIAAS, My name is Monika Wroniszewska. I study Human Nutrition and Food Evaluation at Warsaw University of Life Sciences. I’m 23 years old. For me quality of food is strongly connected with agriculture so it was a main reason why I joined to IAAS straight away on first year of my studies, 4 years ago. Something about me – I’m enthusiast of listening music which illustrate my emotions. In every free moment I’m reading books - it’s really good way to dissociate oneself from every worries. Spending time with my family and friends is really important for me too. What I really love in IAAS? That I’m surrounded by passionate people all over the world who really wants to change something not only “exist” during their time in the uni. I attended as much IAAS events as I could. I met amazing people who teach me how to be open-minded and tolerant not only for other cultures but different personality too. By teamwork we can gain more than doing something alone. My mission as RD is difficult but not impossible. I want to help my committees to grow and be more visible among all association. I’m sure that in my region are many interested in IAAS students but they are only need motivation and helping hand. I want to wish to all of you FamilIAAS a wonderful time in IAAS! Go further! Go IAAS! ;)
Lan Rajlić, North-East Europe Exchange Coordinator Skype: Lan Rajlic email: expro.north.east.eu@iaasworld.org My name is Lan Rajlić and besides being the new RExCo for NE region of Europe, I am an active member of IAAS Croatia. I have a bachelor degree in agricultural economics and am currently studying agribusiness and rural development as my master studies. I am 22 years old. During my time in IAAS I've attended Seminar in Slavonija (Croatia) and helped organise the EDM held in Zagreb. I can't wait to attend more IAAS events and to meet more of the awesome IAAS-ers we have around the world!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Elsa Gerhard, Central Europe Regional Director Email: central.eu@iaasworld.org Skype: ellaaluna Hello everyone! I am Elsa from the committee of Hohenheim in Germany and during EDM I've been elected to be the Regional Director for Central Europe in 2017. I am very happy about this and I hope that I can fulfil the tasks and help to improve IAAS. About myself: I am 24 years old and right now in the last year of the Master's program Agricultural Sciences in the Tropics and Subtropics. I joined the local committee during my second year of studies in 2014 and have been an active member ever since. During WoCo in Indonesia last year I learned a lot about how the association works. I also realised that there is a lot more that I can do personally within the association. To be a part of IAAS on an international level I joined the quality board of Nastya, the VP of Exchange in October and later on took the possibility to apply as RD. I hope to be a connection between the national committees of the region and to increase regional communication and cooperation. I believe that every local committee can learn a lot from the others. It is important for the association to consist of cooperative parts that work together instead of isolated cells that work individually and blinkered. I hope you stay motivated to make a change in this world! I'm thankful for any comments, wishes or ideas concerning out region! Best regards, Elsa
Marion Pitz, Central Europe Exchange Coordinator Email: expro.central.eu@iaasworld.org Skype: marion.pitz1 Hello FamilIAAS, I am Marion from Germany, where I study Agriculture with specialization in Molecular Crop Sciences in. At the very beginning of my studies in 2013 I joined IAAS Bonn and it was one of the best decisions I made. I learned a lot, made new friends and had much fun abroad as well as in Bonn. Since about two years I am working for our Exchange Program. We faced many problems at the beginning, but at the end we had both outgoing and incoming Exchange students. I hope the experience from being ExCo can help me to help the other ExPro teams of the region. Please don’t hesitate. Contact me and we will try together. Experience, Fun and great People is what IAAS means to me. The things we learn and see from the exchange can change how we see the world.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Julia Weissenbacher, West Europe Regional Director Email: western.eu@iaasworld.org Skype: Julia Weissenbacher My name is Julia Weissenbacher and I study Agricultural Sciences at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna. I am aware that many of you don’t know me, but that curiosity is about to change as I joined IAAS Austria not so long ago. Fortunately, I already had the opportunity to get to know super friendly people. I have always been interested in other languages and foreign countries. I spent 5 months abroad in South America/Argentina and was able to improve my communication skills in Spanish. I consider myself as a very hard working person, who has a deep understanding of trust, networking and interdependency. I always feel myself obliged to the contribution of useful knowledge and work experience. I would like to ensure you that I am a big fan of travelling and place international experience above everything else. I am really excited to be the new Regional Director of Western Europe. Finally, I am already feeling very confident about our future together and looking forward to meet you all. Go further! Go IAAS!
Nik Badrač, Coordinator
West
Europe
Exchange
Email: expro.western.eu@iaasworld.org Skype: nikfrost122 I'm Nik Bradač, a 23-year old student of Animal Science on University of Ljubljana. I was always interested in working with animals and in the field of agriculture and this study was an opportunity for me to combine all my interests in one field. I discovered IAAS in my 3rd year of studies when I became more interested in NGO and gave some of them a chance. At first I liked the idea that IAAS represented, which is to share knowledge and experience globally and support new friendships, and as I got more and more involved into it I became very attached to it. I saw exactly how much it has to offer and as I met incredibly interesting people from all around the world I knew that we all need to do as much as we can to spread the awareness that something like this exists and to encourage people to join us.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
African Region Ramoudane Orou Sannou, Africas Regional Director Email: africa@iaasworld.org Skype: ramdane5341 Hello dear fellows, My name is Ramoudane, I’m 22 years old and come from Benin, a developing West African country where I’m currently enrolled in final year of master’s degree in agricultural economics. I am heavily involved since 2011 in the activities of IAAS local board in my university. IAAS is a great chance for all members because it allow us to : i) Meet people who share similar ideals with us and stimulate our critical thinking so as to develop agriculture in the world, ii) Acquire our first professional experience trough ExPro and iii) Boost our leadership potential. My goals as RD are: 1st: Enlarge our family. I’m member of a wide network of young leaders’ trough Africa, so I can easily support current candidate members and make new countries join our association. 2nd: Raise fund for African region. I hope to work with VP finance and VP external relation so as to gather more financial means for my region. 3rd: Promote IAAS Africa. My final goal is to give a better attractiveness to IAAS in Africa through strong and active partnership and networking with regional institutions, member countries and members around the world. Thank you!
Franck-Hervé Aman, Africas Exchange Coordinator Email: expro.africa@iaasworld.org Skype: ashikaga23 Hello FamillIAAS, I am Franck from IAAS Côte d’Ivoire and studying in the field of Agriculture has been a fulfilled dream. I am currently an M.Sc. student in Agricultural Biochemistry and Nutrition at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. My interest in agricultural sciences started since when I was in primary school. This feeling somewhat is due to my father being a farmer and tirelessly worked hard to fund my studies in the most renowned schools in my country. Also through a mere power of tireless, I have successfully contributed of the establishment of IAAS in Cote d’Ivoire. I participated in various learning activities in my region and this have relatively exposed me to extensive knowledge of global issues related to agriculture. In my career, I hope to not only work to avoid future financial collapses, but also to empower youth towards agricultural development to achieve food security especially in Africa. 7
IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Asia – Pacific Region Edward Colind Adhi Prabawa, Asia Pacific Regional Director Email: asia.pacific@iaasworld.org Skype: edward.colind Dear IAASers, My name is Edward Colind A.P. and 21 years old from Indonesia. I’m majoring Forest Products Technology, Faculty of Forestry in Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia. I love travelling and coffee enthusiast. Lastly, I am running for Vice Director of Partnership IAAS Indonesia 2016/2017. I’ve been a member of IAAS since 2013 in IAAS Indonesia LC IPB. Year by year I realized that “Damn, I just love to be here, I love with the whole things about IAAS” so I decided to continue my journey in IAAS by becoming RD and it’s the way of my giving back. What do I dream of IAAS Asia Pacific in the future? We’re going to have 1) the strong generation to foster IAAS Region itself and ensuring the sustainable regeneration, 2) Tackling the new challenges by making impactful-realistic-adoptable project in agricultural and related sciences, and 3) blasting IAAS Asia Pacific itself. IAAS is the one of organization who always creates the fruitful young generation and we must preserve it. There’s no impossible, everything is possible as long as we have strong will. We’re a team, we stand for IAAS, and we’re ready to assist the world.
Juli Purnomo , Asia-Pacific Exchange Coordinator Email: expro.asia.pacific@iaasworld.org Skype: julipurnomo Hello IAASers. I’m Juli Purnomo, Bachelor of Agriculture who studied in Agribusiness Major, Agriculture Faculty, Sebelas Maret University Surakarta, Indonesia. In this four years, I was joined with IAAS in Indonesia and found many great experiences to build agriculture. Agricultural sectors will find many problems in the future. That is why youth generation really needs to get experiences and empowerment to achieve the glory of agriculture. Diversity and differences of agriculture sector in each country made me have spirit to improve my interest to exchange knowledges, ideas, and experiences. Regional Exchange Coordinator of IAAS Asia-Pacific has strength to answer the agricultural problems. I have big motivation to improve exchange system and quality of IAAS to spread many impacts for youths. IAAS members, especially in Asia-Pacific Region have to be facilitated easily to gain many experiences between exchange of participants or knowledge about agricultural practices and impacts in the future. In addition, it has aims to together with all youths spread the information and positive impacts for optimizing the agricultural potential in each countries. I believe that with great exchange system of IAAS, it will strengthen IAAS role in agriculture sector, and make amazing IAAS in 2020.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
American Region Joaquin Rivas, Americas Regional Director Email: americas@iaasworld.org Skype: joaquin.riva@live.cl Aloha IAASers everywhere! My name is Joaquín Rivas, I’m 23 years old, I am from Chile and I study Agricultural Engineering in Santiago. I love to create, organize and live things related to what I like the most, like urban agriculture, sustainability, sports. I’m an IAAS member since 2015 where I was a member of the OC of the DMA Chile 2015, which event was a successful one, with many participants motivated to begin active members and create their own committees. After that I was ND of IAAS Chile in 2016, we work hard to expand IAAS in our country and we did it. As a regional director my mission is to support the new members to establish their committees in their countries with a solid base, I´d like to promote the organisation of events, projects and campaigns in our region, also start a solid exchange program in America. Let’s GO North, Latino and South America!
Dennys Lizama, Americas Exchange Coordinator Email: expro.americas@iaasworld.org Skype: dlizama90@gmail.com I´m a member of IAAS since 2015, I started in this great association because I like meeting motivated people, agriculture and traveling. I grew in farm in the south of Chile, near a little town called Temuco, always I have seen crops, like oat, wheat, barley, and raps. I have worked all my vacations in there. I know how is the job that and the opportunities in that sector to have a Exchange Program are awesome. Today in South America there are not places of Expro, I want to change that, and motivate all countries in America to have even one place of exchange to start, then gradually opening more places. It will be hard work, but I am willing to take that challenge, I know, that America has a great agricultural potential and motivated student to do a ExPro, we have to take advantage of it and make it a great network exchanges. Being a regional coordinator, for me is a great privilege, I never thought I would reach this position. Thanks for the people who trusted me, I'm going to do my best! Best regards!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
EC Reports November/December 2016 Ruth Vandeputte, President of IAAS World Email: president@iaasworld.org Skype: ruthvandeputte Some wonderful IAAS months have passed again! Being so connected with our big familIAAS is a very unique and rewarding experience! I was happy to start working with our new and motivated Vice President of Finance in the beginning of November. Ellen Van Mello was already working with our team as a Control Committee member and I was happy to see that the whole Executive Committee welcomed her with open arms as our new VPF. Our EC is making more and more plans for IAAS this year and I can ensure that we will use all our energy to make them come true! So what were my main focuses in November and December? I had Skype meetings with potential new IAAS Committees from different regions. I could already tell you that our network will grow in the next months! Who are they? Let's keep that a surprise until their official announcement as Candidate Members. In the end of November, the EC had their second Strategy Meeting in Zßrich. We were hosted by IAAS Switzerland and supported by the IAAS Training Committee. The schedule was packed, but the EC was satisfied with the outcomes of 4 days of planning for our next months. I was also working on our search for new Regional Directors, Regional Exchange Coordinators, a new Control Committee member and the next hosts for the Directors Meetings. Next to that, a lot of time the past months went to the preparation of the ADM and EDM. Also the contact with the Organizing Committees of DMA and WoCo is continuing. Furthermore, I was representing IAAS towards some partner organizations like FAO, ICA and IROICA. Finally, I was working further on the support of our members. Next to many Skype meetings and answering questions via email, I made a new IAAS Beginners' Guide. I hope it will be useful for many students who are interested in IAAS. For the next weeks, more Guides are planned to be published! I wish you all the best in 2017, the year of our 60th Birthday Celebration! Let’s keep improving IAAS with all together! Lots of love, Ruth
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Nastya Bondarenko, VP of Exchange Email: vpexchange@iaasworld.org Skype: nastyaabondaa Time flies when you’re working for IAAS! After the election of the boardmembers of the Exchange Quality Board (EQB), we started to work together on the improvement of ExPro. Each of them chose a different focus, depending on their own interest and ideas. They are also always ready to help you with questions about ExPro on: eqb@iaasworld.org. Furthermore, I was busy with the preparations of the restructuring of ExPro. For the first time there are also Regional Exchange Coordinators active in each region! This way, we would like to activate ExPro in some countries and improve the communication between regions. There is no lack of motivation, so you’ll here soon enough from them! The time has also arrived to prepare the invoices for the different countries. Some countries have sent or received students and yes, they will be rewarded! Don’t forget that from this year, the reward for the committees has increased a lot when participating in ExPro. So what are you waiting for? In April, the yearly ExCo Meeting will be held in Austria. The organizing committee is very busy with the preparations! If you’re an ExCo or RExCo it is highly recommended to participate at this event. It will give you the possibility to contribute to ExPro with your own knowledge and experience and to bond with other members of IAAS! Applications will follow soon. Hope you all enjoyed your holidays and have again enough of energy for all those IAAS activities!
Constantine Sarafis, VP of External Relations Email: vppartnership@iaasworld.org Skype: iaas.vp.partnership November and December were as challenging as fun couple of months for me. First half of November I spent preparing mainly 2 different tasks: together with Ruth we helped and guided IAAS Kenya to organise the African Directors Meeting and prepared my presentation for IFISO Meeting. At the same time I was able to help IAAS Serbia to attend an external conference of VIII AEBR Youth Forum and prepare for a renewal of our partnership with EGEA. Since mid-November I left my country and travelled to Lisbon to attend IFISO Meeting, where I received a lot of important information about Erasmus+ and EYF Grants from ELSA’s Treasurer Rob Van Bergen which I passed on to the rest of EC. IAAS started new communications with Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) through their ambassador Gustavo Fonseca and we hope to keep the good relationship and try to organise common projects in the future.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Leaving Lisbon and IFISO it was time for our Strategy Meeting in Zurich where we cleared out the timeline for the rest of the year, divided tasks and planned our next strategic moves. During my days in Zurich and right after SM I had the opportunity to meet with the President of EGEA, Simon Schudel and his sister Lorina, who is EGEA’s regional director. Together we renewed the Partnership of IAAS and EGEA for 2 more creative years and had an amazing conversation planning our next mutual TNT (Training New Trainers) event. Heading to Zurich’s airport, it was my time to fly to Kenya and African Directors Meeting. It was an amazing opportunity to meet and interact with all the African delegates and later on present in details all the key functions of IAAS such as Development Fund, IAAS Projects (CookBook, WomenInAgriculture, NoFoodWaste) ExPro, IAAS Training Committee etc. and the way we operate. I believe it was a crucial step for connecting African Committees with the rest of our global network. I reached home by mid-December and needed some days off after the long trip. By Christmas time I was back on track working again on the big Project of ICYA and preparing all the work for the launch of it in the end of January. Stay Classy IAASers all over the world!!
Ellen Van Mello, VP of Finance Email: vpfinance@iaasworld.org Skype: ellenvanmello From the beginning of November I took on the task as Vice President of Finance. After a time of handover and technical details, I started to concentrate on the upcoming events. I followed up with campaign, started by Mirjam, to promote the development. I supported the organizing committees of the Directors Meetings with the draft of their budget. Together with my board we started the search for grants and financial support in every region. I also filled in the first grants to help support our projects for the next year. Furthermore I worked together with our VP of External Relations to take the first step of preparation of the first conference hosted by the Executive Community, ICYA (International Conference for Youth in Agriculture). Together with the VP of Exchange I started preparing the invoices, which will reach you by mail in the next month. Furthermore I am the contact person for the new committees in the African region and try to help them and provide them with the necessary documents and knowledge. I am looking forward to hosting the conference and starting the preparations for the World Congress in the next months. Hope to see you all, somewhere in the world of IAAS. Greetings of Finance.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Ana Poštek, VP of Communication Email: vpcommunication@iaasworld.org Skype: ana.postek Dear FamilIAAS, Starting this term I had no idea that the job as VP Communication could be so fun and fulfilling! In the past two months so many wonderful things happened and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. After the Strategy meeting we had in Zurich (once again, thank you IAAS Switzerland for hosting us!), we created a working strategy and the content for the upcoming events, such as ICYA meeting and Directors Meetings. By creating workshops related to the IAAS projects – No Food Waste and Women in agriculture, we have collected many fresh ideas on improving the projects but also raised awareness of those problems in each region and world-wide. Since then, I have helped the members of IAAS Croatia, who were the organisers of the European Directors Meeting 2016. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate members of IAAS Croatia on the great organisation of EDM and the motivatvation and positive feeling spread during the event! Furthermore, together with my wonderful board members, we created many visual tools for the promotion of IAAS, our events, regions and members! By posting all of the information on platforms of social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) many students of agriculture and related sciences got interested in IAAS. Currently, we have some new possible candidate member countries, but you will get all the information in time, don’t worry. ;) At the moment we are discussing some new ways to promote IAAS and IAAS members worldwide and to encourage them to be even more involved in their community. Looking forward to the rest of the term and the excitement that comes with it! Go further! Go IAAS!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Activities IAAS Austria We are making great progress! This semester we organised another IAAS Brunch where we could tell fellow students what awesome possibilities lie behind IAAS. A typical Austrian „Spritzer“ (white wine mixed with sparkling mineral water) was an obligatory drink offered by our team to the new freshmen after their first exams.
We also had a very funny weekend at Martin’s Farm where we introduced many new members to IAAS, slept in the hey, milked cows, baked bread, made our own butter and enjoyed farm life. Thanks very very much to the kindest hosts we ever had, Martin’s mum, dad, grandma and brother.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 With the devoting help of Phillip, a fellow student and friend of IAAS Austria we organised a „Liqueur Tasting“ before Christmas. Many different self distilled liqueurs and spirits could be tasted while listening to a presentation about the art of destillation.
We took part in the Motivation Weekend in Zürich which Kyrill, Martin, Anastasia and Dedee enjoyed very much. Thank you IAAS Switzerland for inviting us and for making this event possible!
We had the pleasure to travel to Belgium and see the IAAS World Headquarters and many more interesting sites such as Brugges, Brussels and Leuvens Forrests. As well, a big thank you IAAS Belgium for your hospitality!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Belgium
Belgium
IAAS Belgium has two committees, in the cities of Ghent and Leuven, with some great and enthusiastic members! In what follows, you will be able to read what we have been up to the last months. An awesome Exchange Week with Switzerland, Croatia, Poland, Austria and France!
IAAS Belgium organised their Exchange Week with participants from Croatia, Switzerland, Poland, France and Austria. They were an awesome group and they (hopefully) enjoyed visits to the brewery in Leuven, a water sanitation company in Bruges, the city of Brussels, an awesome Trade Fair in Ghent and much more. We organised an “international cantus� as well, which is a drinking evening with songs and which is typically Belgian. The overall theme was about how to tackle some main global challenges we face today and participants also had to prepare a small presentation on this. Overall, new friendships were formed and everyone enjoyed themselves! Thank you all for making this week wonderful!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 Motivation Weekend The motivation weekend is a moment for all members of Ghent and Leuven to get together for 2 days and share their activities and feedback. This time, a main event was organised on “No Food Waste”, where dinner had to be made with food leftovers. Leftovers were saved from some grocery stores and personal fridges and by going from door to door, asking for leftover apples (really old apples, as seen in the first picture)! They all ended up in a very delicious meal. Another main event is the general assembly, where important matters are discussed for the next year.
Movie Night in Ghent (“Oehoescoop”)
IAAS Gent held its annual movie night in November. “Oehoescoop” refers to the biggest auditorium on the faculty, where the movie night is held. This year, movie lovers could enjoy “Finding Dory” and “The Imitation Game” on the big screen. A lot of enthusiasts showed up in their pyjamas and enjoyed a free cocoa drink!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 Workshops in Leuven Leuven organised some interesting workshops on ‘The Abilene Paradox’ and ‘Motivation and demotivation of volunteers’, together with some partners towards the end of December. These workshops were a success, providing interesting information for participants. Christmas celebrations in Ghent & Leuven Both IAAS Ghent and Leuven celebrated Christmas merrily. Leuven had a small Christmas party for their members with some gifts and Ghent participated in a Christmas Market at their faculty.
Upcoming events Our main event in the near future will be a huge breakfast action, where the committees provide a nice breakfast for students (and staff) at their faculties! Follow us on social media!
Facebook: IAAS Belgium - https://www.facebook.com/iaasbelgium/ Twitter and Instagram: @IAASBelgium Our website: http://iaasbelgium.wixsite.com/iaasbelgium
Written by Branwen Peddi (National Director of IAAS Belgium)
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Chile British American Tobacco Chile (December) This was our last trip of 2016. The objective was to learn about how the tobacco is
cultivated and elaborated in our country
Final year's barbecue, IAAS Alumni and members. This was a big celebration at the end of the semester for all Alumni and members of IAAS Chile, to commemorate another successful year of knowledge, activities and expansion of members. We hope this first meeting becomes into a new tradition to our community.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Croatia Charity Action IAAS Croatia has organized a charity from 28th November till 6th December in 2016. at Faculty of Agriculture in Zagreb. Donations like clothes, footwear, toys, sweets, food, books etc. were collected every day from 9 am to 3 pm. We have donated collected resources to „Dnevni centar za rehabilitaciju djece i mladeži- Mali dom” Children's and Youth Rehabilitation Center and to „Caritas“. In the beginning we divided in few groups and together with children sowed wheat which we have put in eggs empty box with soil. After workshop we hung out with children, decorated Christmas tree and gave them gifts (sweets and toys) while clothes, footwear, books and etc. were donated to „Caritas“.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 European Directors Meeting IAAS Croatia has organized EDM (European Directors Meeting) in time from 29th of December 2016 till 4th of January 2017 in its capital city Zagreb. Students came from Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, USA, Italy and Greece. Also, EC and ITC attended the event. We hosted IAAS Alumni from Croatia who presented their events as alumni and their experience as IAAS members.
Two General Assemblies were organized and IAAS World presented their IAAS 2020 project. At first GA, candidates for regional director presented themselves, than we have spoken about huge problem in world, Food waste. We have watched videos about it and other countries represented data about how much food is unnecessarily thrown away in their country. In the end of the first GA, every country represented what their organization has accomplished in the past year. On the other GA, regional directors for Western, Central and NorthEastern Europe were elected.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 We had two workshops in two days. One was on topic „No food waste“ where we have developed idea about how to prevent food waste at home, at university, at IAAS events, at local and global level. Second workshop was on topic “Unity in IAAS Europe“ where we practiced on the examples swot & tows analysis. Soft skill trainings were also held in two days. Every day three trainings were held. First day topics were Fundraising, Improvisation and Team Dynamics and second day topics were Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Strategic and Organisational Planning.
Furthermore, we had workshop on topic „Croatian traditional food and beverage“, where our participants had an opportunity to cook some Croatian food. At the end of the event we went to ice skate at Zagreb's Christmas market which was declared as the best European Christmas market 2016.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS France Training by Seyhan For the weekend of 19th and 20th November, the director committee host Seyhan, a member of IAAS Word training committee. He explains us many things to move on the association. We learn how to find fundraising, how do presentation with persuasion or feedback. It was a really rewarding experience and it will help to grow further in the coming months and the coming years! Thanks for your time and your energy Seyhan! Conference Wednesday 14th December 2016, we organized a conference at our school. This conference presented by Rudi Pattel, wishes to awake the curiosity of students about cooking without meat and animals products and the advantages of a diet like this. After the conference, we could taste some delicious food made by our members. Future exchange week From the 13th to the 18th February we will make exchange week. We are going to present several typical French technics in food and agronomic sciences. There will be some industries visits, student meetings, but also visits of our city, Nancy and a lot of other activities and surprises...! Of course, we will make the traditional trade fair and we will show to other countries how French people have fun!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Greece These two months were really creative for all members of IAAS Greece. In 12-13 November 2016, 30 members of IAAS Greece, together from Thessaloniki and Volos, organized and participated in our first motivation weekend for this term. The motivation weekend took place in a wonderful location in Mount Olympus. During these two days members from Thessaloniki and Volos met each other in an excellent atmosphere and had the chance to share their ideas and of course their IAAS’ experience. In next morning we visited a vineyard, where our members had the chance to see how a real business functions and to taste some really good wine. In the afternoon a workshop was held in order for the new members to be initiated into the IAAS’ spirit and of course in Sunday morning we organized a mountain hike to admire the wonderful view. In December 1st 2016 IAAS Greece made the annual informative speech in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for all students of the Faculty of Agriculture. After one week of applications we accepted some new members and we spent some time motivating and learning them the ins and outs of our structure, our function and the possibilities they are offered through our projects, seminars and the exchange programme so as for them to get involved as soon as possible. Before leaving for Christmas holiday, we organized a special night for old and new members, a type of Christmas party so as our members to have dinner in a relaxing and festive atmosphere, in which they could also share their personal interests. Later in December six of our members participated in the EDM, organized by IAAS Croatia and they had an amazing week among friends. In conclusion these two months were very exciting for all members and generally 2016 was an unforgettable year. We are planning 2017 to be an incredible one, too. We are already planning two exchange weeks, one from IAAS Thessaloniki in March and one from IAAS Volos in May so we are all looking forward to meet new people and make new friends!! Happy new year to all of you!!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Italy This seems to be a great year for IAAS Italy, there are news and a lot of projects going on in the Boot. In November a new national directive board has been elected, we now say goodbye to Sara Defraia and welcome Monica Capra (ND, Perugia) and Viola Farci (VND, Sassari). Speaking of elections, the Sassari committee also nominated a new directive board, so will Perugia in a few days. We wish them all the best of luck! But the biggest news is that a new local committee joined the family from Naples! They have been very active since many years as a local association organizing various events on different subjects. Climate change, food related issues and biodynamic agricolture are just some of the themes they explored this year, sometimes in collaboration with professors and local companies, trying to focus on the practical aspect of the matters and always looking for a constructive debate. Two of them also participated to the EDM in Croatia, together with some representatives from both Perugia and Sassari. For some of them it was the first experience in an international meeting and allowed them to know the IAAS big world better. It was very fun and intense, with interesting workshop and training on agriculture and personal development. Some of the lessons they learned on events planning are to be used by the Perugia committee very soon. In fact they are organising the first craft beer event in the city, in collaboration with the course in Brewing Technology and the Center of Excellence for Research on Beer, that will consist in a conference about beers aged in barrels, workshops on yeast isolation and beer tasting. The event will be the 9th March. They also organised an interesting conference on pulses characteristics and nutritional properties, during the international year of pulses announced by FAO. It has been an intense and interesting period for all the IAAS Italy committees, and now they are working harder and stronger together to make this part of familIAAS active and involved at local and international event!
As always- Go further, go IAAS!!
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Kenya African Directors Meeting The Africa Directors Meeting is an annual event organized by IAAS Africa with an aim of uniting students from Africa to together solve food crisis in Africa for Africa and to bring the responsibles of African IAAS committees together to discuss ideas of improvements for IAAS in their region. The event with a strong and long background in West Africa was held in East Africa for the first time this year.
This year’s ADM sought to appreciate the fact that the youth are embracing technology and therefore determining how the said youth can use technology to improve agricultural production for food security in Africa. The 6 day event was divided into 2 parts, a conference at Egerton University and a Summer School in Maseno University and University of Nairobi. Participants were drawn from mainly Africa and few others from Europe. African countries that participated included Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, South Africa, Benin and Niger. The Europeans were represented by a lady from Germany and three gentlemen from Greece.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 The General Assembly This is an IAAS constitutional event which takes place during the regional meetings of directors such as ADM. This year’s IAAS Africa GA was overseen by the vice president of External Relations Mr. Konstantine Sarafis from Greece.
Results of the GA was as follows: 1. Elected Regional Director- Ramdane from IAAS Benin 2. Elected Regional Exchange Coordinator – Franck Herve from IAAS Côte d’Ivoire 3. Country to host ADM 2017 is IAAS Zimbabwe A number of prepositions were put across with the aim of bettering IAAS Africa, these included: 1. To have Sub-Regions in Africa 2. To introduce Sub-Regional Directors 3. The National and Regional Directors to be given a kitty to manage 4. To have a regional headquarter for IAAS Africa in Africa, Tunisia These and other propositions were minuted and forwarded for discussions during the World Congress in 2017 to be held in Mexico.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 The Program ADM 2016 was made up of two main activities. These were a conference at Egerton University and Summer School in University of Nairobi and Maseno University. The conference was scheduled from 1st to 3rd December 2016 at the Education complex of Egerton University. Here, participants shared research findings, ideas, innovations and research work on areas of the theme and sub theme. The theme of the conference was “The role of Technology in Agricultural Development in Africa-impact of the youth.� Sub themes included: 1. The impact of mobile phones and computing technologies on agricultural production 2. The importance of biotechnology in agricultural production 3. The role of mechanical technology in agricultural advancement. 4. The role of print and electronic media in enhancing agricultural production. The conference also included keynote speeches from the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture and other invited professionals in the field of agriculture. The summer school was an exposition aimed at benchmarking the academic and cocurricular activities among the universities across Africa and Europe. The programme was modelled in form of field visits and debate in Maseno University and UoN respectively. These was to allow enough time for the participants to interact. Debate at UoN was never a good success due to limiting time. In summary, ADM 2016 was a great experience for IAAS Kenya both as an organizer and host. The events created a good lesson to us and we are better placed to even host bigger events having the mistakes we did in mind. We appreciate all participants, partners and sponsors who making the event a success.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Montenegro As always, during November and December, our priority were our exams, meaning we had only a little time left to devote to IAAS activities we had planned. First, we started working on a survey about food waste in Montenegro. Unfortunately, even if we still don't have the results, our impressions are that people in our country are not aware what a big problem this is. Once we get the results, we will have a more accurate insight on what exactly needs to be done to prevent all the consequences of wasting huge amounts of food for no reason. Concurrently, some of us were in charge of finding elementary schools and preschools which are interested in cooperating to introduce the youngest generatons to the benefits and importance of agricultural work. Here in Montenegro, there is a lot of agricultural potencial, but unfortunately, not a lot young people are willing to devote to this kind of career. Whether it is because they find it unimportant, hard or not interesting, we are sure that our new generations just need a little push in discovering the perks of our future profession. We are looking forward to establishing workshops, making presentations and of course, having fun with kids, with the goal of securing our country's agronomy in the future. Once we finish (and hopefully pass) all of our exams we will work harder on these, and some new projects we had in mind.
IAAS Nepal With the formation of new national committee, IAAS Nepal family is now back with new and vibrant leadership. With the first meeting of the national committee held on second week of January 2017, strategic programs and projects were set out for year 2017. Following are the purposed program/projects of IAAS Nepal: Video Conferencing with International Academics Agriculture and Forestry University based on Chitwan, Nepal is currently prioritizing international academicians to deliver lecture through web based video conferencing system for knowledge and technology exchange. IAAS Nepal is now permitted to facilitate the video conferencing and is looking forward to launch lecture classes soon. You can support our program by connecting with professors of your universities. To know more, mail us at nepal@iaasworld.org. Organic Nepal Campaign Organic Nepal Campaigners Forum is a multi-professional, multi-stakeholders movement towards safe, nutritious and sustainable food system. The Facebook group has now 1200+ members and is now active on conversations. IAAS Nepal being strategic partner of this forum, organic promoting activities like organic field visit, Organic Pest Management, Field Schools will be organized. Join us in our Organic Nepal Campaign at https://www.facebook.com/groups/182309255475259/
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016 Friday Sharing Platform Friday sharing is a platform for everybody from any background to share their ideas, be it the academic or eclectic. The whole purpose of this event, marked every Friday, is to share knowledge during the Friday sharing events or online. As it goes without mentioning “The more we share the more we learn� this event aims to act as the stage to share. We believe in spreading ideas through short and powerful talks. Conducted every Friday, the first session of the two, is earmarked for the speaker to share their thoughts and the latter is demarcated for interaction with the participants where one can clarify their doubts on the topic. The programme is entirely devoted for the personal development of the speaker and the participants as well. The program has been conducted in Agriculture and Forestry University since last two years and IAAS Nepal is now a strategic partner of Friday Sharing Program initiated by AgriYouthNepal. Kick starting the IAAS Nepal 2017 activities with new and dynamic leaders, we are looking forward to bring the limelight in the agricultural academics within the agriculture universities of Nepal. We wish this New Year 2017 brings lots of positive energy in your life and to all the IAAS Family. Go further, go IAAS !
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
FAO Symposium in Rome: Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition 1.-2. December 2016 Attendees: Mirjam Baumgartner (IAAS Switzerland) and Eline Sonck (IAAS Ghent) As FAO is a historical partner of IAAS, our members have the opportunity to attend FAO Meetings and Symposia as an IAAS Observer. Mirjam and Eline had the chance to be part of the International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition in Rome. Read here about their experiences! In 2014, the 2nd International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) was organized by FAO and WHO, both specialized agencies of the United Nations. This was the second conference that has ever been held to address global nutritional issues. The intergovernmental meeting brought together all stakeholders to decide on how to tackle malnutrition in all its forms with a global approach. The importance of nutrition has then been recognized by the General Assembly of the United Nations, who decided to start a «Decade of Action on Nutrition» from 2016-2025. Consequently, FAO and WHO are currently working on developing a «Work Programme» for the Decade, which is basically a document that gives the framework of action for all governments, affected NGO’s and other involved stakeholders. In order to develop the work programme, the «International Symposium on Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets and Improved Nutrition» has been organized as a platform for all involved parties to come together, discuss burning issues, represent their situation and point of view and give feedback on the first draft of the work programme. This kind of event tries to ensure that for the coming decade the right priorities are set and the guidelines of action have the right focus. A major role in the development of the work programme and also during the decade plays the Civil Society. Civil Society includes all kind of people, ranging from the indigenous people to small scale farmers to NGOs. A group of people called the «Civil Society» has formed during the ICN2 meeting in 2014 and consists today of over 300 NGO’s, including IAAS. This group is loosely organised but tries to follow FAO and WHO on their work that followed the ICN2, in order to give feedback and new inputs on what is important to the people when talking about a «Decade on Nutrition». For example, to the civil society it is essential that the work programme for the decade is based on human rights and has a holistic approach as nutrition is always related to culture, environment and economy.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
The first day of the Conference was split into 3 subthemes, one focussing on the supply side, the second on the consumer side and the third on accountability and resilience within food systems. Each topic was addressed by short presentations of people who have experience in this area. The second day began in the 3 subthemes but was then followed by a plenary discussion on the draft of the work programme. All important issues that have been discussed in the past one and a half day were wrapped up to ensure their inclusion in the work programme and the coming Decade of Action. During the opening ceremony of the symposium, H.M. King Letsie III of Lesotho was nominated FAO Special Ambassador for Nutrition. Another royalty that is Special Ambassador for Nutrition is Queen Letizia of Spain and she attended the second day of the symposium. The conference was mainly about policies and measures, going from empowering women over taxes and restricting marketing and advertising to children. Beside all the conference meetings also Special Events were held. There is still a long way to go to reach all the goals for 2025 and at this moment the actual work programme is still quite empty. The goals are set under the motto ‘Go big or go home!’ and now the question on how they are going to handle it has to be resolved to actually get things done as well. We are looking forward to hear more about this and to follow their progress. Do you also want to represent IAAS as an IAAS Observer at FAO meetings? Do you want to know more about this unique opportunity? Read more: www.iaasworld.org/iaas-observers-at-fao
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
IAAS Member’s insight on Agriculture IAAS World and Sustainable Agricultural Development By Marouane Bar, IAAS Morocco We all know that agriculture was, and remain one of the most emerging vital sectors. This is the main base behind Food security, political nation’s stability and preserves human basic rights. But many issues hinder the development of this field, such as Climate changes, Pollution & industry, economic crisis, excessive use of chemical products and spread of Crop/Animal diseases in the globe. Nowadays, to offset all this, in order to promote a sustainable development in a worldwide scale. The cooperation and exchanges between countries seems to be a high crucial commitment. Thanks to some professional NGO’s and some international student’s organizations (IAAS, IVSA, IMFSA, IFSA …) we are currently in the way. IAAS “International association of students in Agricultural and Related sciences” is an international non-profit student society founded in 1957. One of its major goals is to connect students sharing the same dreams and pursuing their studies in Agricultural sciences regardless their colors, gender or their mother tongue speaking language. Why IAAS? IAAS is a special tool, provided to students with many benefits in a long-term duration. It encourages exchanges of ideas, assistance between students and problems resolutions within our student community. It helps us to build a huge network, get to know new and motivated students with different ethnics, furthermore boost our leadership abilities, language skills and gain self-confidence. This network that you developed will be your Professional network within few several years later; students that you had the chance to meet will have a high occupation levels (Agricultural engineers, NGO Experts, Assistant & Associate Professors…). Therefore this network will increase your chances and help you to figure out and solve efficiently the local agricultural related problems. Not only that, but also it will lead you to act locally by thinking globally.
A Harrowing Survival Story of Agriculture By Milan Chauhan, IAAS Nepal Not only a Himalayan countries like Nepal and Bhutan feel the brunt of harsh climate in the sector of agriculture and food production but also the other tiers like Myanmar, some parts of USA, India etc. are at the nick of unmitigated failure in terms of food security. Being mindful of the four pillars of food security, as stated by FAO: availability, accessibility, utilization and stability for particular nations is in serious threat due to the unusual patterns seen in the climate.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Agriculture, in the world is the first occupation human have ever practiced since antiquity. It is the most stable and pervasive job across the globe. Because of the climate change, lands once known to be a granary of South Asia like Pakistan has been facing a shortage of water for irrigation. Only a meagre production of food is expected to be exported to other nations. Our future solely depends upon such techniques which we employ on agriculture suited to these extreme climates. Combating with climate change along with modification in the practice of agriculture has been today’s need. Approximately 2.4 billion people (FAO), from South Asia make a marginal herding with dependency upon the Himalayan Rivers, for drinking and agriculture purposes. Periodic floods, they experience however cuts off the proficient arable lands, sweeps off the economy and causes casualties each year. Besides south Asian countries that depend upon Himalayan water for irrigation, China, Myanmar etc. are also more prone to the floods and drought in upcoming days. Himalayas, today bear myriads of glaciers that never existed just before 20 years. Bangladesh, on the other hand being one of the frontiers in the supply of rice, is sinking to the sea. Moreover, breadbaskets of the world especially India, after they vanquished famines in 1960s is now reported to get suffered with severe drought across more lands one can ever imagine. The limitless single file seeking water and waiting their turn on a nearby well, suggests lack of water in India. Nepalese too are acquainted with this conundrum over the last few decades. Besides, drought, floods and unusual rainfall patterns, heavy infestation of new and deadly diseases has become a source of devastation in crop yield. Only few fields are left virgins, which is quite hard to figure out. The Universal Declaration of Human Right (1948) affirmed the right of food and characterized it as a “fundamental right”. In the later days, it’s even went further to affirm that the “right of everyone to be free from hunger”. One shouldn’t simply die of hunger in today’s world. What if a man dies with nutrient deficient due to climate change? Is it permissible? Certainly not. To feed all the hungry mouths with such a death defying rate of population growth, as seen over the past couple of decades it’s only the modification of agriculture practice that could come up as a panacea. Decreasing carbon emission globally & farming such crops suited to a changing climate should be in tandem. Locally, we can plant endogenous wild fruit plants along the bank of rivers and barren areas in the hilly areas. Also, to assure food security and ensure loss due to climate change, traditional root crops, especially are suggested along with the use of organic composting and pesticides. The irony is, we are the only species living on this beautiful planet with prior information about impacts of climate change and the solutions. Nevertheless, it’s not impossible to revitalize the practices of agriculture with innovative techniques. The topic “climate change” is hackneyed let’s make the talk interesting, let’s act from the local level. It’s never late to dream and work on rather going through the rigmarole on climate issues.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
The role of young people of achieving food security in Africa by Franck-HervÊ Aman, IAAS Nigeria Africa will not be able to sustain its current economic recovery if it does not eliminate hunger and malnutrition which affects almost one quarter of its population. In fact, hunger and malnutrition kills in the region despite of the natural resources available. It is paradoxical that, in a world of food surplus, hunger and malnutrition are ever-present in Africa with large expanses of rural wealth. Another striking contradiction is the increasing of GDP growth rate in the last few years from 3.9% in 2013 to 5.7% in 2015 (African Economic Outlook, 2015). This GDP growth is among the fastest in the world and stand out with the increase of life expectancy and education. But this does not lead to improvement in the same proportions on the question of food security. Young African people in rural areas are both the present and the future of food security since the actual number of them is over 60% between the age of 15 and 35. Most of these young people are living in the rural areas, where they are often isolated with few possibilities for education. However, these young people continue to face enormous challenges in the process of preparing to have access to a decent job including in the agricultural sector. Many young people belong to the working poor group engaged in meagre job just to have something to survive and their unemployment status will get worse if it is not addressed correctly, with access to the labour market. Young people may be the key to agriculture and rural development which could lead to a more sustainable and inclusive food systems. To achieve food security in Africa and a sustainable livelihood, it is therefore of the matter of urgency to introduce effective and environmentally friendly practices such as training the young people on how to harness the raw materials available in the agricultural sector while ensuring proper waste management. Young African people should also be invited to undertake projects related to agriculture and participate fully to the development of agricultural sector. Then, Governments should partner with NGO’s involved in capacity building of young people to eradicate hunger and malnutrition through responsible and sustainable entrepreneurship on a long-term basis. This is because the continent requires more innovative young entrepreneurs in agriculture, agribusiness, agricultural supplies, landscape and new information technologies.
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Future events in IAAS Directors Meeting of Americas 2017 From 12th – 19th of March 2017, IAAS Uruguay http://www.iaasworld.org/event/dma-2017/
Exchange Coordinators Meeting 2017 From 2nd – 9th of April 2017, IAAS Austria http://www.iaasworld.org/event/exchange-coordinators-meeting-2017-iaas-austria/
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
International Conference for Youth in Agriculture – ICYA From 27th to 30th of April 2017, IAAS World http://www.iaasworld.org/event/international-conference-for-youth-in-agricultureicya/
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
Seminar - Make Agriculture Great Again From 29th of April to 6th of May 2017, IAAS Germany http://www.iaasworld.org/event/make-agriculture-great-again-seminar-iaasgermany/
60th IAAS World Congress 2017 From 9th to 30th July 2017, IAAS Mexico http://www.iaasworld.org/event/60th-world-congress/
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IAAS Newsletter November/December 2016
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