Members of the global seed industry meet in Brisbane

6 Jun. 2018|Media Release

More than 1200 seed industry professionals from 64 countries are in Brisbane this week to negotiate trade agreements and to address key issues facing the global seed industry.

The 69^th World Seed Congress, hosted by The International Seed Federation (ISF) and the Australian Seed Federation (ASF) is being held in Australia for the first time in 19 years at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC).

The World Seed Congress comes hard on the heels of the 2018 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation for a record 3,000 delegates, just two of 140 conferences on the BCEC calendar this year.

During the three day event at the BCEC, delegates from the Asia Pacific and across the world will debate opportunities and challenges facing the seed industry with a strong focus on innovation in industry in order to better feed the world.

With agricultural products accounting for more than 15% of Australia’s total exports, the strong business trading component of this event will take centre stage alongside other policy driven discussions and activities around agricultural technology, food security and the future face of the seed sector.

There was strong interest for this event with delegates from 16 international organisations attending, the strongest host country delegation on record  with Australians making up 10% of delegates, the highest ever number of exhibition booths and a full allocation of the 203 trading tables.

The Congress is significant for the seed and agriculture industry in Australia, and for Australian Seed Federation members it is a chance to showcase their product and conduct business on an international level in all areas of the seed sector worldwide.

Organisers said international delegates, many of whom were first time visitors to Australia, were enjoying experiencing Brisbane as a destination with many taking the opportunity to combine business with pleasure to plan some pre and post touring opportunities in Queensland and throughout Australia.

The Queensland Government, via Tourism and Events Queensland, is proud to support the 69^th World Seed Congress. Business events are vital to Queensland’s tourism industry, attracting visitors and promoting our destinations to domestic and international visitors.

BCEC Director of Sales, Alison Gardiner said the Centre was delighted to support the Australian Seed Federation in their bid to bring this key sector conference to Brisbane.

“Queensland has the highest proportion of land area in Australia dedicated to agriculture and attracting conferences in industries that are key to Queensland and Australia is fundamental to what we do as a venue to support our city and our State.”

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said hosting the World Seed Congress for the first time in nearly two decades came at a time when Brisbane was growing its profile as an Asia Pacific hub for food and agriculture.

“Growing Brisbane’s food and agribusiness industry is a priority of the Brisbane 2022 New World City Action Plan for economic growth. I’m certain that with our city’s strong capabilities in agriculture technology, innovation and research, coupled with our offerings as a world-class conventions city, delegates have enjoyed every aspect of their time at this congress in Brisbane,” Cr Quirk said