International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection

The 10th International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection was held in Estoril, Portugal from 27 June to 2 July 2010, under the auspices of the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical and the Instituto Superior de Agronomia in Lisbon, Portugal.

The aim of the conference was to exchange information on storage from a wide range of agricultural and economic settings, ranging from small farms to large commercial bulk storage and from tropical to temperate climates, and to present innovative solutions to storage problems that are effective, inexpensive, and environmental friendly. The organisers hoped that this conference would help to improve food availability and quality around the world.

Mr Robert Emery attended the working conference and presented on the development and use of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) and how they were used to support, audit and validate the eradication of the 2007 khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium) post-border detection in Western Australia. Robert’s paper was entitled The use of hand-held computers to audit and validate eradication of a post-border detection of khapra beetle in Western Australia.

Robert’s conference paper focused on the development of pest surveillance data collection software and hardware using PDAs to provide auditing, validation, chain of evidence and increase the volume of data collected as well as its integrity through relational databases and seamless data transfer to corporate systems. The system’s first deployment was during a Trogoderma granarium eradication.

The conference program covered the following topics:

• around the world – an overview of different regions, reviews of past, present and future directions of research in different regions of the world
• biology and monitoring – insects and mites biology, physiology, ecology, modeling and trapping
• engineering – grain drying, handling, aeration and chilled air
• fumigation – MA, SF, MB, PH3, other gases and resistance
• microbiology and mycotoxins – moulds, control of moulds, mycotoxins, contamination and food safety
• non- chemical control – biological control, extreme temperatures and organic pest control
• residual insecticides – residual insecticides, DE, plant extracts and resistance
• integrated pest management practices – methods to prevent, monitor and control pests in warehouses, processing facilities and museums, and
• quarantine and regulatory – quarantine pests, control programs, MB alternatives in quarantine, wood packaging and registration of new pesticides.

As part of the conference Robert also attended a field trip visit to Companhia das Lezírias and the Orivárzea Rice Plant (Benavente), which was still partly under construction. Companhia das Lezírias is a state-run agriculture and forestry company located in the Lezíria do Tejo subregion. The company is an ecological sanctuary and peri urban farming area, near Grande Lisboa subregion - the most populated subregion of Portugal. The company produces rice, wine, cork, and livestock, as well as being a reputed horse breeder.

The International Working Conference on Stored Product Protection brought together close to 500 delegates from 27 countries, which provided an excellent opportunity to forge collaborative ties with a range of scientists, consultants, extension workers and industry, who are involved in the safe storage of the world's durable food commodities such as grains, legumes, spices, dried fruits, herbs and animal feed; and non food products such as museum artefacts and wood.