Category: Symposium

NZPPS 2020 Conference Postponed to August 2021

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Due to Covid-19, the NZPPS Executive has decided to postpone the 73rd NZPPS Conference and associated symposium until August 2021. Please note this change in your diaries.

The response from members submitting conference abstracts has been excellent this year with 58 abstracts received to date and a further 21 promised. Obviously, it is very disappointing that the corresponding presentations won’t be delivered this year but we look forward to these presentations at the 2021 conference instead.

To keep the Society active during these turbulent times, we encourage authors of conference abstracts to prepare a manuscript on their work and submit it to New Zealand Plant Protection as soon as possible at https://journal.nzpps.org/index.php/nzpp/about/submissions. All papers published in this year’s journal will automatically be eligible for presentation at the 2021 conference. We also welcome manuscript submissions from other members.

The Executive is in discussion about the best way to hold the NZPPS 2020 Annual General Meeting and will let members know in due course how we plan to proceed. 

Keep safe everyone.

 Kind regards,

Dr Eirian Jones

President, NZPPS

Phytophthora Symposium

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The Phytophthora Symposium was held on Monday 12th August at the Stamford Plaza prior to the NZPPS Conference. The Symposium was a great success with over 134 registrants, likely on account of the high caliber of the invited speakers as well as the excellent programme. Twenty papers and 16 posters were produced from the Symposium – the Abstract booklet is still available on our website.

The symposium’s aim was to convene researchers from across the country actively working on Phytophthora biology and management. With the growth of awareness and interest in Phytophthora pathogens across plant systems we assembled a broad range of speakers and had four international speakers present, to lead each of the four sessions. This brought a unique global perspective to the discussion and fully met the symposium aims.

Our international speakers were:

Dr Sarah Green from Forest Research, Scotland who spoke on “Phytophthora in a global context and mitigation through understanding risk of spread in trade”.

Dr Niklaus Grunwald from USDA Agricultural Research Service, Oregon who spoke on “From genes to management: deploying the most appropriate technology to inform Phytophthora biology and management”.

Dr Mariella Marzano from Forest Research, Scotland who spoke on “Plants, pests and practice: bridging the gap between knowledge and action to better management plant health”.

Dr Richard Cobb from California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), California who spoke on “Why, what and where; responding to relentless and disruptive invasive Phytophthora”.

The international speakers brought expertise to provide a greater understanding of the epidemiology of Phytophthora and assisted to identify research projects that may improve our ability to manage Phytophthora diseases in kauri forests and other ecosystems.

Thank you to the Organising Committee: Karyn Froud (Chair), Rosie Bradshaw, Bill Dyck, Ian Horner, Joy Tyson, Nick Waipara, Nari Williams, Eirian Jones, and all our sponsors.

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