ABOUT CONFERENCE – ICONIA 2020

About The Conference

• Introduction

Industrial agriculture is defined as the type of farming which efficiently cultivates large numbers of crops and animals using modern technology. The future of industrial agriculture must be sustainable by maximizing the benefits through affordable and plentiful food products which are convenience for the consumers, while minimizing the drawbacks such as environmental and social problems, surface and ground water pollution, increasing health risk, ozone depletion and climate change.

ICONIA 2020 is a part of conference series presented by Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in collaboration with International Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM). This program provides an ideal platform for policy makers (government), private sectors, planters, agriculturist, academicians, professionals, NGO’s, and students to share the experience and knowledge about industrial agriculture. This conference is also in conjunction with IIPM Go Global, an establishment of the first IIPM International Chapter in Indonesia.

• Background

Agriculture which is defined as the science, art and business of raising animals or growing crops to obtain food for primary consumption or for profit plays an important role for development. Agriculture provides food, income and jobs and hence can be an engine of growth in agriculture based developing countries and an effective tool to reduce poverty in transforming countries, Agriculture has been the foundation of socio economic progress because agriculture is an important contributor to national economic vulnerability.

Agriculture can be differentiated into subsistence and commercial or industrial types. Subsistence agriculture is a type of agriculture in which most of the product from the agricultural activity is consumed by the farmer and leaving or nothing to be marketed, whereas Industrial agriculture is the type of agriculture where large quantities of crops and livestock are produced through industrialized techniques for the purpose of sale. Industrial agriculture means that agriculture is considered as an entrepreneur. The goal of industrial agriculture is to increase productivity which is the amount of product that is produced for each unit of land. Industrial agriculture is of particular important and adapted in many area of the world. Crops and livestock made through this type of agriculture are produced to feed the masses and the products are sold worldwide.

Industrial agriculture is able to produce large quantities of food due to the farming methods used. Instead of using animal and manpower to work the fields, industrial agriculture utilizes large machines, which are more powerful and can work faster and harder. The shift towards machines has increased the use of fossil fuels on industrial farms, and, therefore, the price of food can fluctuate as the price of oil changes. Industrial agriculture also increases crop yield by investing in large irrigation systems and by using chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

The chemical fertilizers that are used in industrial agriculture often add inorganic nutrients to the soil to increase yield and plant size. The use of pesticides is also common in industrial agriculture, and most pesticides help increase yield by killing pests that are harming or consuming the crops. Another farming technique that is used in industrialized agriculture is the method of growing monocultures, which is when a single crop is planted on a large scale. Although planting monocultures can increase overall yield, this method of farming is also more susceptible to disease and causes a reduction in the dietary variation of consumers.

Industrial agriculture in general faces big challenges for providing sufficient food, feed, fiber anf fuel because an increase global population with increase dietary expectation, an issue of sustainability, current uses of natural resource are highly stressed, climate change is reducing productivity, and market protection, therefore tropical countries which the economics growth depent upon the agriculture must collaborate together to tackle such big challenges through innovations.

• ICONIA has objectives:

To establish an experience and knowledge sharing platform to drive the plantation management of Agriculture Industry growth for the nation.
To formulate international strategic plan for plantation and agriculture industry management towards sustainable and high performing plantation industry.
To explore new opportunities in plantation and agriculture industry management globally.
To explore plantation and agriculture management innovative technology and business sophistication in the era of Industrial Revolution IR 4.0.

• Speakers:


Prof. Bunyamin Tar’an, Ph.D	Roland Schafleither, Ph.D	Prof. Dato. Dr. Fauzi Ramlan
Agri-Food Innovation Chair in Chickpea Breeding and Genetics, University of Saskatchewan, Canada	Head of Molecular Genetics: Flagship Leader, Vegetable Diversity, and Improvement Headquarters, The World Vegetable Center, Taiwan	Former Vice Chancellor & Professor of Plant Physiology, Universiti Putra Malaysia

• Advisory board

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM)
International Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM)