iaas newsletter sep.-oct. 2014

I N T E R N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F S T U D E N T S I N

A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D R E L A T E D S C I E N C E S

September – October 2014

I N T E R N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F S T U D E N T S I N A G R I C U L T U R A L A N D R E L A T E D S C I E N C E S

1

Contents

IAAS World New Headquarters ..................................................................................................................... 2

Welcome new Executive Committee! ......................................................................................... 3

Welcome new Control Committee ! ........................................................................................... 6

Activities World Congress 2014 in Iowa, USA ........................................................................................... 7

Exchange week in Sweden........................................................................................................ 10

Exchange week in Slovenia ....................................................................................................... 12

IAAS-Georgia ............................................................................................................................ 13

The 6th IAAS Olympic, Indonesia ............................................................................................. 15

Partners A TRIP FROM ROME TO THE WORLD: FAO, 24th Session of COAG. .................................. 18

Attending the Annual Conference of Partner EGEA ................................................................ 20

Join the 2014 Thought For Food Challenge and Win a Trip to Lisbon, Portugal! ................... 21

Other Opportunities for members ...................................................................................................... 22

Announcements ....................................................................................................................... 23

Upcoming events ...................................................................................................................... 24

EC Courier ................................................................................................................................ 26


2

New Headquarters

IAAS World is really happy to announce that the KU Leuven Faculty of Bio-science Engineering

has provided us a new and beautiful Headquarters.

Situated in the park of Castle Arenberg and just across

the street of the old HQ, the IAAS headquarter is

now a cosy house called the “Boshut” (Forest-

shed). On the shore of the river “Dijle”

surrounded by beautiful old trees and

squirrels and as well as other animals for

pets makes this idyllic.

The inside of the “Boshut” is perfect for its

new purpose. It’s light and spatious with a

cosy fireplace. Facilities are there to have

big meetings, and it’s a great place to invite

our partners / sponsors. Additionally there

are personal desks so that the board members

can fulfil their daily duties working together in the

same office.

The new headquarters takes a great step toward the professional look IAAS World has been

looking for.

With that, we want to sincerely say another huge thank you to the KU Leuven Faculty of Bio-

science Engineering for this enormous offer.


3

Welcome new Executive Committee!

President Samuel Navarrete

Country: México

e-mail: [email protected]

Skype: sam.nvrrt

IAAS World is more than just a student association, is the

opportunity of changing your life and broaden your vision of the

world and agriculture. Give yourself the opportunity to attend

at one of the IAAS events that are held all over the world, I can

assure that you will fall in love of this amazing experience! IAAS

world has changed my life, join us! During the way you will find

amazing people inspired each day by worldwide agriculture!

Vice – President of Communication Lisanne Meulendijks

Country: The Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected]

Skype: lisanne.meulendijks

Hey and welcome to IAAS World. I’m happy to introduce myself

as the Vice President of Communication2014-2015. IAAS creates

incredible opportunities for all agriculture related students.

IAAS provides opportunities that nowadays are so vital to have

next to our studies. In this rapidly globalizing world IAAS let you

learn about our sector all over the world and next to that let you

meet students who study in the same field so on international

level experiences and ideas can be exchanged.

I’m really happy to be part of our association that makes this all

possible! The past years I was able to attend many events and by

this have had the opportunity to learn and experience a lot. Since

IAAS gave me so much I’m really happy I can give something

back to our association.

I’ll always be happy to be helping out if you’ve any questions. Don’t hesitate to contact me in

any way.

mailto:[email protected]



4

Vice – President of External Relations Charlotte Soland

Country: Switzerland


Skype: charlotte_soland

Welcome to IAAS World. We are a huge family of great

students in agriculturale and related science. I’m happy to

be part of this family and I feel proud to work for it.

I want to involve our partners and sponsors more into all

the different programs and events we organize. My vision

is to bring students from different fields together and

closer to international discussion about tomorrow’s food.

I take the daily challenge to develop my personal skills and

improve IAAS, it warms up my heart to see our network

growing and all the smiling faces at the events.

Join IAAS and be an enrichment of our family.

Vice – President of Exchange Steven Adams

Country: Belgium


Skype: adams.steven14

Hello everyone, welcome to the amazing world of IAAS. I got

triggered about international relations and understandings

between students, whether or not with the same interests, due to

several international experiences. In an international society, as

the world where we live in today, it is vital to build an

international network and try to experience/feel/live/develop

new cultures.

I believe that the “Exchange Program” of IAAS is the practical

realization of the mission statement of our organization: “To

promote the Exchange of Experience, Knowledge and Ideas, to

improve the mutual Understanding between Students in the field

of Agricultural and Related Sciences all over the World” . There is

no better way to feel and experience a culture by living and

working in a foreign country. If you can combine this, with your

study of interest, new ideas and experiences will be learned. Don’t

be afraid to face a new challenge and get inspired by students all

over the world.Get triggered by ExPro and live one of the biggest experiences in your live and

discover the practical realization of your studies! Don’t hesitate to contact me for more

information.Let’s do it, let’s do exchange, let’s do ExPro!




5

Vice – President of Finance Yahor Vetlou

Country: Belarus


Skype: evazwan

In last 3 years IAAS changed my life totally. IAAS for me is not

only an organisation but also a way of life .It is a way for me to

get to know more about agriculture and culture, experience and

knowledge. IAAS has opened my eyes to diversity, change and

new ideas.



6

Welcome new Control Committee !

Contact us at [email protected] or get in touch with us through skype!

Ratih Nawangwulan

Country: Indonesia

Skype: ratih.nawangwulan

Over the past four years being involved in IAAS, I have been provided

with tons of fascinating opportunities, built life-long friendships, and

a completely life-changing experience of getting engaged with

international agriculture. I know that I will always look back at my

IAAS experience as a turning point in my life. So please, take a look

at our numerous thrilling opportunities and be a part of our

worldwide agricultural youth movement!

Vincent Verdugt

Country: Belgium

Skype: vinckepincke

IAAS gives the opportunity to students all over the world to unite in

both local and international events. It enables getting to know other

students from their own university and from universities from all over

the world who have the same interests. This connectivity is one of the

aspects I like the best of IAAS. Meeting enthusiastic people who take

initiative in our world of today is very motivating in our own lifes and

drives us to act ourselves as well. The students from now are the

future leaders of companies, innovators of technologies and policy

makers of countries. Broadening our scientific, cultural and social

experience will give us a better basis upon which we can rely to

construct our future lifes and world. I am therefore happy I can help

with the daily functioning of IAAS and try to keep our association

growing.

Alexandra Rieder

Country: Switzerland

Skype : alexandra7373737

The last years I was really lucky to be part of IAAS, which led me to

travel to Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Poland and Sweden. I passed an

amazing year as Vice President of Exchange 2012-2013 and want to

contribute with my IAAS experience and hope to be a help for this

year's Executive committee. I truly believe that IAAS is a place to grow

personally as you meet people from all over the world, all with

different backgrounds but still all somehow related to agriculture and

biosciences.



7

World Congress 2014 in Iowa, USA

Written by: Lisanne Meulendijks (Belgium)

In July 2014, IAAS-ISU (Iowa State

University, USA) organised the

international World Congress 2014.

The theme of this congress was

“Farming for the future!”

Next to the official general assembly, a

variety of farm and factory visits,

cultural activities and trainings were

offered.

The congress started with an

introduction to the ISU campus and to

Iowa as a farming state. Over 90%

covered with agricultural fields, mostly

corn and soybean; the perfect place for

an agricultural conference.

After some fun games on the lawns of the ISU campus,

it was time to move into the apartments. These were

beautiful, spacious and very comfortable.

The next day we visited some local farms, which

organically grew food for those in the community who

needed some extra support. In the afternoon we went

to the ISU research facilities for biomass production.

The state of the art research at this facility really made

a strong impression on us.

After the introductory days, it was time for the

official part of the congress: The General Assembly.

During the five days of Assembly we voted on the

proposed amendments for the constitution, the

current EC / CC presented their final reports and

the new EC / CC presented themselves and were

elected. Next to this, all the countries that were

present presented their activities of the past year.

Thanks to the organizing committee and to ISU we

had the opportunity to hold the Assembly in a

beautiful conference room in the majestic main

building on campus.


8

After these intensive days of meeting some days

with visits followed: we had the opportunity to

shortly go to some local departments of Syngenta

and Monsanto, visit the Des Moines Water

Works, tour a supermarket distribution centre

where (in some parts it was as cold as -30 °C), and

go to a giant farm in Prairie City where we got

some explanations about how to grow huge

amounts of corn and soya.

On

another day we travelled down to Pella, the city

where the Vermeer Company was headquartered.

Vermeer is a giant producer of agricultural

machinery. The whole group was warmly

welcomed by this company. They guided us

through their production line and museum and in

the end had an “Ice Cream Social” where even the

grandson of the founder and current president of

part of the company were present. In the same city

we also visited the Dutch company Lely who

specialized in dairy robotics.

After these intensive days the participants were happy to go on an outdoor recreation trip for

the weekend. During the day activities like rock-climbing, canoeing, kayaking and hiking were

on the schedule and at night campfires were build and typical American “s’mores”

(marshmallow roasted over a fire put between 2 graham crackers with chocolate) were eaten.

These were great days to really experience the American outdoor life.

To end the conference, we all drove down to the state of Kansas. Here we also had some

interesting visits to a wheat grass producer and other farms with a great night in a beautiful

barn with typical acts from the people from Kansas and our own members.

As you can see it has been a really interesting and unforgettable congress and we really would

like to thank all of the OC members of IAAS-ISU for doing such a great job in organizing this.

It was amazing!


9

Personal experiences WOCO 2014: Siti Nisrina Hasna (Ines)

Padjadjaran University, Indonesia

Everybody might have their most

memorable moment of their life. It could

be a first kiss, being married to someone,

taking vacation to the beautiful places, or

the other things that you can’t forget even

for a second. For me, WoCo is one of the

most memorable moments of my life.

WoCo isn’t only about being involved in

the most prestigious annual event of IAAS

World. But it gives you so much on your

social skills – the ability to interact with people from around the world and learning about

other people culture at once. The best thing I had during the WoCo is when people celebrating

me and Lucas’ birthday after the General Assembly on July 16. They sang happy birthday song

and there were cakes! The fact that I was also chosen as one of the secretary on the General

Assembly gives me a lot of experience. Even more, I had the chance to follow the GA in the

most active way and give a great help for the development for our beloved organization.

In the end, all I can say is that WoCo is the moment of your life that you can never forget. It

does not only give you the chance to get new knowledge and experience, but also to find your

new lovely family.

Barbara Umek

University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Attending 57th IAAS World Congress- farming for the Future was quite challenging for me on

behalf of expensiveness of plane ticket from Slovenia, plus the 24hr travel with the time

difference were not indulgent with me at all.

The challenging trip rewarded me infinitely. Not only I learned the solutions of global issues

on local area of Iowa and Kansas, I also gained writing and management skills, new

international friendships (especially from Germany, Indonesia and USA), ideas that I can

realize wherever I go and so much more that

I just know that is now implemented in my

soul and was not there when I got to the

congress. Now, two weeks after the congress

ended, I still use energy and cheerfulness

from the supply that I like to call “the WoCo

battery”. At the same time I was afraid the

time when that Woco battery runs out and yet

I have the solution: joining next IAAS event

with my favorite, with my beloved, the IAAS

family.


10

Exchange week in Sweden

Written by: Eric van der Tas

The Exchange Week was organized by IAAS Sweden and three countries participated during

this week: Switzerland, Mexico and Belgium.

We had fika at the faculty of agriculture in Uppsala (SLU), which is basically a coffee break

with pastries and tastes insanely good. Our compliments to the chefs. After that we played kubb

and we got to know each other a little bit. During the evening there was dinner and later a night

tour at the faculty with candles giving it illusion of a haunted place.

The next day we visited Uppsala all together. We visited the botanical gardens, the church, the

library, the unions (like the local student organization) and of course we had some fika. In the

evening there was the tradefair, so party guaranteed. It was kind of late, but it was no excuse

not to get up early next morning for a visit at the Holmen paper fabric. We had a lecture there,

followed by a tour in and around the buildings. It was extremely impressive.

Afterwards, lunch was offered by the company before heading toward the sea. We had a stroll

there along the rocky coast before heading back to the SLU where dinner awaited. During the

evening there was a pub crawl, which basically meant that you drink a beer in each pub and

complete the tasks that were given to you. It was really cool and we had a great time. We

especially enjoyed the duo, Annelies and Andy, who gave it their best to perform even more

tasks than were given to us.


11

The next day we had lectures during the morning about agriculture during the ages in Sweden,

about precision fertilisation and sewing, and about using new vehicles and drones on and

above agricultural land. In the afternoon, we had some free time to explore the faculty, but

most of us just laid in the sun. In the evening there was dinner and afterwards SAUNA a typical

Swedish thing to do, and we can assure you it’s really hot inside. Taking a cold shower every

fifteen minutes is absolutely necessary. In the evening, we did some drinking games and there

was karaoke as well.

On Friday (is it Friday already) we visited a pig farm,

which was operated by the SLU. We saw the whole

process from little pigs to the ones that went to the

slaughterhouse. It was really impressive to see,

especially for those who had never seen a pig farm.

In the afternoon we went for a stroll along the river

which was really beautiful, and in the evening we

had dinner. After dinner, some people went to the

sauna, other people went to Uppsala centre to do

some partying in one of the clubs.

The last day of our stay in Sweden some people, who hadn’t seen Stockholm before, went there.

They went walking in the old city centre and they experienced the taste of the famous princess

cake. Others went to another town south of Uppsala called Sigtuna, where you could stroll

along the edge of the lake and visit the old city centre with its many typical houses. In the

evening there was a goodbye party and next day we all left tired but satisfied homewards after

a whole week Uppsala.


12

Exchange week in Slovenia

Written by: Angelika Vizintin

When native and traditional agriculture meet the future

- searching inspiration for the future by looking in the

past. The exchange took place in our small but beautiful

sLOVEnia from the 28th of September to the 5th

October. It included IAAS members from Russia, Czech

Republic and Greece.

On the 2nd day of the exchange week we went to the sea.

We saw the Park of native species of plants and animals

in Hrastovlje, then Piran and Koper, two coastal towns,

the Marine biology station Piran and of course we went

for a swim. The next day, on our way back to the capital

Ljubljana, we stopped to visit Lipica Stud Farm, home

of the horse Lipizzaner. We also visited the Park Škocjan

Caves, which is on the UNESCO list and rode Lipizzaner

horses at Krumperk. In the next days, we toured

Ljubljana, visited The Union Brewery, had a

presentation Biotechnical Faculty (where IAAS Slovenia

members are attending studies) and attended various

workshops and lectures.

On Saturday, the 4th of October, we showed our guests

the Botanical garden of the University of Ljubljana and

Bled, one of the most known Slovenian tourist

attractions. Time passed too quickly and it was

already Sunday, time for our guests to leave and go back

home after this wonderful week.


13

IAAS-Georgia

Members of IAAS-Georgia participated in RTVELI

(wine harvesting). Written by: Mariam Devadze

Rtveli (vintage) is the traditional process of picking grapes and making wine, which is

accompanied by celebrations that mark the end of the agricultural cycle for the year. We

generally harvest in September and October. Rtveli involves almost everyone in Georgia.

Most wine is produced using ancient,

natural technologies. Grapes are

pressed by foot and the juice is poured

into massive clay vessels, called Kvevri.

The vessels are placed in a special room

called a marani (wine cellar.) The neck

of the Kvevri is surrounded by a

recessed basin.

In Georgia, where wine has an iconic

significance, the tradition of Rtveli dates

back to ancient times, having its roots in

the festivity of mid-Autumn abundance

and variety. Rtveli usually lasts for

several days, with people starting work in early morning hours and ending the day with a feast

in the accompaniment of vintage-themed folk songs. Volunteers are always welcome. You have

to get up early and it’s hot work, but you get to collect grapes, get your feet wet pressing the

wine, and see a marani. Then, at the end of the day, you will be part of the famed Georgian

feast, the supra, led by a Tamada (toast

master). There will be singing, dancing,

mountains of delicious food and wine!

Currently Georgia is probably the oldest

wine region in the world. The fertile valleys

of the South Caucasus, which Georgia

straddles, are believed by many

archaeologists to be the source of the

world's first cultivated grapevines and

neolithic wine production over 8,000 years

ago. Due to the many millennia of wine in

Georgian history, its key economical role

and the traditions of its viticulture are entwined and inseparable with the country's national

identity. UNESCO added the ancient traditional Georgian winemaking method using the

Kvevri clay jars to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.


14

During Soviet times wines produced in Georgia were very popular. In comparison with other

wines from Moldavia and Crimea that were available on the Soviet market, Georgian wines had

been more preferable for Soviets. In 1950, vineyards in Georgia occupied 143,000 acres, but in

1985 they increased to 316,000 acres due to increasing demand. In 1985, wine production was

881,000 tons.

According to Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, grape harvest in 2009 was 130,000 tons and

wine production increased from 13.8 million wine bottles in 2009 to 15.8 million wine bottles

in 2010 with bottle size 0.75 L (11.85 thousand tons in 2010). In 2009, Georgia exported 10,968

million bottles of wine to 45 countries. In 2010, Georgia exported wines to: Ukraine - about 7.5

million bottles, Kazakhstan - about 2.0 million bottles, Belarus - about 1.2 million bottles,

Poland - about 870 thousand bottles and Latvia - 590 thousand bottles.

IAAS Georgia also took part in organizing the Georgian Wine Day holiday. Their main goal

was to explain the structure of Georgian wine and the wine-making tradition to native and

foreign guests . Afterwards, they visited winemaking companies Tbilvino, Teliani Valley and

KTW where they had a seminar on the topic of the winemaking tradition and modern

technology.

IAAS-Georgia would like to thank the National Agency of Wine and Tbilisi State University for

their support for student activities.


15

The 6th IAAS Olympic

Written by: IAAS Indonesia

IAAS LC IPB has presented the biggest event and competition of the year, The 6th IAAS Olympic

2014. The 6th IAAS Olympic is IAAS Local Committee IPB’s way of showing its concern

through the spirit of competition also. It has been the sixth time this event has been held since

2008, with the theme “Achieving Millennium Development Goals by Sustainable

Green Energy and Food Sovereignty”. The goal of this event is to be a way to introduce

and socialize insights about social, agricultural and environmental problems or issues to

students and the public.

This year we presented the event with:

International Seminar International Seminar is one of the biggest events

in IAAS Olympic and was held on September 21,

2014 at Andi Hakim Nasution Auditorium, IPB,

Bogor. International Seminar invited many

speakers this year and presented in full english.

The 6th Olympic theme was “Achieving

Millenium Development Goals by Sustainablity

Green Energy and Food Sovereignty”.

The International Seminar itself divided into two

sections. The first section is about “The Use of

Green Energy to Achieve Environmental

Stability” that was presented by Mr. Chandra

Satria Muda from General Electric company.

After the first section ended, there were the final

round of IDEA and Agroquiz first. The second

section of the International Seminar explained

about “Preventing Hunger in A Country to

Achieve Food Security” that was presented by Mrs. Sinta Kaniawati as General Manager

Unilever Indonesia Foundation. But, before we entered that International Seminar section,

there was The Keynote Speech about Millennium Development Goals by Mr. Shahbaz Khan

from UNESCO. The International Seminar was lead by our amazing Master of Ceremony (MC),

Mrs. Ririn Prameswari, a finalist of Miss Earth 2014. We also showed the audience the beauty

of Tari Kecak from Bali that delivered OMDA BALI and the amazing light stick performances

from Teenagers Wotagei.


16

IDEA IDEA (IAAS Debating competition on Environmental and

Agricultural) is a debate competition as part of IAAS 6th Olympic

held September 20th– 21st at Bogor Agricultural University. This

was our second year holding varsity. This year IDEA was open to

all universities around ASEAN. This ASEAN scale debating

competition also has Fauzan Reza Maulana (Champion Of

WUDC 2014 and Dennys Victor Kapa (1st Breaking Adjudicator

at IVED 2014)) as the professional adjudication cores of the

competition. The champion came from IPB, 1st Runner-Up was

UGM B, 2nd Runner-up was UGM A and UI A.

IOA (IAAS On Action) IAAS on Action is one of programs in The 6th IAAS Olympic

event that showed our concern to environment. This year, IOA

has some activities like school gardening, House Farming, and

renovating a library. The purpose of IOA is to give a real effort

to society. These activities were held in Cikarawang Village by

IAAS members and volunteers. We gave volunteers a chance

to take part and help society with real actions. The benefit of

being a volunteer in this program is to get experiences in

society along with a certificate.

The first activity was held on June 18, 2014, when all the

participants renovated the village’s library. They started by

cleaning and repainting the building together. After that, the

activity continued on August 28, 2014, when we tidied up and

redesigned the library’s interior. After that first mission was

completed, we planted seeds in that village on September 1,

2014. Planting seeds gave in 4 RW in Cikarawang Village was

to make their yard greener and more beautiful. The mission

didn’t stop there. We also gave some talked to elementary

school students about farming, saving the environment, and

the importance of reading.

Last but not least, the IOA closing was on September 7, 2014,

with some activities like inauguration of the library and Mini

School Garden Competition.


17

Agroquiz Competition Agroquiz is a competition designed for first term students of

Bogor Agricultural University batch 51 (TPB). The

competition consisted of testing their knowledge about basic

agriculture. Three people from each class represent their class

to compete and strive for a triumph on agriculture issues

based on Andi Hakim Nasoetion’s Book, which is

Introductory of Agriculture (Pengantar Ilmu Pertanian).

Agroquiz itself is divided into 3 sections. The first and second

rounds of the competition were held in CCR (Common Class

Room) auditorium on September 20, 2014. On that day, we

had the 3 best teams that continued to the Final round in Andi

Hakim Nasution Auditorium on September 21, 2014.

The first round was a written test about agricultural

knowledge from Introductory of Agriculture (Pengantar Ilmu

Pertanian) book and common agricultural and environmental issues world-wide. Based on the

result of this section, we got 15 top teams to continue to the second round. Of those 15, the 9

best teams competed in a problem solving section. There were interviews and direct. That

section filtered 9 teams to 3 best teams to continue their endevors in final round in Andi Hakim

Nasution Auditorium on September 21, 2014.

The result of the second round was the 3 best teams: Q01, R03, Q08 A. The final round we

designed with a BOB quiz and an additional challenging round to get the winner. And Q08A

was the winner of 2014 Agroquiz. Q01 came in the second and R03 as the third winner of the

competition.

Here is a snapshot of The 6th IAAS Olympic:

IAAS LC Bogor Agricultural University , Indonesia, 2014


18

A TRIP FROM ROME TO THE WORLD: FAO, 24th Session of COAG.

Written by: Marta Gómez San Juan (IAAS Spain)

First impression of Rome: Majestic, with its old heritage, base of new generations and future.

It was a good emplacement for what was going to come, such as the parliamentary sessions like

those that happened in Ancient Rome... and some good pasta to set the stage!

Second impression: There we were at the white palace (as Italians refer to

this building) with the United Nations flag flying. We waited near the red

carpet, expecting people and waiting when a black car arrived. Danilo

Medina, president of Dominican Republic, got out of the car and walked

beside Jose Graziano Da Silva, Director General of FAO. Suddenly, the

president turned and waved to the three IAAS students, starring at the

whole picture. Good starting.

Third impression: Red Room of FAO Headquarters

where the 24th Committee on Agriculture (COAG)

seminar was going to take place. The tables with the

names of different member countries announced an

interesting debate with confronting points of view.

Developed and developing countries would fight for

their interests in a framework of making of this a better

world. Both, expectations and doubts boiled in our

brains, while avid eyes looked at everything around us.

During the following days we lived varied experiences: from understanding the whole

governance and working systems of COAG, FAO and even UN as a whole, to finding out which

hot topics in agriculture were to come. It was a really fulfilling experience for all the knowledge

we acquired in all senses. An extra effort was required to read between the lines in the speeches

of the delegates of different countries, in order to fully understand what was beyond the

beautiful words as “sustainability”, “security”, “biodiversity”... Do they include opening the

markets under any mean to develop? Do those intentions include measurements to mitigate

climate change? Do they include genetically modified practices? Will there be a mutual

cooperation between countries globally or in some cases will it be regionally? Certainly, this

whole week of learning and thinking was very good for us, both personally and for our future

careers.


19

We also had the opportunity to speak with personalities, Ministers of Agriculture, Delegates

and Permanent Representatives of countries as diverse as Argentina, Sierra Leone, Venezuela,

Switzerland, China, Chile, European Union, and Vietnam, among others. Also, in the side

events organised between sessions we could listen to professionals explaining what is Climate-

Smart Agriculture, Agroecology, the plan for Post-2015 Agenda, the UN participation in Expo

Milano 2015, and different case studies developed by the work of FAO and other partner

organisations and NGOs. Moreover, we had the opportunity to hear the ambassadors of Liberia

and Guinea speaking about the Ebola situation and the necessity of urgent help in those

countries.

To sum up, we would like to thank IAAS for the opportunity. By being motivated members, it

was a great week full of experiences, learning and discovering worth living.

Andrea Wehrli (Switzerland), Steven Adams (Belgium), Marta Gómez San Juan (Spain) and Konrad Egenolf (not on the picture, Germany) were present at the latest FAO - COAG Meeting in Rome, Italy


20

Attending the Annual Conference of

Partner EGEA

Written by: Lisanne Meulendijks (VPC – Belgium)

One of the partners of IAAS is the European Geography Association for Students and young

Geographers. Last year the first partnership agreement between the two of us was signed and

this year I can happily announce to you that this agreement was extended by two years!

Charlotte, our VP of External Relations and I myself

(VP of Communication) were invited to join the

Annual Conference of EGEA, their “WOCO” you

could say. The both of us travelled all the way to

Predeal. A beautiful mountain village north of

Bucharest, Romania. An entire hotel was rented for

the 215 participants that came from all over Europe.

During their AC, as Egeans call it, the members got

the opportunity to participate in many different activities. There were soft skill trainings

covering different subjects, sessions to start up or join existing teams for specific EGEA-

projects like “EGEA-Green”: “How to make EGEA more environmental friendly?” Also there

was a whole day of Recreation Trips where we had the opportunity to check out the beautiful

culture of Romania. Last but not least there was an intensive but really well organized General

Assembly.

But Charlotte and I were not there for only the fun! Some business needed to be done as well.

During their opening ceremony we had the opportunity to introduce IAAS and afterwards have

our own stand (with flyers, business cards and

the flag) where we gave many interested

egeans info about IAAS.

We also had a meeting with the past and new

EGEA presidents, Colette Caruna and Norga

Varga. During this meeting we learned a lot.

We found out we have many similarities in our

associations in which we can support each

other. On the other hand we can learn from the

things that are done differently.

At the end of our meeting both parties felt the same way in maintaining support of each other’s

association and making this formal by signing the contract that extends the partnership for 2

more years.

The partnership consists roughly of this: From both sides we will open and promote our events

to the members of the other association and also we try to get both our associations more

widely known by mentioning each other on our website and in our Annual Review.

I really hope that it will be at least two more years of great cooperation!


21

Join the 2014 Thought For Food Challenge and Win

a Trip to Lisbon, Portugal!

Written by: Ratih Nawangwulan (Indonesia)

Thought For Food (TFF) is building a powerful community of

optimistic, tech-savvy students from top universities around the

world to tackle the “food” part of the abundance equation through

bold solutions. In the three years since TFF launched, our

movement has tripled in size, and now comprises more than 1500

student innovators, ambassadors and mentors from 24 countries

on 6 continents. Through the annual TFF Global Challenge, we’re

uncovering the next generation of superstars who are uprooting the

status quo and feeding the world.

What if we turned deserts into farms? What if we rolled out e-credits for food waste? What if

we all owned vertical farming systems in our homes, powered by open-source platforms? What

if we could improve nutrition and increase productivity of smallholder poultry farmers in

developing countries using solar-powered lamps? These are just some of the projects “TFFers”

are answering and prototyping.

We believe that students and young entrepreneurs around the world hold the key to a better

future. Throughout history, the world’s most important game-changers have been

exceptionally young and inexperienced:

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak invented the personal computer at ages 21 and 26.

Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity at age 26.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google, both at age 25.

Marie Curie discovered radioactivity at age 31.

Wilber and Orville Wright invented powered flight at age 31 and 36.

These icons didn’t set out to be revolutionaries in their respective fields. They simply answered

the door when opportunity knocked and took on the important challenges that came their way

with the enthusiasm, curiosity and fearlessness of their youth.

That’s why Thought For Food is focused on tapping into the minds of the world’s most potent

generation and providing a stage for them to shine and pitch their ideas to other influencers

and change makers at the Annual TFF Global Summit (taking place in Lisbon,

Portugal on Feb. 13-15, 2015). We are empowering them with mentors, tools and

educational resources, as well as the experiences and connections they need to make a

difference. Right now.

You can find out more about the incredible and inspiring projects being developed by “TFFers”

in our 20-minute documentary (www.tffchallenge.com/documentary) or by visiting

www.tffchallenge.com.

University students can sign up for this year’s TFF Challenge until October 31, 2014 on

www.tffchallenge.com.

http://www.tffchallenge.com/

http://www.tffchallenge.com/


22

Opportunities for members

New ExPro possibility: Jathropa plantation

Mozambique The company Niqel Lda, in cooperation with IAAS, is happy to offer one of

our students the ability to do a unique

internship on a Jatropha Curcas

plantation in Mozambique. Jatropha Curcas is an

upcoming bioenergy crop that can grow in semi-arid

conditions. The internship location is at a plantation that

currently has about 3,000 hectares of developed crop as

well as a 40 hectares of nursery, infrastructure, mechanical

workshops and a farm compound. In the next 5 years, the

company has the ambition to develop the plantation to

10,000 hectares and potentially scale up with another

50,000 hectares in the years after.

Are you student looking to take on this great opportunity and spent (at least) one year on

the plantation as the assistant of the plantation manager and help him with the following

things:

Soil testing, Soil preparation, Nutrient

Management, Pest Management, Disease

Management, Weed Management, Irrigation

Management, Environmental Compliance

Management, Planting and harvest management,

Food crop development (maize), Cost of

Production, weekly reports and field notebooks

Requirements:

You have an educational background in agronomy/agriculture or equivalent

Practical experience in agriculture, international is a plus

Independent, driven, focused, realistic and pro-active

Positive attitude and excellent communication skills

Prepared for a minimum of one year to stay in Mozambique

“The Understanding of the African Way of Life"

Command of English language in written and spoken, Portuguese is pre

If you’re interested, please send a mail to: [email protected]


23

Announcements

European Directors Meeting (EDM) 2014-2015 Unfortunately we also have to announce that the committee in Portugal is not able to organize

the upcoming European Directors Meeting.

The EC team is at the moment trying their best to find a good solution for this. You’ll be

informed as soon as there is any more information.

If your Committee is interested in organizing our next EDM, please contact our President.

Directors Meeting of the Americas (DMA) 2015 We’re happy to announce that our committee in Chile confirmed it:

The next Directors Meeting of the Americas will be organized by the local committee in

Santiago!

Make the difference: Join the External Relations –

board ! Take responsibility and learn how to manage your own project, what effect your body language

has to others. Improve your skills of public speaking, negotiation, persuasion and challenge

yourself to work in an international team. Test your skills in a safe environment and gain more

knowledge for you future work. There is nothing to lose, you can only win, unleash your

passion‼

You will be surrounded by a team and supported by online communication and guidelines.

People matter! You matter! Don’t miss the chance and join the External Relations Board and

support your association with your work. You can make the difference - let's improve IAAS!

Don't hesitate, hit reply to [email protected]!


24

Upcoming events

East African Conference: Get to know IAAS !

Train-New-Trainers (TNT) event Where? In Belgium

When? 7-14th of December 2014

What is it about? Join this event if you want to become one of the next IAAS trainers!

African Directors Meeting (ADM) 2014

Where? In Niger at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey

When? 14– 20th of December 2014

Theme? Food Security and Sustainable Agricultural Development

in Africa: Current Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects

More information: Follow their page on Facebook: IAAS-Niger


25

ICN2 - Conference

Are you interested in attending a meeting at the FAO? The next meeting will be the

International Conference On Nutrition.

See the flier below for application details! For questions, contact [email protected].

Application deadline: October 31st, 2014 (Note: the earlier you submit your application, the

earlier we will consider your request and notify you of your status).


26

EC Courier

Every two months your Executive Committee (EC) will update you on the different tasks they

have been working on. Stay in touch with their work and read the EC Courier!

Charlotte Soland – VP External Relations Strategy meeting (8.-12.9.14)

Goals for this year:

Fundraising for the WoCo 15, on international level

o by company research, phone call, meeting, booklet

provide the possibility to our members to attend FAO and UN bodies event, with

workshops

strengthen our partnership more on local level with EGEA and IFSA

o by sending contact information to the local committees

create an adaptable booklet for events

guide for fundraising

apply for grants (Ministry of Italy, EYF, Erasmus)

EGEA Annual Congress (12.-18.9.14)

signed the contract for 2 years with EGEA

attend a Fundraising Training, leaded by a professional Fundraiser

got a lot of inputs how to improve our events

got to know our partner better

WoCo15 meeting (19.-21.9.14)

WoCo program, with new ideas for the EGEA AC

discussed the fundraising strategy (national and international level)

application for 2 grants (Ministry of Italy and EYF)

working in very close contact with the OC of WoCo, specially about fundraising but

also support them with ideas

FRES Barcelona (27.9.-5.10.14)

Fundraising training

how to tailor an offer

how to give feedback


27

Lisanne Meulendijks – VP Communication Hi IAAS World,

Because I’ve been busy with many different things I’ve decided to, instead of write about what

I’ve been doing past weeks, make a mind map of it.

https://coggle.it/diagram/543316b4171ea61b480196a8/6de4dcf16aa9cf79b8cdca83ad61c21a2154c75bbfe083c9e

b4ebbed3b990cf2

I hope you’re able to read it and understand my work. If you’ve any questions about my work

or me please always feel free to contact me any time at: [email protected].

https://coggle.it/diagram/543316b4171ea61b480196a8/6de4dcf16aa9cf79b8cdca83ad61c21a2154c75bbfe083c9eb4ebbed3b990cf2

https://coggle.it/diagram/543316b4171ea61b480196a8/6de4dcf16aa9cf79b8cdca83ad61c21a2154c75bbfe083c9eb4ebbed3b990cf2



28

Steven Adams – VP Exchange Hello everyone, let me introduce myself as the new

Vice-president of Exchange 2014 – 2015. Steven

Adams is my name and I’m a master student in

agriculture at the KU.Leuven, Belgium. This is also

the place where I had the chance to discover IAAS.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank IAAS

Leuven for the chances they gave me and the

support during my IAAS-career. I don’t want to

take a lot of your time by introducing myself a bit

more, because there are so many interesting things

to read in this newsletter, but I’m always available

for a good chat. So, if you want to know me better,

contact me by facebook, linkedIn, whatsapp, e-

mail (see at the bottom of this article), etc.

What have I done in the first weeks?

During August, I took my time to learn more and get into all the details of IAAS of the last

couple of years. Thanks to the previous VP of Exchange, Ara Asusti, and a very good handover,

I was ready to start my term in the beginning of September. A very exhausting but very nice

Strategy meeting was the beginning of the IAAS-year! Furthermore, I made the new Expro-

guide and other useful documents for all exco’s around the world. They will be divided to you

very soon! Off course, thanks to my new established Exchange Quality Board and CC to

feedback. I can guarantee everyone, EQB this year consists of very nice persons! I’m so thankful

to them to join my team this year and for the spirit to improve our amazing Exchange Program!

Last but not least, it’s not possible to blab already too much about this, but in the (near) future,

some very nice Expro opportunities will occur! Be aware and watch the website. In the first

halve of September, quite a lot of time was spend by creating the new layout for the Expro part

at the new website! Believe me or not, but it will be completely different!

Last but not least, I attended the “Committee on Agriculture” meeting of the FAO at the

beginning of October. It was very interesting and I can recommend everyone to apply for this

as well in the future. It is probably a once in a life time opportunity and you should take this.

It’s a huge chance to learn more about the organisation and to get triggered by their projects.

For more information about this event, please read the article in this newsletter!

I you have any questions about expro, myself or whatever. Don’t hesitate to contact me!

Thanks for reading this and hope to meet you at an IAAS event!

Lots of IAAS love,

Steven,

VP of Exchange




29

Yahor Vetlou – VP Finance Hello my dear IAASers all over the world, I’m Yahor Vetlou from Belarus, who takes

care of financial stability of our association. At the beginning of the term we had

beautiful Strategy meeting in our new office in Leuven. Meeting was productive with a

lot of new ideas and motivations. We met few alumni and shared with them our ideas.

If we will accomplish everything that we set at the Strategy meeting it will be really

perfect term. Now I want to briefly present you in what was involved previous month:

1. EYF International Activity Grant Together with 58th World Congress team, was prepared all information that

needed to apply for the grant, and two weeks ago we applied for 20 000 EUR

for World Congress 2015.

2. Membership fee ABCD project. I have several ideas how to change our system this year, because now we use

system that is quite old, I hope that I will present results at EDM to all of

you.

3. Development Fund Active working with Niger organizing committee to help them host

successful and great event from financial point of view. At this moment we

have some difficults in communication, guys mostly use French, I hope in

future we will cooperate with Charlotte to solve it. Current status: waiting

from OC budget, and confirmation letters.

4. EDM As you already know that EDM will be not in Porto(Portugal), now our

urgent task to find new committee who will be able to host European director

meeting this winter.

5. Italian Ministry Grant Together with Organizing Committee and Teresa from Italy we applied for

Italian Ministry Grant for this year 58th World Congress. Cross fingers for

positive reply.

6. ABCD Categories. At the beginning of the term I updated ABCD country categories. This year

just Tajikistan change to category from A to B.

7. Financial support of the committees. During previous month I worked with few European committees and few

African committees to help them find a funding for the administrative costs

and event expenses. For some of them it already work and hope that it will

help them in future as well.


30

Samuel Navarette – President

Dear IAASers, I’m very happy to say hello to you and introduce myself wherever you are in the

world! I’m Samuel Navarrete president during this term and happy of being part of this our

amazing association. I’m 21 years old and agronomy student in University Tecnológico de

Monterrey, campus Querétaro in México, where I was born.

For the begging I will start giving you an overview of the goals and objectives IAAS World has

for you in this year. We had a great Strategy meeting in September and main points of

discussions, meetings (externals, partners, alumni) and brainstorms were around this

question: What can IAAS World offer to members?

We found out great ideas and some of those are already happening, make sure of being part of

this great opportunities. I will mention some of them in the following paragraph and I’m sure

you will figure out of more reading EC Courier, Newsletter, Facebook, etc.

Strategy meeting

I followed strategy meeting from the distance and it was really nice to meet the team even this

way! Having long meetings, waking up at 4 or 3am and planning the next year from the

distance definitely worth it when such a great team and association is there. It have been long

and satisfactory weeks, most of the time getting to know how IAAS World works and keeping

contact and track of what is happening all over the world!

You can read more in detail about what does Executive Committee team is working on so I will

just mention main points that are in my plans for the upcoming weeks:

Committee Certifications

Past term a big step was done in this area and I will continue improving administrative control

of country members. In my past experience as National Director, it was really necessary and

helpful to have contact information of country members, this will be easier with new website

and I will be happy to keep improving this process

CIMMYT

As you may know the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center is located in México

and is one of the most important research centers in the world. CIMMYT organizes conferences

during the year and has been growing a lot starting with new projects in an international level.

I will be working to stablish cooperation with CIMMYT to offer IAAS members the possibility

to attend conferences and include CIMMYT in Exchange Program.

www.cimmyt.org/en

Headquarters

I’m planning to move to IAAS Headquarters in Leuven for next semester, working from the

distance will never be the same than working in headquarter specially if two of EC members

are studying there. Right now I’m in the process and excited of this possibility, it will be a big

step for the work I can do inside IAAS and a life experience for sure.


31

Great team

I’m happy of being part of such a great team and you can be sure you elected for this term

amazing people that are really in love with IAAS. All of us are full of motivation and each day

we make a great effort to improve and strength IAAS World.

Please feel free to contact me at [email protected]



www.iaasworld.org [email protected]

Call for Articles

Did you organize an event in your Committee and you want to

share it with IAAS World? Please send your article with pictures

to [email protected] before the 10th of

December, 2014.

This IAAS Newsletter was brought to you by Lisanne Meulendijks, Rylee Mc Dermott & Vincent

Verdugt.

Leuven, 15th of October 2014

http://www.iaasworld.org/


iaas newsletter sep.-oct. 2014

Documents

n t e r n

t e d s c i e n c e

n d r e

s s o c

g r i c u

new headquarters iaas

new purpose

beautiful headquarters