Conferences

The Plant Protection Conferences have a tradition that began more than 60 years ago. The first Plant Protection Conference had been held at the Institute of Entomology of the Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in late 1957. The Conference had been attended by 30 participants. Until 1977, the Conferences were organised by the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. The Conferences were first organised by two Institutes and thereafter by the Institute for Plant Protection, an organisational unit of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences gathering all those involved in phyto-medicine. As of 1978, the Plant Protection Section of the Federation of Associations of Agro-Engineers and Technicians of Croatia became a co-organiser of the Conferences. In 1977, the Conference was attended by 240 participants. The Conference venue was changed several times until 1987. Ever since, except for the war year 1992, the Conference has been held in Opatija. In early 1980’s, the number of the Conference participants raised to over 300 to reach 430 in 1986. Even in the war year 1992, when the Conference restored its continuity, the Conference held at Tuheljske Toplice was attended by 300 participants. Up to 2000, the Conferences were organised by Plant Protection Section of the Croatian Society of Agronomists. After the establishment of the Croatian Plant Protection Society, the CPPS took over the Conference organisation. Since 2001, the Conferences have been organised by the Croatian Plant Protection Society, in cooperation with three institutes of the Faculty of Agriculture of Zagreb, in particular the Institute of Agricultural Zoology, Institute of Herbology and Institute of Phytopathology. The largest number of participants, as many as 800, attended the 50th-anniversary Conference held in 2006. The general economic crisis affected our activity, too, and reflected upon the number of participants; however, we can proudly say that even in the years of crisis, the number of participants ranged from 400 to 500. The Conferences include round-table and panel discussions with 60-70 presentations annually, which greatly contributed to the development of our profession and spreading of our specialist knowledge up to the end users. Through these Conferences, a great progress has been achieved both in education and practice, in terms of a more efficient and ecologically sustainable plant protection.

Knowledge and competence in the field of phyto-medicine are becoming increasingly important and indispensable for the production of agricultural products complying with the contemporary world standards. The fact that this Conference maintained its continuity and survived even in the most difficult times confirms its significance for plant protection, phyto-medicine specialists. The Conferences are known to be a place where scientific achievements in the field of plant protection are transferred into practice, improving the cooperation among all relevant stakeholders in the area of phyto-medicine: scientists, the Ministry employees, consultants, plant protection product manufacturers and distributors and end users - agronomists in companies involved in agricultural production activities as well as individual farmers.