European Grassland Federation conference to be held at Aberystwyth University

Hundreds of grassland experts from across the world will be celebrating 50 years of the European Grassland Federation at a conference in Aberystwyth from 7-11 September 2014.
Aberystwyth has been strongly associated with grassland agriculture and in particular the breeding of forage and cereal crops since the foundation of the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (WPBS) in 1919.
The influential grassland scientist and environmentalist Sir George Stapledon was its first Director, a post he held from 1919 to 1942. Stapledon argued that grasslands were at the heart of successful agriculture, which in turn was at the heart of Britain's economic and spiritual well-being. For many years his vision was allied with the requirement to increase production from all types of grassland.
Meeting bi-annually, this 25th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation is entitled ‘EGF at 50: the future of European Grasslands'.
Dr Athole Marshall, President of the EGF and Head of Public Good Plant Breeding at Aberystwyth University’s IBERS said
“Grassland fulfils a truly multifunctional purpose, supplying forage for animals, regulating water flows, storing carbon, preventing soil erosion, providing habitats for species across the food chain, and playing an important cultural role in society.
“However, the public at large is unaware of the real value of grassland, and we grassland scientists need to do more to inform people about the importance of grass in our everyday lives, and this will be one of a wide range of discussion topics during the week.”
The EGF was set up in 1964 as a forum for research workers, advisors, teachers, farmers and policy makers with active interest in all aspects of grasslands in Europe.
Its objectives are to facilitate and maintain close contact between grassland organizations in Europe, to promote the interchange of scientific and practical experience between grassland experts and to initiate conferences and other meetings on all aspects of grassland production and utilization in Europe.
The environment in which agriculture operates in the UK and other European countries has changed dramatically since Stapledon’s time, and the very necessary focus on increasing productivity that prevailed during the early and middle twentieth century has now widened to incorporate environmental concerns. Overproduction has been checked by a number of political and economic drivers, and the emphasis is now firmly on sustainability.

Notes:
One of the ways in which he had a direct impact on grassland production was through the development in WPBS of the ‘S’ varieties of grasses, clovers and oats.
The highly successful S23 perennial ryegrass was launched in 1933 and S184 white clover was first marketed in 1942. Stapledon was a strong advocate of the use of grass/legume mixtures as leys, realising the importance of nitrogen transfer from legume to grass to cereal. Varieties such as the ‘S’ types enabled grassland to support higher levels of stocking, and therefore production per unit area.
WPBS and its successor, IGER, continued this work with the release of many new forage varieties. 2009 saw the integration of the IGER with Aberystwyth University to form the new Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS). IBERS is breeding and releasing new varieties annually.

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Established in 1872, Aberystwyth is a leading teaching and research university and was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2009. It is 35th in the UK for ‘Research Quality’ (Sunday Times University Guide 2014) and won the award for Outstanding Contribution to Innovation and Technology at the Times Higher Education Awards 2013. The University is a community of 12,000 students and 2,300 staff and is about creating opportunities, research with excellence that makes an impact, teaching that inspires, engaging the world, working in partnership and investing in our future.