Acta Horticulturae

Azura packing station.
❚ More attention to post harvest handling of
greenhouse produce.
Suggested new working groups (possibly under
the existing FAO working group of “Protected
cultivation in the Mediterranean region”:
1. Optimise greenhouse construction design
for Mediterranean conditions, standards for
inputs and development of simple hydroponics
systems.
2. GAP standards suited to Mediterranean horticultural
production and certification.
3. Quality and post harvest issues for fresh produce.
The symposium allowed one day of a well organized
field trip demonstrating the production
potential of Moroccan horticulture to all the
participants. Large modern facilities combine
protected vegetable cultivation with seedling
production, packaging and export marketing
under high quality standards and international
safety regulations.
This symposium proved once again how well
our International Society for Horticultural
Science can act as an excellent facilitator for
international networking bringing together
people interested in horticultural science, production,
marketing and trade and policy
making.
One of the closing remarks may best highlight
what the participants felt at the end of the symposium:
“At the beginning of a convention some
people may have thought: Four days is really
too long.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Believe it or not, but we just finished 4 days.
Was it too long? Well, I for my part feel, those
4 days were really spent extremely well. When
we organized this symposium and gave names
to the different sessions - these were just not
more than headlines.
It was really you, the many contributors of meaningful
oral and poster presentations; it was
you, the active audience which brought this
symposium to life, which made it a real
successful meeting of experts of our wonderful
profession of horticulture.
I enjoyed every hour to be together with you in
this very nice setting here in Agadir. All of us
will leave with appreciation and gratitude.”
CONTACT
Abdelhaq Hanafi
Prof. Dr. A. Hanafi, Integrated Production and
Protection Unit, IAV HASSAN II, BP 12042, Cite
Balnéaire, Agadir 80.000, Morocco, Phone/Fax:
212 48 248152, email: hanafi@iavcha.ac.ma.
Commission Sustainability through
First Int’l Organic Apple and Pear
Integrated and Organic Horticulture
Symposium
The First International Organic Apple and Pear
Symposium was held in Wolfville, Nova Scotia,
February 28th to March 2nd 2006. The symposium
was co-organized by the Organic
Agricultural Centre for Canada (OACC) of the
Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC), the
Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre
(AFHRC) of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
(AAFC), the Atlantic Organic Regional Network
(ACORN), the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers
Association (NSFGA); and was convened under
the auspices of the “Sustainability through
Integrated and Organic Horticulture”
Commission (CMOR) of the International
Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS).
Dr. Ralph Martin (OACC) and Mr. Charlie
Embree (AFHRC) co-chaired the Organizing
Committee. The committee included:
❚ Dr. Derek Lynch (OACC)
❚ Dr. Robert Prange (AFHRC and Chair CMOR
of the ISHS)
❚ Dr. Julia Reekie (AFHRC)
❚ Mr. Claude Berthélémé (New Brunswick
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and
Aquaculture)
❚ Ms. Beth McMahon (ACORN)
The Organizing Committee and the Scientific
Committee are listed under http://www.
oacc.info/AppleSymposium/index_old.html
There were 50 participants from Canada and
25 from other countries including USA,
CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 46 • NUMBER 3 • 2006 • 49