CAST symposium will be held from Nov 2 to 6th 2026

 

The meeting is co-organised by University of Rennes, CNRS, and INRAE

The call for abstracts is open   

By 2050, the global population growth is expected to place increasing pressure on food production systems. Under current agricultural practices, meeting future demand would require a substantial expansion of agricultural land, with significant detrimental consequences for biodiversity (i.e. genetic variability, species richness, and ecosystems diversity), and greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite sustained investments in plant research and crop improvement, agricultural yields have remained largely stable since the late 1990s. At the same time, the environmental and resource limitations of conventional agriculture are now well documented. Ensuring sustainable and resilient food systems has therefore become a global priority.

 

The conference aims to bring together a large academic audience representing the fronts of science and innovation to face agricultural and societal challenges including (i) carbon sequestration (ii) yields maintenance and sustainability and (iii) alternatives for chemical use in the control of crop diseases and pests, including new invasive species. This scientific meeting will throw light on new concepts as the plant and insect holobionts, new tools as agronomical and environmental genomics, modeling, new traps/sensors to early detection of pests and diseases. 

Prof. Joan Van Baaren and Prof. Philippe Vandenkoornhuyse, on behalf of the Scientific committee and the Local organising committee