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The International Crop
Science Society (ICSS) was formed following a series of successful
International Crop Science Congresses held at various locations
around the world, the first (1992) being held at Ames, Iowa. The
concept of an international society was first proposed and discussed
at the 1996 Congress in India and ratified at the 2000 Congress in
Germany. Financial support from the Crop Science Society of America
helped establish ICSS in 2000.
The mission of ICSS is to
provide for the exchange of information and education on the
sustainable production of crop products to meet the consumption
needs of humans and industry. To accomplish this goal, ICSS acts as
a liaison between national and regional crop science societies and
maintains a world wide web presence to aid communication among
members, but its most notable effort is its organization of
International Crop Science Congresses.
The first International Crop
Science Congress (ICSC) was initiated by members of the Executive
Board of the Crop Science Society of America (CSSA). In 1989,
Calvin O. Qualset, president of CSSA, appointed Kenneth J. Frey,
Professor of Agronomy at Iowa State University, to chair a
Feasibility Committee charged with preparing a proposal for the ICSC.
The proposal was adopted by the CSSA Board of Directors, and they
voted to jointly organize the Congress with Iowa State University.
The location and date for the first Congress were set for July
14-22, 1992, at the Iowa State Center, Iowa State University, Ames,
Iowa.
The first Congress was
structured around five themes: the sustainability of agriculture;
the effect of global climate change on crop production; issues of
biodiversity; breeding crops for increased production in new
environments; and physiology and molecular biology of crop
development and production. The event was considered a success as
hundreds of people from around the world attended and approximately
300 poster presentations were presented by participants.
Every four
years, ICSC is held at different locations throughout the world.
Following the first Congress held in Ames, Iowa, ICSC has been held
in New Delhi, India (1996); Hamburg, Germany (2000); Brisbane,
Australia (2004); and Jeju, Korea (2008). |
