Dear fellow agronomists

You are cordially invited to the 12th Congress of the European Society for Agronomy, 20-24 August 2012, in the city of Helsinki, Finland. The conference will be held in the historic centre of Helsinki, where your visit will be easy because almost everyone speaks some English and everything is within comfortable walking distance. You can choose from four 1-day tours on Wednesday to different agricultural regions of the country. Between its lakes and forests, Finland has over 2 million hectares of arable land. This northernmost outpost of agriculture faces a number of challenges, the short (90-120 days) and often cool growing season among them, and presents a number of opportunities, including clean air, long summer days, and a winter that many crop pathogens cannot survive.

Our conference therefore takes a number of themes from “agriculture at the extremes”, including tolerance to stresses, pushing the margins of sustainability, and extending models of crop growth to include responses to long days and cool droughts. See the “Themes” list, accessed from the link on the left.

Newsweek magazine’s poll of many aspects of lifestyle indicated that Finland was the best country in the world to live in: Top in education, 17th in health (a few problems still there), 4th for quality of life, 8th for “economic dynamism” and 5th for “political environment”. I think that’s right: I have lived in four other countries and I chose to stop here. Come find out why: is it the fabulous fresh fish and the basketsful of glistening wild berries; is it the inner harmony after a satisfyingly sweaty sauna; is it the national pride in efficiency? Is it the fact that the country’s agriculture desperately needs legumes, my specialty crop? (Actually, it’s because my wife is Finnish, but all these other things help)

2012 is also the year that Helsinki is the International Design Capital; it hosts the European Championship Games in June; and the conference is conveniently between the Olympics and Paralympics, so you need not miss a minute of television sport, if that is your relaxation. Some say that 2012 is also, according to an ancient Mayan calendar, the end of the world. So come to Finland, and to our congress, before the world comes to an end!

Yours truly Fred Stoddard