IIT to host farm & food engineering conference

The cost effectiveness of different technologies used in agricultural production and processing is as important as safety, health and a human friendly working environment.

Farmers must use genetically improved seeds, implement better crop management practices and adopt post-harvest operations that minimise losses, along with better storage and effective packaging.

Emerging technologies can help stakeholders in the farming sector to do this. The agricultural and food engineering department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kharagpur will be hosting an international conference on 'Emerging technologies in agricultural and food engineering' (ETAE 2004) on 14-17 December, 2004, at the institute.

The conference is to be inaugurated by Mangala Rai, director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The conference will bring together academicians, researchers and practising engineers working in different fields of production industries like steel, tractors, combines, food and beverage to share knowledge.

The conference would have both technical and plenary sessions.

It would focus on emerging technologies in agriculture and food engineering under the themes of power and machinery systems (PMS), natural resources engineering and management (NREM), food and bio-process engineering (FBPE), agro-environmental engineering(AEE) and ergonomics safety and health (ESH).

These themes would be discussed at the technical sessions by speakers who will present papers on specific topics like alternate fuels, water quality, agricultural drainage, food processing technologies, women workers and equipment design.

The conference is counting on the support of ICAR, infoUSA Inc. of Omaha, USA, Tata Steel, tractor companies and allied food and agriculrual industries and organisations.