Fenton Beed, WorldVeg Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia/Oceania, provided an overview of WorldVeg activities including advances in postharvest management as part of an Agri-Food seminar on “Innovation for sustainability: What can the Philippine-Netherlands partnership contribute?” on 10 March 2017 at the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), Los Baños, Philippines. The event, hosted by the Dutch Embassy to honor the 108^th anniversary of the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines – Los Baños (UPLB), attracted more than 190 Dutch and Filipino entrepreneurs, embassy officials and personnel, UPLB officials, faculty and students, and Philippine government representatives.

Other speakers were Mary Ann Sayoc, General Manager of East-West Seed Philippines, Head of the Philippine Seed Association, and Crop Diversity Trust Board member who highlighted the potential of tropical vegetables, and Gert Kema, Professor of Tropical Phytopathology at Wageningen University and Senior Researcher at Plant Research International, who provided examples of how technological solutions have made agriculture more efficient.

Presentations were followed by a stimulating panel discussion with the audience particularly interested in how to make agriculture attractive to young people and how to encourage research to boost soil health, environmental sustainability, and to ensure food is safe. Fen promoted the use of high tech options to support decision-making in agriculture such as diagnostic apps, remote sensing, social networks to increase value chain connectivity, recipe shows, nutrition analysis, marketing initiatives, and food technologies to create tasty, nutritious non-perishable products. The discussion covered topics including modernizing agriculture, creating agribusiness opportunities, nurturing entrepreneurship, microfinance, challenges in land reform, and opportunities that the Netherlands can extend in the field of agriculture.

Story and photos: Fenton Beed, Anna Marie Bahala