International Society for Plant Pathology

(Professor Richard Falloon, President)

DPG

 

Report to ISPP from an Associated Society for 2003-2008.

Name of Society. Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft e.V. (German Phytomedical Society)

Established: 12.10.1949

Web address for Society. http://www.phytomedizin.org

Name (s) of personnel preparing report. Dr. Falko Feldmann, Managing Director

Nominated Officers. Is the list for your society on the ISPP website correct? No

President Dr. Bernd Holtschulte (KWS AG, Einbeck, Germany, B. Holtschulte@kws.de

Managing Director Dr. Falko Feldmann (DPG ,Braunschweig, Germany

Feldmann@phytomedizin.org).

Will a Society member be making corrections to the ISPP entry for your society on-line?

No (no adaption of ISPP function expressions possible)

Society Contact: Dr. Falko Feldmann; Email Feldmann@phytomedizin.org

Society membership. 1225 members in 2006; 1178 members in 2007; 1254 members in 2008

Report for 2003-2008.

 

•  Society Activities and publications.

The German Phytomedical Society (DPG) is the largest scientific association in plant

production in Germany. The Society is membership-based, and its members are

professionals within the entire field of phytomedicine. Here, we define phytomedicine as

the science of plant disorders (whether biotic or abiotic), their diagnosis, management and

control. Phytomedicine deals with all infectious agents that attack plants, and also covers

damage caused to crops by pests, diseases and weeds. Under our definition, we

additionally include abiotic disorders such as drought, frost, flooding, poor drainage,

nutrient deficiency, salt deposition and other soluble mineral excesses or wind, which may

occur naturally or be man made. Other examples of man-made ‘problems’ include soil

compaction, pollution of air and soil, salt applications on roads in urban areas, overuse of

pesticides, as well as poor education and poor training of people working with plants.

The special fields of interest (competences) of the 1,200 individual DPG members clearly

reflect the broad scientific range of disciplines and topics encompassed by phytomedicine.

In essence, the activities of DPG members are centred around some 20 or so basic

disciplines (e.g. mycology, virology, bacteriology, nematology and entomology). In a

multidisciplinary sense, 10 core disciplines emerge, covering important areas such as

disease monitoring, diagnosis, plant protection strategies and soil management. The extent

of expertise within the DPG membership varies from discipline to discipline, but all areas

of phytomedicine are covered. Within the membership, there is a balance between

system-oriented, applied approaches to phytomedicine and basic research which may or

may not have direct or indirect application. The former constitute mainly members from

applied research and advisory institutions or organisations, who seek to provide or support

solutions to plant protection problems, ideally in direct collaboration with advisors

(practitioners), growers and agricultural companies. The latter include academic scientists

in federal or university research institutes, whose links to DPG depend largely on their

individual interests in plant protection issues. Thus, DPG comprises a community of

experts professionally committed to the achievement and preservation of both the ‘healthy

plant’ and ‘healthy plant production’.

DPG is a scientific association with the purpose of promoting research in the entire field of

phytomedicine and the application of the results gained thereby, primarily to advance

education within plant health and to support extension services. The Society pursues its

goals through:

a) organising or supporting scientific meetings and conferences;

b) the joint organisation of national and international congresses, symposia etc. (e.g. the

German Plant Protection Congress in co-operation with the Federal Research Centre for

Cultivated Plants and the German Plant Protection Services; the International Symposium

Plant Protection and Plant Health in Europe in co-operation with the British Crop

Production Council);

c) offering scientists opportunities to join 16 working groups (see below);

d) establishment and development of relationships not only with other organisations that

have similar aims and objectives but also with professional colleagues abroad;

e) co-operation with universities and other training establishments, with the aim of

providing advice in the establishment of study plans and education curricula;

f) promotion of young scientists;

g) provision of information to the general public on the aims and objectives of

phytomedicine;

h) publication of research results from the entire area of phytomedicine and the promotion

of such publications (e.g. Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection, the DPG in-house

journal Phytomedizin, specific proceedings of conferences and symposia as well as

monographs in the annual publication Phytomedicine Spectrum );

i) awarding of prizes and medals;

j) promotion of the career, legal and social interests of its members, in collaboration with

other (mainly national) organisations.

 

• Funding opportunities are available only for members of the Society

Plant pathology in the Region Served by the Society 2003-2008

 

• Many professions deal with phytomedical practices, especially plant protection: e.g.

farmers, gardeners, forest proprietors or even private persons who observe that plant

disease and pathogens impair the quality of the culture plant or that plant protection

guarantees the high yield or quality of useful plants (including food crops and

ornamentals). The large number of professions concerned with phytomedicine (such as

those mentioned above) completes the spectrum.

In its 60 years’ history, DPG has attracted a large number of people from a very wide

range of professions. Virtually none of these professions operates in isolation; indeed,

most work closely together with others. Consequently, it is easy to identify a large number

of interactions between them, resulting in mainly four ‘fields of action’ at an

interdisciplinary level: consumer protection and product quality, work safety and

environmental protection.

These four action fields are directly correlated with phytomedical practices before, during

or after plant production. If these or the core competences are, for example, communicated

to the public or the media, a trans-disciplinary level is reached. The interrelationships

between phytomedicine and important societal demands (e.g. those belonging to

landscape, communication and consultation) are located at that level.

 

• It is the outstanding importance of social requirements which introduces new definitions of

‘quality’. For example, over and above product quality, today’s consumer is more and

more asking how a product has been produced. He or she will no longer accept poor social

standards (such as child labour), but is willing to pay a higher price for fairly produced

goods. The inclusion of such social standards at the trans-disciplinary level, for example,

creates the action field of ‘production quality’. Phytomedicine must become aware of new

action fields as they develop and itself become proactive under changing social demands.

 

•  Important motors of change were the onset of globalisation of trade, the creation of

international networks on every scale and the huge possibilities arising for those who were

prepared for interactions and relationships with other parties. DPG started to integrate with

several national and international networks more than fifteen years ago. However, it

initially remained a mainly nationally oriented scientific society. In spite of this, DPG

members (especially the researchers) intensified their co-operation with colleagues outside

Germany and thereby turned DPG into a more internationally orientated organisation. The

activities of the various DPG Working Groups bear particular testament to this.

 

• DPG is currently reorganising internally, to support communication with colleagues

abroad. For example: the Journal of Plant Disease and Protection (cost-free for DPG

members since 2006) will increasingly allow members to publish their findings, reviews

and short communications explicitly for the readership worldwide interested in

phytomedicine; conversely, international scientists will be able to communicate directly

with DPG members by publishing their results in the same journal. During 2006, the DPG

website had been given a new face, with internationally oriented pages that will include

the new “Expert Network” of members ( www.phytomedizin.org ). Furthermore, the DPG

Working Groups will emphasise the international flavour of their meetings and some will

co-operate internationally with colleagues from other, especially European, countries; also,

the presentations at the largest German congress dealing with phytomedicine (the

Deutsche Pflanzenschutztagung) will be published on a new website

( www.pflanzenschutztagung.de ) and will inform the international audience about German

activities in plant protection. One of the most important actions has been the introduction

of an international symposium which DPG created, together with colleagues from BCPC

(the British Crop Production Council), in 2005. The three-day symposium, under the

umbrella title of Plant Protection and Plant Health in Europe will take place every two

years, hopefully in a long-term co-operation with the Faculty of Agriculture and

Horticulture of the Humboldt University, Berlin. The first symposium had the title

Introduction and Spread of Invasive Species and brought together more than 120

specialists from 36 nations around the World. In 2007, the next symposium focussed on

Best Management Practices in Plant Production and is recently followed by the

symposium 2009 Crop Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Factors.

 

•  Finally, DPG established a Committee for International Co-operation connected to the

Berlin-Symposium as Advisory Committee which will co-ordinate all relevant interactions

of DPG with foreign associations with similar interests. In 2006, we started to invite

people who are also involved in associations abroad to become members of this

committee.

 

•  With its wide membership, DPG includes a huge reservoir of scientific potential, not only

for the benefit of the Society and its members but also for the public in general. As the

oldest and largest lobby for phytomedicine in Germany, DPG is able to support and mould

the development of phytomedicine on an inter- and a trans-disciplinary level, within

scientific circles and in the public arena. As a partner, DPG can offer like-minded

organisations a long-term partnership to further all aspects of phytomedicine, whether

academic or applied. To this end, we would welcome contacts from all organisations that

are seeking to establish such collaborative ventures in phytomedicine, as well as from

individuals who wish to become DPG members.