30th EGF General Meeting 2024

EGF2024
Picture from the EGF2024 image gallery (taken at the Abe Lenstra Stadium in Heerenveen NL)

“Why grasslands?”

From 9 - 13 June, the 30th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation (EGF), hosted by the Dutch-Flemish Society for Grassland and Fodder Crops (NVWV), was held in the Harmonie in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The General Meeting attracted 325 participants from 32 countries and hosted an additional 75 participants in side-events.

The General Meeting revolved around the question whether grasslands are important, and if so, why? The scientific programme on "Why grasslands?" was divided into five plenary sessions:

  • WHAT: What is the role of grasslands in net food security?
  • HOW: How do we balance ecosystem services?
  • WHICH: Which methods can be used to monitor, evaluate and steer grassland management?
  • WHERE: Where should we focus on which ecosystem services?
  • WHOM: For whom are grasslands important?

EGF2024 – a great success
The main organisers of the EGF2024 General Meeting were Dr. Agnes van den Pol-van Dasselaar – President (Aeres University of Applied Sciences), Dr. Cindy Klootwijk – Chair Scientific Committee (Wageningen University & Research) and Dr. Wiepk Voskamp-Harkema – Chair Organising Committee (Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences).

We gratefully remember lively debates, insightful presentations, interesting mid-conference tours and social activities, and above all, the fruitful exchanges of ideas among researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders from across Europe and beyond. Together, we explored the multifaceted roles of grasslands and discussed innovative solutions to the challenges they face.

The 30th EGF General Meeting 2024 was a great success, scientifically, technically and socially. For this we would like to congratulate and to thank the organisers as well as all the important generous sponsors and supporters.

Outcome of he conference
►► The proceedings of the 30th EGF General Meeting 2024 (Grassland Science in Europe, vol. 29, 947 pages) can be downloaded for free from here.

Future publication of the EGF Proceedings
From now on, the EGF proceedings will be made available exclusively in electronic form on the conference and EGF websites. Their significance as a scientific publication will be enhanced by giving the ‘Grassland Science in Europe’ series an ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) and by also including them in the Web of Science Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) in addition to their publication in the CABI Full Text Repository.

Elections
EGF President 2024-2026
- José Pedro Fragosa de Almeida (Portugal)

Regional representatives 2024-2028
- Northern Europe – Norway
- North Eastern Europe – Estonia
- Eastern Europe – Ukraine
- South Eastern Europe – Serbia

Federation Secretary 2024-2026
- Agnes van den Pol-van Dasselaar (the Netherlands), who replaces Kessler (Switzerland) as after 20 years in office.

EGF Honorary Life President
- Willy Kessler (Switzerland)

►► The minutes of the EGF Business Meeting can be viewed here.