Invitation and First Circular
 
8th International Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management.

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organizing Committee it is my pleasure to invite you to the
8th International Symposium on Modelling in Fruit Research and Orchard Management.

The symposium will be hosted by the Research Station Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil and held in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, from 1 to 5 July 2007 under the auspices of the International Society for Horticultural Science.

Venue of our meeting will be the SJBZ (Swiss Youth and Education Centre), pleasantly located at about 1000 m altitude between the Lake Sihlsee and the centre of Einsiedeln with its famous monastery, scenic views and dominant pilgrimage church. Arrival and welcome reception will be on Sunday, 1st July and the program will start on the morning of 2 July going through to the afternoon of 5th July.  An afternoon of experiencing Zurich and a tour to the Einsiedeln monastery will be included and we hope to get a guided tour through the library which is normally closed to the public. For interested participants, we will also organise a tour to the Research Station ACW in Wädenswil.

We would like to stimulate an atmosphere where people get together easily and besides the talks have enough time for relaxed discussion, which will easily possible at our venue. The scientific topics of the meeting will include modelling of plant phenology and development including fruit growth, pest phenology and management, plant architecture, physiology and growth responses, decision support systems, climate-plant interactions with special focus on global change issues. But there are surely much more topics that will be interesting to the audience.

I hereby invite all those interested in participation to express their interest by replying to this invitation by e-mail. Any further questions should be directed to the convenor.

Further information and the next circular with registration form, reservation form and payment instructions will be sent to those expressing their interest and replying to this announcement.

I look forward to welcoming you to an exciting meeting in Einsiedeln/Switzerland.

Jörg Samietz,
Research Station ACW, Convener

Scientific presentations

We are planning to provide everybody with the opportunity to give an oral presentation. Since time slots for contributed oral papers are of course limited, we will therefore have a category called "Poster talks." That means those papers are in principal presented as posters throughout the meeting but there will be a session in the auditory with a time slot of 5 minutes including discussion for each person who wishes to show the main results there with some slides too. More details will be provided with the upcoming call for papers in the next circular. Accepted presentation will be published with max. 8 pages papers in Acta Horticulturae.

Accommodation

We are pleased to offer reasonable rates for simple yet proper accommodation (no TV, but private phone) at our meeting venue including half board meals. Since registration will

include the 4 lunches, this means once you decide for staying together with us at the venue, all meals will already be covered.

Approximate room Rates

Rooms at the venue will be reserved with the registration (next circular) and afterwards paid directly at the venue by each participant separately. External hotel accommodation has to be organised by the participant who wishes for oneself – but we will give support and will provide hotel information with the next circular. There are several hotels in walking distance of about 10 minutes near the famous monastery and pilgrimage church of Einsiedeln.

Following rates are per person and night and include half board, i.e. breakfast and dinner. Euro prices for the accommodation are for information only, daily exchange rates will apply!

Provisional fees

Registration fee will include one copy of the Acta Hort. proceedings, Welcome reception, 4 Lunches (Mo-Thu), Conference barbeque, Wine tasting (ACW wines), Tours (Zurich, Einsiedeln), Coffee breaks (coffee, tea, refreshments, "Gipfeli" – you will see what this is).

Organizing Committee

Contact

Dr. Joerg Samietz, Research Station ACW,
Schloss, P.O. Box 185,
CH-8820 Waedenswil, Switzerland

Phone +41 (0) 44 783 61 93
Fax +41 (0) 44 783 64 34
E-mail: joerg.samietz@acw.admin.ch