18th CIGR World Congress, Session I Land and Water Engineering

Growing uncertainty over the status of poverty, hunger, food security and environment has led the world strive to seek solutions. As the population expands rapidly on our globe, ways to upgrade our quality of life is the most important mission for the agricultural and biosystems engineers. In 2000, 189 nations made the declaration of the eighth Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to be achieved by 2015. Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, and ensuring environmental sustainability are the two main targets in the MDG. Agricultural modernization is one of the crucial solutions to resolve the difficulties, and agricultural and biosystems engineering is its foundation. As 2015 approaches, the need for accelerating progress and exchanging achievements towards these goals among engineers and scientists in the world is evident. We hereby have the honor to organize the 18th World Congress of the International Commission of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering (CIGR) from September 16th to 19th, 2014 in Beijing, China. Under the energetic guide of the General Assembly of CIGR, this Congress will remain faithful to the pattern established in past CIGR World Congresses, while incorporating innovative new elements to promote exchange and collaboration among agricultural engineers, and to offer a unique opportunity to present the results of research and to discuss important issues from a global perspective.