Conference Week

Its been a whirlwind week with the International Conference for Post Harvest Management and Technology for Food Security. It was an educational few days with some great presentations from a wide variety of people all with the common goal of helping with Post Harvest Management.  As Manny mentioned earlier there were attendees from NSAC, McGill, UC Davis, Industry Representatives, and Entrepreneurs along with speakers from India and the FAO.

Speaking with some the PHM Grad Students one of the most popular presentations was by a gentleman Daniel Gad. Mr. Gad used to live in the United States and work for AT&T and decided to move back home to Ethiopia and start a commercial farm called Omega Farms. The farm follows strict International Quality and Health Regulations and distributes his farm fresh products to Tesco in the UK and Wholefoods in the US. He has also recently become very involved with the Ethiopian chickpea industry. Daniel not only had a lot to talk about in regards to his business and the agriculture in Ethiopia but he had also just arrived from the G8 Summit meetings regarding Agriculture in Africa.

Another interesting presentation was by the Quality Manager, Abiy Kasahun of HILINA Foods Enriched Processing Center. The company produces peanut based supplementary foods for the treatment of malnourished children. The biggest Challenge for HILINA has been the assurance of quality peanuts because of poor harvesting practices and improper storage of the nuts which results in contamination of aflatoxin and mycotoxins. They have tried to solve these issues through new technologies such as peanut shellers along with the encouragement of better harvesting practices. Other presentations included one on the use of apple waste into neutraceuticals, environmental impacts of coffee processing, and so many more great presentations. The conference ended with a banquet dinner in the Alumni Gardens, you could tell it was a special occasion since there was a full cooked goat on the buffet table. I may have given a little squeal when I saw it which sparked some laughter in the crowd.

Aside from the conference, it was nice to have some familiar faces around campus and enjoy some easy humor and nice little care packages from home. Mannfred and I were lucky enough to meet one of the PHMIL interns from last year who flew in from doing her PhD research in South Africa. We took a little drive around Jimma and she pointed out some restaurants for us to try and gave us some great insight into further work we can do while at JUCAVM.

Campus has seemed extremely quiet since the conference with all the attendees gone and the general atmosphere seems to be much more relaxed with the stress of all the organization in the past. Mannfred and I enjoyed the majority of our weekend in the Alumni Gardens taking in the sun and drinking coffee with friends. When I say friends I’m including our nice new friends as well as the wildlife. One day there was a full troop of monkeys busy in the garden. At one point I counted nearly 20 monkeys and there were a few sitting above me in a tree giving me the stare down. Later there was also a massive tortoise making its way across the paths. These things don’t seem to faze anyone except Mannfred and I, and now we’re the strange Canadians chasing down the tortoise in the gardens. Oh well, one thing that doesn’t faze me anymore are strange looks.

I hope you’re enjoying this lovely Monday which is actually a Holiday in Ethiopia!

Ciao

Suze

The majority of the conference presenters

Please note the napkin in its mouth.

Grivet monkey in the tree.