2010 Meeting: The future of natural rubber

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Please scroll down for more information on the meeting, which took place in Montpellier from October 14-15, 2010. Abstracts and presentations are available below
 


The 2010 meeting:" The future of natural rubber ", organized by the EU-PEARLS consortium, aimed to provide answers to the following questions:
  • What if South American Leaf Blight reaches Southeast Asia and threatens to destroy the Hevea brasiliensis plantations, source of 80% of the world production of natural rubber?
  • What if climate change causes drastic reductions in natural rubber production in Southeast Asia? (Production in 2009 was 6% down due to droughts and flooding attributed to climate change)
  • What if natural rubber production from Hevea brasiliensis cannot keep up with demand from rapidly developing countries in Asia and South-America?
  • What if labor costs in the main producer countries continue to rise rapidly?
  • What if we wait and do nothing?

" The future of natural rubber " brought together 75 researchers, industry representatives, and policymakers, from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, interested in the development of alternative sources of natural rubber as strategic fall-back options and additional sources of natural rubber.

The meeting was an excellent opportunity for research organizations and industry to report, discuss and obtain information on alternative sources of natural rubber, with themes including germplasm collection, breeding, biochemistry and genetics of rubber biosynthesis, agronomy, processing, product development, by-products, socioeconomic aspects (policies, consequences for labor market, rural areas, factors affecting the introduction and market chances of alternative crops). 

Below, abstracts and powerpoints of presentations held during the meeting can be downloaded.

Date : October 14-15, 2010

Venue: Agropolis International , Montpellier, France

Brochure : download PDF

Program : download PDF

Abstracts : download PDF


PRESENTATIONS


  • EU-based Production and Exploitation of Alternative Rubber and Latex: EU-PEARLS. Hans Mooibroek, EU-PEARLS project coordinator, (Wageningen UR, Wageningen, The Netherlands): PDF

Session 1: Natural rubber

  • The many futures of alternative rubber plants. Keynote speaker Mark R. Finlay (Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, USA.): PDF
  • Taraxacum kok-saghyz as a sustainable source of natural rubber and inulin: development of biological feedstocks and root processing and rubber quality validation. Matt Kleinhenz (Ohio State Univ. Wooster, USA): PDF
  • Natural rubber in tyres: present status and future trends. Nico Gevers (Apollo Vredestein, Enschede, The Netherlands): PDF
  • Is the production of natural rubber from rubber tree really threatened? Franck Rivano (CIRAD, Montpellier, France): PDF
  • Natural rubber and latex allergies. Katrina Cornish (Ohio State University, Wooster, USA): PDF
  • Energy saving tyres based on natural rubber. Siti S. Sarkawi (Univ. of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands): PDF
Session 2: Isoprenoid biosynthesis
  • The biotechnology of isoprenoids - all things considered? Tobacco BY-2 cells as a model system. Keynote speaker Thomas Bach (Université de Strasbourg, France): PDF
  • Summary of U.S. Efforts to Identify Rubber Biosynthetic Genes. D. Shintani (University of Nevada, Reno, USA): PDF 
  • Dissection and molecular characterisation of the rubber synthetic pathway and latex rheology in T. kok-saghyz. C. Schulze Gronover (Fraunhofer Institut, Aachen, Germany): PDF
  • Quantitative proteomics and flow cytometric analysis of Taraxacum koksaghyz accessions. I. van der Meer (Plant Research International, Wageningen, The Netherlands): PDF

Session 3: Agronomy and genetics

  • Evaluating and improving guayule germplasm. Keynote speaker Dennis T. Ray (Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, USA: PDF
  • Guayule USDA-ARS Agronomic and Breeding research – An update. Terry Coffelt (USDA-ARS-USALARC, Maricopa, USA): PDF
  • Genetic diversity and variation in rubber traits in natural populations of the Russian dandelion in Kazakhstan. Peter van Dijk (KeyGene, Wageningen, The Netherlands)
  • Agronomic Performance and Latex characteristics of Taraxacum accessions. Enrique Ritter, (NEIKER Institute, Vitoria, Spain): PDF
  • Progress of guayule agronomic trials in Europe: early evaluation. Didier Snoeck (Cirad, U. Wageningen/MonptSupAgro): PDF

Session 4: Processing

  • Economic and Policy Conditions for the Development of  alternative rubber plants. Keynote speaker:  Michel Petit  (Institut Agronomique Méditerraéen, Montpellier, France): PDF
  • Guayule rubber production at Sacaton, Arizona 1987-1990. William W. Schloman, Jr. (Consulting chemist, Stow, USA): PDF
  • Taraxacum kok-saghyz: Production of high quality seeds and development of extraction technologies for natural rubber, latex and inulin. Anvar U. Buranov (Kok Technologies, Surrey, Canada: PDF
  • Variability in the wild species of T. koksaghyz as measured via several analyses techniques. Karin Molenveld (Wageningen UR, Wageningen, The Netherlands): PDFFast pyrolysis of guayule shrub and bagasse. Colleen McMahan (USDA/ARS/WRRC, Albany, USA): PDF



ORGANISING COMMITTEE
  • Serge Palu, CIRAD, Montpellier, France
  • Daniel Pioch, CIRAD, Montpellier, France
  • Jan van Beilen, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Hans Mooibroek, WUR, Wageningen, The Netherlands
  • Brigitte Cabantous, Agropolis International, Montpellier, France

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

  • Hans Mooibroek, A&F, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
  • Serge Palu, CIRAD, France
  • Daniel Pioch, CIRAD, France
  • Thierry Chapuset, CIRAD, France
  • Robert van Loo, Plant Research International B.V., Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
  • Hans Helsper, Plant Research International B.V., Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
  • Jan van Beilen, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Yves Poirier, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Dirk Prüfer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
  • Jan Kirschner, Institute of Botany (IBOT), Pruhonice, Czech Republic
  • Enrique Ritter, Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario ( NEIKER), Spain
  • Peter van Dijk, Keygene, The Netherlands
  • Dennis Ray, University of Arizona, USA

USEFUL INFORMATION

Montpellier is the capital of the region of Languedoc-Roussillon in Southern France, midway between Spain and Italy, and 7 km from the Mediterranean Sea. You will find detailed information on Montpellier, its restaurants and its shops on the Tourist Office website and on the website of the city of Montpellier .

Weather

Early October is often the best time of the year in France with the evenings still warm. The average daytime temperatures are around 21°C (70F). It may be rainy.

Local transportation

For information on how to reach Agropolis International, please consult the access-page of Agropolis.

Montpellier offers a comprehensive network of buses and trams, available
from 5 am to 1 am (Montpellier local transports: TAM ).

Taxis are also available upon call, or at the railway station.
Tram Taxi: 04 67 58 10 10
Blue Taxi: 04 67 03 20 00
Radio du Midi Taxi: 04 67 10 00 00
Languedoc Taxi: 04 67 10 03 04
2000 Taxi: 04 67 04 00 60

Banks

Banks are open generally from 9:00 to 16:30 with a break at lunch time, from Monday to Friday. Cash machines can be found almost everywhere.

Insurance

French health care does not cover visitors to France. Please ensure that you have a suitable insurance coverage for the event of illness or accident. The organizing committee will not accept liability for personal injuries sustained by or for loss or damage to property belonging to the participants.

Emergency numbers:
15: Emergency ambulance service
17: Police
18: Fire Brigade

Travel by Air

The Montpellier Méditerranée Airport is the 9th French airport with five regular airlines (Air France, Ryanair, Easyjet, Iberia, Transavia). Montpellier airport is 10 kilometers from the centre of Montpellier (15 minutes drive), between the city and the sea. The cost of a taxi is around € 20, the shuttle service (11 times/day) is about € 5.

  • Paris Orly: 9 daily flights
  • Paris Charles de Gaulle: 4 daily flights
  • Lyon: 3 daily flights
  • Brussels, Frankfort, London Gatwick: 4 weekly flights
  • Madrid, London Stansted and Amsterdam: 3 weekly flights

It is also possible to fly to Marseille-Provence International Airport , and then take a direct train from the airport to Montpellier (150 km)

Travel by Train

Montpellier can be reached by high-speed TGV: 15 TGVs daily from downtown Paris (3.5 h), and 4 daily trains from Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport (4 h). There are also direct trains from other destinations in France (e.g. Bordeaux, Nice, Lyon), Spain (Barcelona), and Switzerland (Geneva). The train station is located downtown Montpellier. More information on the SNCF website .