Stakeholders in the Lebanese olive and livestock sectors who are facing challenges are invited to a free B2B event where they can connect with innovators who offer solutions to common problems. Hybrid online and face-to-face presentations and one-on-one meetings will take place in Beirut on July 21^st 2022 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. as part of the LIVINGAGRO project funded under the ENI CBC Med Programme 2014-2020.

This hybrid conference will take place at the Smallville Hotel Badaro in Beirut, Lebanon. There, eight 15-minute presentations will introduce innovations in the olive, olive oil, and livestock sectors to producers, cooperatives, agricultural enterprises, company representatives, millers, and other interested stakeholders.

Innovators, researchers, and representatives of organizations will give presentations on a wide range of innovations related to the following topics:

•    Chickpea intercropping in olive groves
•   Effect of soil management and different cover crops on soil characteristics, olive production and olive oil quality
•    DNA-based diagnostic test to authenticate the varietal origin of olive oil
•   OliveID, an image-based tool to identify olive cultivars based on a numeric analysis of size, shape, and structure
•   FT-NIR Analyzer, using Fourier transform (FT) near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) to determine olive oil quality
•    Zen Irriware precision irrigation system
•    Clearing shrubs and sowing a mixture of grass and legumes in agrosilvopastoral systems
•    Using Sumac for Olive Curing

On the event day, audience members will be invited to schedule one-on-one meetings to learn more from innovators during the afternoon session. This will allow participants to ask specific questions relevant to their own situations, and to learn more about the innovations of greatest interest to them.
 

Part of LIVINGAGRO’s Living Laboratories, such connections between audience members and presenters will enable the establishment of new contacts and the sharing of information on innovative ideas, machinery, techniques, and services. The aim is to bring together innovators and those who may use their innovations, encouraging mutually beneficial discussions that could inspire collaborations. Two similar LIVINGAGRO B2B events that occurred online in July and December 2021 in Crete, Greece, did lead to new collaborations between presenters and audience members.

For more information about the event’s agenda please consult the event dedicated page at the following link on the project ICT platform.

For attending the event online use the following link.

An overview of each innovation will be available in English and Arabic Catalogues during the event. The Catalogues can be viewed here (in Arabic and English).

This event is being organized in the framework of the “LIVINGAGRO - Cross Border Living laboratories for Agroforestry” project which is co-financed by the European Union (90%) through the ENI CBC Med Programme 2014 – 2020 and National Resources (10%). Rather than simply doing research in isolated labs, LIVINGAGRO partners in Italy, Lebanon, Jordan, and Greece have asked farmers, company representatives, policy makers and other stakeholders who work with olive oil and grazed woodlands for input about the types of problems they need to solve, as well as the most workable solutions.

Many survey respondents indicated a desire to increase their product’s quality, improve plant health and/or soil fertility, reduce their production costs, increase the quantity produced, and reduce their use of chemical products. Innovations have been identified that can meet those needs as well as others.

The LIVINGAGRO team invites all who are interested to learn more, whether online or in person, at the B2B event in Beirut.

For more information concerning the event please contact Dr. Milad El Raichy at phone nr. +961 70 218 438 or email address mraichy@lari.gov.lb.