Call for the sessions’ proposals
The conference organisers kindly invite proposals of Sessions for the international conference “Multifunctional farming: landscape, people, food, and ecology” to be held on 16-18 September, 2025, at the University of Rzeszów, Poland.
Despite the key significance of agriculture for multiple aspects of human life and the environment, the answer to major environmental and ecological challenges is often sought from outside agriculture, or, even more commonly, against agriculture, considering it a major culprit. This results from ignorance of the positive role of husbandry in providing and sustaining biodiversity-rich landscapes.
Agriculture requires a holistic approach, taking into account all the important dimensions in which it functions: the natural, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions. Therefore, the basic goal of the conference is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experience as well as establish contacts and cooperation between those cultivating and using the resources of agricultural landscapes, between science and practice.
The conference organisers are convinced that many emerging environmental, social, and economic issues, including biodiversity loss, food supply, food security issues, etc. could be dealt with much more efficiently if smallholder, multifunctional husbandry was seriously taken into consideration as an important part of the solution. Instead of exploring its potential, in response to new global challenges and looming threats, the world’s political forces seem to upgrade and strengthen mechanisms and processes substantially responsible for the crisis, such as condensed industrial food production, global food markets, and long supply chains.
Instead, due to its multidimensional character, farming needs a multidisciplinary approach, embracing all its major aspects, from ecology to the principles of human culture, from economy to family and demography, from food and health to justice. Thus, we kindly ask you to review the preliminary list of tentative sessions with exemplary themes (see underneath), considering their fit to the conference’s Thematic scope. The conference Organising Committee will be happy to consider the submitted offers of session coordinators with their session proposals. Based on the submitted proposals, the Committee will develop the final conference’s programme.
Each session proposal should include (max 200 words):
- Short presentation of the coordinator, including information on farming-related interests, expertise, and his/her credentials referring to roles in international conferences;
- The session topic and suggested themes
- Does the session’s coordinator consider presenting a key speech? If yes, provide the topic.
- Suggested speakers
Session proposals should be submitted online by May 1st, 2024. The Organising Committee will contact the particular candidates, informing them of the decision and providing its justification. On certain occasions, we will suggest modifications substantial to the whole programme completeness and coherence. The final session list of the conference will be announced by May 31st, 2024.