9th International Conference on Goats

 In 2004, eight countries competed to host the 9th International Conference on Goats.  It was a difficult decision, but the Board of Directors selected Mexico to host the Conference.  We have the following to report:

• Record number of papers submitted (more than 450) from all over the world.
• Both the Federal Government of Mexico and Provincial Government of Queretaro provided financial support for the Conference.
• Twelve Mexican Universities including UNAM, University of Nuevo Leon, University of Yucatan and University of Queretaro participated in organizing this Conference.
• The Conference addressed urgent and relevant issues such as sustainable goat production; food safety, production and product quality assurance; future of organic goat products; recent advancement in biotechnology in goats; branding and marketing of goat products; goat production and environment conservation; and social development and contribution of women to goat production.
• Proceedings were available for participants at the Conference.
• A special issue,including all plenary and sectional invited papers, was published through Small Ruminant Research.

Abstracts

Download the abstracts from the 9th International Conference here!

“Sustainable Goat Production: Challenges and Opportunities of Small and Large Enterprises”

Objective:
The main goal of the 9th International Conference is to disseminate the knowledge of cutting-edge technology and science for the benefit of sustainable goat production. For this purpose, people dedicated to the field of academy, research and production activities will gather to share experiences and to study ways of improving the goat production industry. The outcome of this exchange will surely impact the goat industry for the benefit of humankind.

Topics:
The central conference theme will be “Sustainable Goat Production: Challenges and Opportunities of Small and Large Enterprises.” Some actual topics that will be covered are sustainability, food safety, production and product quality assurance and organic goat products. The importance of the central theme takes into consideration the modernization of the goat industry, under a sustainability scheme, in which scientists, producer associations and government and non-governmental entities have interacted with the result of improved goat production and social development.

Date:
The Conference date has been set from August 31 to September 5, 2008. The following week is the celebration of Mexican National Day and conference participants will have opportunities to enjoy many cultural events before and after the Conference.

Venue:
The 9th International Conference on Goats, will be held in the city of Queretaro, Mexico. The city of Queretaro is strategically selected for its proximity to Mexico City and other important goat producing states of Mexico. It is also important because of its tradition in goat meat and milk production, processing and consumption.

Organizers:
Executive Committee members are Jorge Kawas (Chair), Francisco Gurria (Vice Chair), Jose Ortega (Treasurer), Ernesto Maldonado, Andres Ducoing, Jorge Olmos, and Hector Andrade. Session chairs and co-chairs have been identified and will be contacted by organizers. Scientific committee members will include session chairs and others and will be contacted by the organizers as well.

Program:
Mexican organizers are planning concurrent goat shows and goat product exhibitions during the conference. They will be held at the Exhibition Center and transportation will be provided.

For information and inquiries, you can contact Executive Committee members:
Chairman - Jorge Kawas(jkawas@mnademexico.com),
Vice-Chairman - Francisco Gurria (fgurriat@hotmail.com),
Treasurer - Jose Ortega (josdt@hotmail.com),
Facilities - Ernesto Maldonado (emaldonadog@queretaro.gob.me),
Secretary - Andres Ducoing (ducoing@servidor.unam.mx),
Secretary - Jorge Olmos (cabras1@hotmail.com),
Social Program - Hector Andrade (andrade55@yahoo.com),

For suggestions to the Conference, you can contact IGA’s representatives to the Conference:
Juan Capote (jcapote@icia.es),
Fidel Pariacote (fpariaco@reacciun.ve),
Jean-Marie Luginbuhl (Jean-Marie_Luginbuhl@ncsu.edu)