The primary consideration for any event is delegate safety and with this issue ‘top of mind’ the Board of Irrigation Australia have announced that the 24th International Congress & 73rd IEC meeting and Irrigation Australia Conference & Exhibition will be further postponed to 30th May – 6th June 2022 and will be held in Adelaide, South Australia. Some key reasons for this change are:

• Attendees for this event will be drawn from the 78 member and associated member countries of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage (ICID) who represent over 90% of the world’s irrigated area. As we are not confident that international travel will be permitted and unrestricted by July 2021 a further postponement was considered to be the most appropriate decision.
• Australia has a high dependency on irrigated agriculture and as the driest inhabited continent in the world the objective of this event was for us to showcase our irrigation systems and technologies to ICID member countries and in turn learn from their expertise and experience. It is difficult to achieve this with a virtual event.
• The Adelaide Convention Centre is regarded as one of the world’s most modern, flexible and technologically advanced meetings and events centres. A striking landmark on Adelaide’s Riverbank, the ACC offers more than 20,000sqm of flexible meetings and event space.
• South Australia has a global reputation for having industry leading producers in the agricultural, viticultural, and horticultural sectors with revenue from food, wine and agribusiness currently around $15 billion.
• Adelaide’s international airport is well placed for international visitors, only a short distance to the ACC and city accommodation and post-pandemic we expect more international locations will add Adelaide as a destination.
• South Australia has a water enabled economy and is a global leader in water solutions, innovation, technology and education and has a bold Water for Growth Vision for 2030.
• As a national association Irrigation Australia will also add pre & post conference technical tours in other locations across Australia.

ICID has been organizing its flagship triennial event International Congress on Irrigation and Drainage since 1951 and yet it has never been held in the southern hemisphere. Irrigation Australia welcomes the opportunity to host this significant international irrigation event in 2022.

The ICID triennial Congresses are organised to discuss and evaluate the upcoming and dynamic changes within the water sector in the entire world. In the face of global warming, changing climatic conditions, exploding population, increasing demand, and ever-changing technological advancements, ICID Congresses aims to deliberate and develop solutions for the concurrent  challenges in this sector. Considering the multi-disciplinary nature of issues, the congress addresses the bigger concerns faced by the global population in terms of water-food security, water-saving and the availability of water for everyone.

Irrigation Australia will contact all exhibitors who had booked space for the now postponed event in Sydney in July 2021 and will be offered some exciting incentives to transfer their arrangements to Adelaide nine months later.

Standby for further announcements on:

• Abstract submissions
• Student Awards
• New website and logo
• Exhibition floorplan
• Technical tours, &
• Social events

Please contact me on icid2021@irrigation.org.au if you have questions or suggestions that you would like to make regarding this significant irrigation event in 2022.

Bryan Ward
CEO, Irrigation Australia