FOREWORD

This Symposium has been organized conjointly by INRA, Avignon, and ETH, Zürich. And it is my pleasure, as convenor, to thank people both in Switzerland and in France, who helped in the organization, and made this meeting a success. I am sure that the 59 delegates from 15 Countries that attended the meeting join their thanks to mine. But the success of the symposium was largely due to the attendees themselves, who contributed not only by the quality of the poster and oral presentations, but also by their lively (!) participation to the extensive general discussion following each session.

In the last decade, both the hardware and software capabilities of computers have shown an exponential increase in power. During this time, the field of modelling in fruit trees has experienced a similar explosion. It offers exciting new opportunities for advancing the use of mathematical and simulation modelling in both science and technology transfer, from the modelling of fruit biological processes at the organ level, to the simulation of orchard management systems devoted to decision support. The meetings of the working group are unique occasions to cover such different fields and establish fruitful contacts with scientists working in related areas. Therefore, the symposium was organized in order to keep large time for general discussion. This allowed us to identify problem areas and key developments required, and develop directions and initiatives for the future. Among them, the development of a whole tree model, based on the description of tree architecture, phenology and functioning is required, with the ultimate goal of simulating the fruit crop in terms of total load and fruit quality. This model ought to account for the description of the variability in fruit size and quality currently observed in orchard conditions. Another key problem, in decision support in orchard pest management, is the coupling of pest and fruit crop modelling. This will be essential for future development of decision suport tools for orchard management, taking into account the impact on yield of a crop protection decision.

Our work is closely linked to the use of computers, and we have the privilege to be among the first to get the benefit of advances in the computing area. It was therefore a logical step to decide to make use of the new information technologies, and to create our own World Wide Web (www) site. Dr Ph. Blaise (ETH, Zürich) accepted to take care of it, and the site was activated shortly after our meeting under the address: http://www.ipw.agrl.ethz.ch/ishs. It should be our privileged mean of information exchange in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When requested by the authors, the English of original papers have been edited. I am indebted to Dr T. Atkins, Dr P. Barlow, and Prof T.M. DeJong for their help in editing the manuscripts.

The success of the Symposium was greatly assisted through sponsorship provided by the Provence-Alpes-Côtes d'Azur Region, the major of the city of Avignon, and the EPA sector of INRA which allowed us to organize the meeting in Avignon. Their support is gratefully acknowledged. I am especially pleased to thank here Louis-Michel Brémond, Syndicat Général des Vignerons Réunis des Côtes du Rhône, for organizing the tour in the Côtes du Rhône vineyard, and particularly for having given us a balanced survey of the vines produced in the area.

Dr. Robert Habib
Convener