FOREWORD

The world is changing in ways and at a pace heretofore undreamed of, and the primary industries must acquire the flexibility to adapt to a global marketplace and the integrated activities it calls into being. This is true as much for the agriculture and manufacturing sectors as it is for research, which is the basis of the advanced know-how driving the innovations in all sectors of economic activity, including the fast-developing world of horticulture—an industry that has always been at the cutting edge of innovation because of its research input.

Yet who determines the pursuits of HortResearch, organises its content and ensures its continuity? How to lay the groundwork for a solid alliance between the public and private spheres of interest to secure its funding today and tomorrow? How to harness its technological breakthroughs—inputs that can enhance our stewardship of the environment and plant genetic resources—so that even emerging economies can benefit therefrom? And how to develop further and strengthen international cooperation?

These and other related key issues could not have been better addressed by the ISHS and ASHS than by initiating a joint venture like the WCHR—an enterprise that involved the collaboration of about twenty other scientific societies, the input of experts and scientists from over seventy countries, the drafting of over a thousand pages of reports by more than 250 authors and, last but most certainly not least, the attendance of 180 delegates to the Conference itself. Nor does the list end here. That the success of the WCHR exceeded all expectations is also due to the support from the Italian government, the CNR, the MURST, such international agencies and supranational bodies as the FAO, the World Bank, CTA, IPGRI and the EU, and numerous sponsors both public and private—to all of whom go a special thank-you for their commitment, keen interest and, in many cases, their direct participation.

If the Executive Board was hard at work at all levels of decision-making, especially intent on developing ideas and coordinating all the necessary forces, the Organising Committee was also fully immersed in the final details—defining and arranging the working sessions as set out by the Working Group chairs (see accompanying flow chart), whose enormous commitment and efforts were evident throughout the preparation and execution of the Conference sessions.

So an endeavour on the scale of the WCHR could not have ended on a more successful, positive note, especially if we look to the horizon. Not only do we see the conference's Final Resolution, which commits the ISHS and the ASHS to set their sights on new objectives, but also because the WCHR itself has given authoritative voice to the need for enhancing the profile of HortResearch throughout the world (it is to be hoped that the two societies will keep the WCHR's web site [http://www.agrsci.unibo.it/wchr] up to date in this connection). Indeed, also looming on that horizon is the next world conference scheduled for the year 2000 in Egypt, a direct result of the WCHR's impact--the ISHS set up at its 1998 Brussels Congress a Committee for Research Cooperation to organise it--and logical sequel to it. The chair of this meeting and of the committee is Jacky Ganry of CIRAD, Montpellier, France, whose demonstrably active role in the first conference will unquestionably ensure the success of the next.

The Preface that follows these introductory remarks is designed to provide the reader with an overall view of the WCHR, its objectives, tasks, working groups and organisational framework. Given its general grounding in the Basic Document, which was drafted in

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