The II International Forage and Turf Breeding Conference (IFTBC 2024) will be held on October 16 - 18, in Brasília, DF, Brazil. It comprises three days of discussions, updates and innovations on the breeding of forage plants, turf grasses and agroenergy crops. The second edition of the conference will gather forage and turf breeding scientists from around the world to share research findings, ideas, recent developments, and plans for the application of conventional and modern technologies for cultivar development. The aim is to foster discussion, learning, capacity-building, and information exchange on the application of conventional and modern genetics and breeding technologies, phenomics, genomics, and statistics for the development of forage, turf, and bioenergy crop cultivars in Brazil and in the world, including challenges and perspectives of research in the field. IFTBC 2024 is bringing the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf Symposium (MBFT) for the first time and the International Symposium of Forage Breeding back to its home country. Target audience The event is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students from national and international educational and research institutions; geneticists and breeders of forage species, turfgrasses, cover crops and bioenergy crops; public and private sector professionals in forage science, pasture management, physiology, entomology, and phytopathology of forage, turfgrass, cover crops, and bioenergy crops; and companies involved in cultivar development and forage seed production and trade. Themes The lectures will address topics like genetic resources; genetic and genomic tools (genomics, genome editing, etc.); phenotyping technologies (high-throughput phenotyping, etc.); abiotic stresses; biotic stresses; plant-microorganism interactions (plant-growth-promoting microorganisms, endophytes, BNF, BNI, etc.); forage quality and yield; seed quality and yield; bioenergy crops (breeding and genetics); turfgrass and cover crops (breeding and genetics) Plenary sessions with lecturers com Brazil and abroad have already been confirmed. Dr. Katrien Devos, from the University of Georgia (US), will present the lecture “Conducting trait mapping in non-model grass crops: the good, the bad and the exciting!”. Dr. James Schnable, from the University of Nebraska (US), will address the theme “The Grasses as a Single Genomic System: Sharing Data and Methods to Improve Gene Discovery and Nutrient Use Efficiency”. Dr. Rafael Tassinari Resende, from the Federal University of Goiás (Brazil), will talk about “Environmics in breeding”. Dr. German Spangenberg, from LaTrobe University (Australia) and Qingdao Agricultural University (China), will present the lecture “Applied Systems Biology in Pastures, Forage and Feedstock Crops”. Local committee Embrapa will host IFTBC 2024, and the local committe is composed by researchers Allan Kardec Braga Ramos (Embrapa Cerrados), Claudio Takao Karia (Embrapa Cerrados), Gustavo José Braga (Embrapa Cerrados), Marcelo Ayres Carvalho (Embrapa Cerrados) and Marco Pessoa-Filho (Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology). The committee's expectation is that the conference becomes an opportunity to have Brazilian researchers demonstrate the relevance and impact of the country's breeding programs, with a focus on the development of technologies for sustainable pastures and agricultural systems. The interaction with the international forage and turf breeding community will also be one of the event's positive points. Registration Early bird registration is open until August 16. There are group discounts available as well. Professionals and students can also submit work to be presented at IFTBC 2024 by August 16. Submissions of abstracts for potential oral or poster presentations are welcomed. Oral presentations will be selected from submitted abstracts. More information and registration: https://www.embrapa.br/iftbc-2024 Check the preliminary event schedule here.