The establishment of the International Steering Committee was followed the first Symposium held in Rome in May 1980 organized by Assoreni and the first Coo-operative Bulk Handling Limited and the Australian Grain Institute Incorporated. Then the CAF International Permanent Committee emerged from the International Steering Committee established in 1983 in Perth, West Australia.

After the first Conference which was an international symposium on controlled atmosphere grain storage, held in Rome, Italy in 1980, the second one, which included fumigation, was held in Perth, Western Australia in 1983. In this second symposium was given the title “International Symposium on Controlled Atmospheres and Fumigation” (CAF). Only in CAF Cyprus 1996 the title of “International Conference on Controlled Atmospheres and Fumigation in Stored Products” was adopted.

The Conferences after CAF Perth, Australia (1983) were in Singapore (1989); Winnipeg, Canada (1992); Nicosia, Cyprus (1996); Fresno, USA (2000); Gold Coast, Australia (2004); and Chengdu, China (2008).

Over the years the conference objectives have been refined to report on advances in research and development and the current status of controlled atmosphere and fumigation for insect pests, microflora and quality control in stored products.

In the background of the CAF 2012 conference are: a) the phase out of methyl bromide, with the associated continuing requirement for alternatives to replace it; b) the sustainable availability of novel MA technologies; and c) the need to ensure the continued use of phosphine against the pressures of increasing resistance to this valuable fumigant.

This Conference will be the 9th in the series of the International Conferences on Controlled Atmosphere and Fumigation in Stored Products (CAF). The CAF 2012 will be held in Antalya, Turkey, October 15-19, 2012. The Conference was organized by the academic staff of Turkish Universities like Ankara University, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Ege University, Akdeniz University, and ARBER Professional Tourism and Congress Services in collaboration with the members of the CAF International Permanent Committee. The professional team of ARBER under the leadership of Mr. Esat ARBER and his team should be congratulated for their excellent services and understanding the needs of the CAF Conference Local Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee.

The CAF Scientific Committee played an important role in guiding the Conference Organizers and on all issues related to the presentations, posters and selecting the sessions. I wish to thank the members of the Scientific Committee for their responsiveness during the preparation of the Conference; A. Guray FERIZLI, Turkey; Shlomo NAVARRO, Israel; Jonathan H. BANKS, Australia; Digvir S. JAYAS, Canada; Ronald T. NOYES, U.S.A.; Spencer S. WALSE, Australia; Patric DUCOM, France; Jordi RIUDAVETS, Spain; Dirk MAIER, U.S.A.; Bhadriraju SUBRAMANYAM, U.S.A.; Thomas W. PHILLIPS, U.S.A.; İrfan TUNC, Turkey; Mevlut EMEKCI, Turkey; Ali Arda ISIKBER, Turkey; and Dagmar KLEMENTZ, Germany.

The organization of the workshops was orchestrated by Prof. Dr. Ali ISIKBER who devoted much efforts and attention for the selection and leading the four workshops planned for the Conference. My appreciation is extended to all those organizing committees that made efforts under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Guray Ferizli, Chair of the Conference and Prof. Dr. Mevlut Emekci, Vice Chair of the Conference. The major responsibility for submitting the proposal for the venue in Turkey in 2004, for making all the arrangements and coordination whose efforts will be well known by all participants, to the Chairpersons of sessions who actually controlled the running of the Conference was under the responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Guray Ferizli and Prof. Dr. Mevlut Emekci. My gratitude is extended to them for their devotion to the objectives of the conference and unrest continuing efforts to make this conference a success.

A special recognition is also well deserved for the efforts of Prof. Dr. Digvir S. Jayas, Secretary of the CAF International Permanent Committee, who coordinated the organizational activities and relentless support for the realization of the Conference.

Some members of the CAF International Permanent Committee formed the body of Editors for the Book of Proceedings, they were: Banks H.J., Australia; Jayas D.S., Canada; Bell C.H., UK; Noyes R.T., U.S.A.; Ferizli A.G., Turkey; Emekci M., Turkey; Isikber A.A., Turkey; and Alagusundaram K., India. Their timely editing of the papers and remarkable cooperation should be mentioned and appreciated.

A particular thank is to Dr. Jonathan Banks, our former CAF Permanent Committee Chair, for his dedication and for his support and guidance over a number of years. He made extraordinary efforts that deserve mention in many fields related to CAF Conferences but some deserve mention. Dr. Banks was extremely instrumental for the publishing the of the CAF 2004 Gold Coast Proceedings. This was realized only recently with the support and assistance of Prof. Guo Daolin of the Sichuan Grain Research Institute and his extraordinary team. The book is now available in its hard copy.

As a result of the continuing efforts of Dr. Banks, some of the previous CAF Conferences were scanned and are now available in a website.

The delayed publication of the CAF 2004 has led the International Permanent Committee to the decision of publishing the Book of Proceedings before the Conference. The first successful such publication was realized in the CAF 2008 in Chengdu, P.R. China under the leadership of Prof. Guo Daolin and his team.

This Conference also tackled the challenge of such publication to present you with the published book before the Conference in Antalya, Turkey.

Prof. Dr. Shlomo Navarro
Chair of the CAF International Conferences Permanent Committee Antalya, Turkey, October 2012