The Spanish Branch of the World’s Poultry Science Association (AECA - WPSA)
The “Asociación Española de Ciencia Avícola” (AECA) is the Spanish Branch of the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA).
AECA's main objective is to promote the research and the scientific and technical exchange between scholars and professionals in poultry. At present, AECA is one of the most active and internationally recognized sections of the WPSA. AECA has more than 260 active members, such as technicians, professionals, and researchers from the poultry sector in Spain.
Other purpose is to contribute with its activity to increase the knowledge and the appreciation by the Spanish society to the poultry sector and poultry products. The members of the AECA consider that the association must be active in defending good production practices, which have a direct impact on the quality of poultry products and food safety. We put the means at their disposal for this, mainly in the areas of training and extension aimed at those responsible for poultry farms or industries.
Since 2014, AECA has been part of the Union of Spanish Animal Science Entities (UEECA), and institution created to group and coordinate with the associations and federations of districts in Spain with activities dedicated to R&D in Animal Science.
During the II World Poultry Congress, held in Barcelona in 1924, Salvador Castelló Carreras, founder of the Real Escuela de Avicultura in Arenys de Mar, was elected vice president of the World's Poultry Science Association, which had been founded in 1912. But after the Spanish civil war (1936-1939), the WPSA in Spain was greatly diminished; actually, in the 1950s it only had 3 members.
In 1960, during the I European Poultry Conference, they were commissioned by the European Federation of the WPSA to promote the formation of a Spanish Section. In 1962, as a result of their efforts, the First Scientific Symposium of AECA was held in Reus.
The Association has been successively chaired by Francisco Polo Jover (1961-1972), Alberto San Gabriel Closas (1972-1992), Teodoro Iturbe Pardos (1992-1993), Francisco Monné Orga (1993-1999), Ricardo Cepero Briz (1999- 2003), Jose Ignacio Barragán Cos (2003-2011) and Ana Cristina Barroeta Lajusticia (2011-2015). Currently and since 2015 it is chaired by Carlos Garcés Narro.
AECA organizes every year a scientific congress. The last one held before the Córdoba event was at the 56th Scientific Symposium on Poultry Farming, in 2019 in San Sebastián, with great attendance success. For the next two years, no in-person events were held due to the covid-19 pandemic.
In recent years, AECA has additionally organized technical conferences on monographic topics, such as: Drug residues in eggs and poultry meat (1998), Control and improvement of egg quality (2001), Use of litter in poultry farming (2009), environmental control in poultry houses (2011) and a technical conference on poultry farming (2013).
Internationally, AECA-WPSA has organized the XIV World Poultry Congress (Madrid, 1970), the VIII European Poultry Conference (Barcelona, 1990), and the XII European Symposium on Poultry Meat Quality, held together with the VI European Symposium on Egg Quality and Egg Products (Zaragoza, 1995).
In 2024, the Spanish Association of Poultry Science (AECA-WPSA) will organize the XVI European Poultry Conference in Valencia.
And from June 8 to 10, 2022, AECA-WPSA, together with the University of Córdoba, will organize the 7th Mediterranean Poultry Summit in Córdoba.
