The International Magnesium Institute (IMI) organized a meeting for key groups and young researchers of the National Magnesium Network (NMN) in Guangzhou on 6-8June 2017. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss the progress of projects on Mg nutrition of crops, to develop an integrated program of research on Mg nutrition, and to exchange knowledge onthe mineral nutrition of plants and animals.

       Prof. Fusuo Zhang began the conference with a talk on the subject of “from theory to practice”. He introduced the thoughts, experiments and successes of his long career in plant nutrition - how to discover and overcome practical problemsin crop production beyond the fundamental research.

       Eleven reports introduced plans for field experiments of the NMN. Experts from different Universities in China discussed and commented on these reports, one by one. The standardization of soil sampling, Mg application rates, determination of optimal rates of fertilizer application, problems with using organic fertilizers in economic plants in different regions, and methods to measure Mg leaching were all discussed.