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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 5 March 2012
EFITA newsletter / 555 - European Federation for Information Technology
in Agriculture, Food and the Environment
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Please, contribute to the content of your efita newsletter, and advertise
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Without your support, it will not survive!
Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net
A refreshingly new Dublin concept of "Finishing School ..."
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=kTAtg7mvbs4
Very glad you're able to keep up the good work on IT in Agriculture
news
Contact: Hugh CRABTREE
E-mail: hugh(a)farmex.co.uk
Erratum: An international course on: Agricultural Engineering Technologies
23 October – 15 November - CINADCO's Training Centre, Volcani Agricultural
Complex, Israel
See: http://www.moag.gov.il/
agri/English/Ministrys+Units/CINADCO/courses_seminars/current_future_courses/default.htm
Contact: Irit PRIGOJIN
E-mail: veirit(a)volcani.agri.gov.il
PIVIT (pig improvement via information technology)
The group of suppliers and producers in the UK pig sector involved
have been able to secure funding to undertake two concurrent projects
which are closely related but have no formal interdependency.
The first, called "PIVIT Yorkshire" involves 5 scale producers
in the pig dense region of the UK each providing 1 - 3 productions sites,
there are 12 in total. The focus is on the growing herd and crucially,
the people involved in managing the process. All sites are being kitted
out to monitor in real-time the environment, energy, water and feed use
and this will be supported by a combination of training, knowledge transfer
and technical support. The project duration is 2 years and is supported
by the UK Department of Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs.
The second project is undertaken under the UK Technology Strategy Board's
Sustainable Protein Production programme. It is over 3 years and seeks
to develop the tools necessary to help farmers get value from real-time
production performance monitoring more easily. This will involve innovative
analysis techniques to be developed in collaboration with Newcastle University
and cloud computing technologies which will allow farmers to get what
they want when they want it and how they want it. Mobile applications
will come to pig farming in the UK!
We believe we are at last witnessing some genuine "market pull"
for precision livestock farming technologies (in pigs) after almost 15
years of bleating about it in what has, at times, felt like a commercial
wilderness. A major new institution launch related to precision farming
is about to take place in the UK which we will be fully supporting. Not
wishing to steal any of their thunder I expect many will know about it
but I will report more formally in due course if Guy is not otherwise
advised to carry a piece in this august news organ.
See: http://www.farmex.co.uk
Contact: Hugh CRABTREE
E-mail: hugh(a)farmex.co.uk
International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS)
& Organic Eprints"
The International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems [1]
(ICROFS) was founded in 2008 as an expansion and continuation of the former
Danish Agricultural Research Centre for Organic Farming (DARCOF, founded
1995), which the Danish Government decided to provide with an international
mandate and an international board.
The vision of ICROFS is that "the principles of organic agriculture
have become a global reference for sustainability in agriculture and food
systems due to evidence based on research and adaptive management."
ICROFS is a /centre without walls/, where the research is performed
in interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups at different
institutions and universities. The secretariat of ICROFS initiates, coordinates,
and participates in national and international research activities in
organic farming and food systems. It is also very active in disseminating
organic research results and knowledge on the importance of organic food
systems to the environment, nature and biodiversity, animal welfare, health,
food safety and quality, economy, structural and market development as
well as social significance. Moreover, the Centre promotes understanding
of the characteristics of organic food systems and contributes to a knowledge-based
development of organic food systems, nationally and internationally.
>>> Organic Eprints offers open access
ICROFS hosts and administrates Organic Eprints [2], the eprints-based
Open Source archive for publications and information materials in organic
research, which was founded by DARCOF in 2002. The Organic Eprints archive
is a tool to further develop research in organic agriculture.
The main objectives are to facilitate the communication of research papers,
to improve the dissemination and impact of research findings, and to document
the research effort. In accordance with these objectives the archive is
designed to facilitate international use and cooperation. Here, researchers
can deposit and share their information with colleagues, students and
stakeholders worldwide.
As by early 2012, the archive has more than 12 000 entries deposited from
more than 50 different countries and 17 500 registered users. There are
more than 5 000 daily visits to the archive from countries all around
the world.
The archive includes not just refereed articles, books and reports but
also /grey literature/ – from conference papers and proceedings
to articles in farmers’ newspapers – and information about research programmes,
projects and organisations.
Anyone, anywhere in the world can access the material in the archive through
search engines, and sign up as a registered user in order to deposit their
own work. Before a document is uploaded, a /national editor/ will
check that the papers are relevant to the subject and that the bibliographic
data is correct. The user makes a declaration that they have the right
to deposit the work. Where there is a copyright restriction on the deposited
document, the depositor can make restrictions on access and, in that case,
an interested user can request a copy directly through the system. As
well as accessing the material in the archive, users can save searches
and receive a weekly or monthly email notifying them of any new deposits
made within that search area.
The archive has 23 /national editors/. Most of these are in Europe
but Australia, Canada and Brazil are also represented. In addition, FiBL
Research Institute of Organic Agriculture [3], Switzerland, and BÖLN Federal
Organic Farming Scheme and other forms of sustainable agriculture [4],
Germany, are partners and contribute to management and updating of the
system.
Access to the whole range of material in Organic Eprints is especially
valuable to those working in developing countries, where free access to
expensive scientific publications may be rare. But even in Europe and
North America where there is usually access to this type of publications,
researchers state that they think one really good thing about Organic
Eprints is that they can get all the /grey literature/ because
usually conference proceedings can be difficult to access.
The success of the archive can also be seen in its position in rankings
of scientific and institutional repositories. In a ranking of 100 repositories
in Europe, Organic Eprints comes in at number 14, and of the world’s more
than 1 200 repositories, Organic Eprints is at number 36.
[1] http://www.icrofs.org/index.html
[2] http://orgprints.org/
[3] http://www.fibl.org/en.html
[4] http://www.fisaonline.de/index.php?lang=en&act=funding&sub=funding_prog&fp_id=11
Contact: Ilse A. RASMUSSEN
E-mail: IlseA.Rasmussen(a)icrofs.org
“Climate Smart Development in Asia“ (edited by Ancha Srinivasan, Frank
Ling and Hideyuki Mori)
See http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781844078622/
“Climate Smart Development in Asia is an important narrative on Asia’s
current actions, motivations and leadership roles for a future that meets
the multiple goals of development, energy, and climate resilience. This
book provides a wealth of information and a critically needed framework
for discussions of policy options. It provides valuable insights on financial,
technological, and institutional solutions to the global climate problem
in the context of economically viable and sustainable development perspectives.”
Daniel Kammen, Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy, University
of California, Berkeley, USA
>>> Background:
Asia is rapidly becoming a major contributor of global greenhouse gas
emissions. Also many countries in the region are highly vulnerable to
impacts of climate change. With a growing consensus that there is limited
time to avoid dangerous climate change, scientists, engineers, economists
and policymakers worldwide have begun exploring how developing Asia can
capitalize on the transition to a climate-smart development paradigm.
Most discussions, however, have focused primarily on the transfer of technologies
from developed to developing countries and have overlooked other equally
important issues such as financing, governance, and capacity.
This book covers all critical aspects of climate-smart development and
attempts to integrate both market-based and technology-based solutions
into a comprehensive approach for creating a road map for low carbon,
climate-resilient economies in Asia. It examines strategies, policies
and incentives in selected countries for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
in the energy, transportation, land use, and buildings sectors. It also
identifies policies that are essential to improve resilience to both current
and future impacts of climate change. The book highlights technical, economic,
financial, and institutional challenges and opportunities for realizing
climate-smart development in Asia at the national and sub-national levels.
How the international climate regime can facilitate appropriate enabling
environment in developing Asia is also examined. It is hoped that the
book will contribute to discussions on the theme of "green economy
in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication"
in the run-up to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
or "Rio+20" and beyond.
>>> The book contains the following chapters:
Chapter 1 Climate smart development in Asia: An overview – Ancha Srinivasan,
Frank Hiroshi Ling and Hideyuki Mori (pages 1-17)
Chapter 2 The potential for low carbon climate resilient economy (LCE)
in Japan – Frank Hiroshi Ling and Junichi Fujino (21-40)
Chapter 3 The potential for LCE in India – Surender Kumar and Shunsuke
Managi (41-56)
Chapter 4 Challenges and opportunities for LCE in China: A case study
of policies for wind power development – Xiaomei Tan and Brett Rose (57-72)
Chapter 5 LCE in Indonesia: A review of national programs for climate
mitigation and resilience – Frank Hiroshi Ling and Ancha Srinivasan (73-89)
Chapter 6 The potential for voluntary approaches to realize a climate
smart economy: Private–public partnerships in Taiwan – Ju-Han Zoe Wang
and Wen-Cheng Hu (90-106)
Chapter 7 Technologies for climate smart development: A case study of
carbon capture and storage – Frank Hiroshi Ling, Xiangyang Xu and Ancha
Srinivasan (109–125)
Chapter 8 Financing the low carbon energy sector in the context of future
climate regime negotiations – Kentaro Tamura and Koji Fukuda (126-147)
Chapter 9 Enabling the transition to climate smart development in Asian
cities – Heike Schroeder, Jun Li, Harriet Bulkeley, Carine Barbier, Jimin
Zhao, Michel Colombier, Shu Yi Chu and Shibani Ghosh (148-183)
Chapter 10 Policy frameworks for climate smart development: The case of
hydropower – Yadu Nath Pokhrel, Taikan Oki and Shinjiro Kanae (184-199)
Chapter 11 Bioenergy deployment for climate smart development:The case
of biogas for cooking in India – Hoysala N. Chanakya and Patil Balachandra
(200-216)
Chapter 12 Climate smart development in Asia: The way forward – Ancha
Srinivasan and Frank Hiroshi Ling (219-243)
Contact: Ancha SRINIVASAN
E-mail: asrinivasan2009(a)gmail.com
For the Greek speaking subscribers of the EFITA newsletter
You can read the latest version of the Agricultural Research Institute
(ARI) e-newsletter which is now available online at our website
http://www.ari.gov.cy/e-newsletter/january2012.pdf
Visit our Web log (Blog) to find news and information about the research
activities of the ARI at:
http://blog.ari.gov.cy
Follow us on Twitter @ARI_RD (Rural Development section of the Agricultural
Research Institute, Cyprus)
Contact: "George ADAMIDES
E-mail: adamides(a)arinet.ari.gov.cy
Unemployement... and a new job
A retired man went into the Job Center in Downtown Denver, Colorado, and
saw a card advertising for a Gynecologist's Assistant.
Interested, he went in and asked the clerk for details.
The clerk pulled up the file and read, "The job entails getting the
ladies ready for the gynecologist... You have to help the women out of
their underwear, lay them down, and carefully wash their private regions,
apply shaving foam and gently shave off the hair, then rub in soothing
oils so they're ready for the gynecologist's examination. The annual salary
is $65,000, and you'll have to go to Billings, Montana."
"Good grief, is that where the job is?"
"No sir -- that's where the end of the line is right now!"
NB: Look at a map of USA to understand the joke.
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