Paris, 5 July 2004


EFITA newsletter / 166 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Thought of the day
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted - Albert Einstein
From William T. Parlette
E-mail: BillParlette(a)compuserve.com


Virtual Agricultural Exhibition
Start: 15 July 2004
See: http://www.agriahead.com
E-mail: info(a)ahead_bs.com


"Moral dilemma"
Anyway ... you are doing good and useful work, and don't believe that all Americans are political humour insensitive. If you want to run this one: An early Iraq-era rumour - unfortunately unsubstantiated - held it that Tony Blair at one point had reported to amused colleagues that G. Bush had complained to him about the French inability to understand risk, hard work and Free Enterprise ... "why they don't even have a word for entrepreneur!"
Beyond preferring to believe it, this American CAN believe it.
Contact: Bill PARLETTE
E-mail: billparlette(a)compuserve.com


Archive of the efita newsletter
The archive (rtf format) for the first semester 2004 is available on our web site.
See: http://www.efita.net


European association for animal production (EAAP)
5-9 September 2004 - Bled - Slovenia
See: http://www.eaap.org


PROGIS Conference 22nd-24th of September 2004
IT in Rural Areas is not only the topic of our this years conference but much more an issue concerning nearly everybody living in the EU, exporting into the EU, getting subsidies from the EU and in general all of us, consuming agricultural products and living environmentally conscious. Concerned are furthermore all those, who don't want to lose but to come off as winners out of the current pan-European movement.
Thus it is the objective of this conference to confront legal demands, with reactions of worldwide acting organisations/institutions, with PROGIS software solutions and to show best practice samples.
At this point we would like to thank all the speakers, first of all those coming from the European Commission, DG Agriculture and Fisheries, the Food and Agricultural organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the EURopean Umbrella Organisation for Geographic Information (EUROGI) , the Central European Land Knowledge Centre (CELK), the Austrian Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, and all the other lecturers - there are too many to be named, who will inform the auditorium widely with their interesting contributions. As mentioned above and as answer to these key notes, PROGIS itself will show solutions and PROGIS partners and customers will show their best practice samples.
See:  http://www.progis.com


GTIS CAP European project (GTIS CAP : GeoTraceability Integrated System for the Common Agricultural Policy)
The aim of GTIS CAP is to define and to validate an integrated information system that will serve both the European and national administrative bodies in charge of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the producers of vegetal produce for consumers and for livestock.
GTIS CAP will complete the IACS/LPIS data with other data obtained from remote sensing and will define simple geo-traceability indicators aimed at the management, control and monitoring of the CAP and which can also be used in integrated agricultural management systems.
GTIS CAP will facilitate online access to this geo-traceability data and will ensure greater efficiency in checking and conformity of good agricultural practices, in line with CAP recommendations.The GTIS CAP project comprises four different types of work:
1.The evaluation of new functionalities necessary for the integration of geo-traceability into existing tools and for it to become a CAP management, follow up and monitoring tool which will also be useful for producers.
2.Definition of norms and standards that will enable the interoperability of IACS/LPIS geo-referenced data and functionalities for CAP management, follow up and monitoring.
3.Definition of simple and easy-to-use geo-indicators provided by satellite images.
4.Implementation and validation of the integrated system in two test regions in order to produce after experimentation by
producers groups a recommendation for European and national administrative bodies.

NB
- IACS : Integrated Administrative and Control System
- LPIS : Land Parcel Identification Systems

Conatct: Michel DEBORD
E-mail: michel.debord(a)wanadoo.fr


International Institute for Sustainable Development
See: http://www.iisd.ca


Food and Veterinary Office
The Commission, in its role as guardian of the Treaties of the European Community, is responsible for ensuring that Community legislation on food safety, animal health, plant health and animal welfare is properly implemented and enforced. As a Commission service, the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) plays an important role in fulfilling this the task.
See: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/inspections/index_en.html


agra-net.com, the online home of Agra Group, the specialist information service on food, agriculture, soft commodities, fisheries and seafood
See: http://www.agra-net.com


Global conference on animal welfare: an OIE initiative (proceedings of the Paris conference, February 2004)
See: http://www.oie.int/eng/Welfare_2004/proceedings.pdf


The Pharmacist
A lady walked into a pharmacy and tells the pharmacist she needs some cyanide.
The pharmacist said, "Why in the world do you need cyanide?"
The lady then explained she needed it to poison her husband.
The pharmacist's eyes got big and he said, "Lord have mercy I can't give you cyanide to kill your husband! That's against the law! They'll throw both of us in jail and I'll lose my license!"
Then the lady reached into her purse, pulled out a picture of her husband in bed with the pharmacist's wife, and handed it to him.
The pharmacist looked at the picture and replied, "Well now, you didn't tell me you had a prescription."
Contact: Will BOARDMAN
E-mail: wilboardman(a)micromixsolutions.com


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