Paris, 11 October 2004


EFITA newsletter / 179 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Call for papers: EFITA / WCCA 2005 Joint Conference
+ The 5^th Conference of the European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment and
+ The 3^rd World Congress on Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources
Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal, 25 - 28 July 2005
See: http://www.agriculturadigital.org/efitaandwcca2005


e-business tools…
…to teach over 100 Spanish students this summer to develop e-business projects
See: http://praga2004.eb-eu.cz
> Next workshop
See: http://pef.czu.cz/~linhart/Granty/etika/ethics.html
Contact: Zdenek Linhart
E-mail: linhart@pef.czu.cz


8th Workshop on Spray Application Techniques - First Announcement
Next June 2005 in Barcelona and Lleida (Spain)
Contact: Emilio Gil
E-mail: emilio.gil(a)upc.es
E-mail: sprayfruit.2005(a)upc.es


Frutic05: Information and Technologies for Sustainable Fruit and Vegetable Production
12-16 September 2005 - Montpellier, France
The fruit and vegetable production segment has undergone major structural changes during recent years due to new consumer expectations. The same evolution towards increased security levels and higher quality has also been noticed in the wine production segment. The specificity of fruits and vegetables (including grapes dedicated to wine) makes production constraints even stronger than for other agricultural products. Frutic05 , dedicated to "information and technologies for sustainable fruit and vegetable production", will present how these tools can boost sustainable fruit, vegetable and wine production. Frutic05 is the 7th fruit , Nut and Vegetable Engineering Production engineering symposium.
See: http://www.frutic05.org
Contact: Pr Véronique BELLON-MAUREL
E-mail: frutic05@montpellier.cemagref.fr


Achievements in agricultural policy under Commissioner Franz Fischler (period 1995-2004)
See: http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/achievements/text_en.pdf


TECHTIP (from ICT Update - CTA)
Advances in remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) technology have led to a dramatic increase in the amount of available geographic information from satellite imagery and spatial databases to interactive maps. However, access to this information remains limited, particularly in developing countries.
To help put this information in the hands of those who need it, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has developed GeoNetwork, a spatial information management system that provides access via the Internet to a wide range of geo-referenced data from a variety of sources.
See: http://www.fao.org/geonetwork/
See: http://ictupdate.cta.int


World Agro Meteorological Information Service (WAMIS) (from ICT Update - CTA)
WAMIS is a web server maintained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to disseminate agrometeorological bulletins issued by WMO members. Regularly updated bulletins are available from Ethiopia, Fiji, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, the SADC countries, the South Pacific, Turkey, and the USA.
See: http://www.wamis.org
See: http://ictupdate.cta.int


METART Environmental and Agrometeorological Data Archive (from ICT Update - CTA)
METART is a web server that provides access to satellite images, maps, and data from the archives of the FAO’s Real Time Environmental Monitoring System (ARTEMIS) and the Agrometeorology (AGROMET) Group of the Environment and Natural Resources Service (SDRN). Users can search the archives by data type or by country, retrieve weather image time-series, and create maps or graphs from climate data.
See: http://metart.fao.org/~~/gbr/Emainmen.htm
See: http://ictupdate.cta.int


The splendid site of the British Association for IT in Agriculture
See: http://www.baita.co.uk/home/index.php?content=welcome


5th European Conference on Precision Agriculture and the 2nd European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming
9-12 June 2005 - Uppsala
> Call for papers and submission of abstracts
For the parallel conferences, abstracts can be submitted until September 20th, 2004. Abstracts must be written in English and not exceed 600 words. The abstracts will be independently refereed by editors and appointed reviewers. By October 15th, 2004, authors of the accepted abstracts will be invited to write a paper intended for publication in the conference proceedings. Abstracts can be submitted online between June 15th and October 15th, 2004.

If you have any problems submitting your abstract on the website, please e-mail your abstract to thylen@slu.se When submitting abstracts on the website you should receive an acknowledgement of receipt by e-mail.

> Keynote speakers
There will be one or two keynote presentations during each morning session of the conferences. On June 9th, the keynote presentations will be combined for 5ECPA-2ECPLF, while on June 10th-11th, they will be presented separately. The keynote speakers have been identified for ECPA, while the process of identifying keynote speakers for ECPLF is in progress. A list of the keynote speakers will soon be available on our website. 
Workshops

> In conjunction with the parallel conferences two workshops will be arranged:
>> On Farm Analysis - Technology and Applications in Precision Livestock Farming, June 9th
This workshop is intended for participants of the EAAP conference (European Association for Animal Production). This workshop will be a part of the first day of the ECPLF conference.
Technical innovations have given new opportunities for precision livestock farming and agriculture. It has become a reality for the farmer to do on farm analysis, covering the complete production chain from soil, crop, feed and animal products e.g. milk. The benefits of these opportunities are multifold and can be used for improved management decisions as well as for quality control.

> Precision Crop Protection, June 12th
This workshop will address all aspects of the site-specific and timely detection and control of pests using modern technologies: Detection, identification and quantification of pests, weeds, pathogens (viruses, fungi, bacteria, nematodes), arthropod pests; remote sensing and its application; GIS, GPS and decision support systems; data management and maintenance; application technologies. State-of-the-art technologies in precision crop protection, visions as well as the current shortcomings may be presented and discussed in an informal atmosphere. The number of participants will be limited to 30 persons. For registration and to submit a presentation please contact: ec-oerke(a)uni-bonn.de
See: http://www-conference.slu.se/ecpa/index.htm


To choose…
A husband is at home watching a football match when his wife interrupts: "Honey, could you fix the light in the hallway? It's been flickering for weeks now."
He looks at her and says angrily. "Fix the light? Now? Does it look like I have an National Power logo printed on my forehead? I don't think so!"

"Well then, could you fix the fridge door? It won't close properly." to which he replied- "Fix the fridge door? Does it look like I have Zanussi written on my forehead? I don't think so!"

"Fine," she says "then you could at least fix the steps to the front door? They're about to break."
"I'm not a carpenter and I don't want to fix the steps!" he says. "Does it look like I have Leroy Merlin written on my forehead? I don't think so! I've had enough of you. I'm going to the pub!!!"

So he goes to the pub and drinks for a couple hours. He starts to feel guilty about how he treated his wife, and decides to go home and help out. As he walks into the house he notices the steps are already fixed. As he enters the house, he sees the hall light is working. As he goes to get a beer, he notices the fridge door is fixed.

"Honey, how'd all this get fixed?"
She said, "Well, when you left I sat outside and cried. Just then a nice young man asked me what was wrong, and I told him. He offered to do all the repairs, and all I had to do was either go to bed with him or bake a cake."
So the husband asked, "So what kind of cake did you bake him?"
She replied, "Hellooooo!!! Do you see Sara Lee’s Bakery written on my forehead?"
Contact: Liam LOUGHRAN
E-mail: liaml(a)aizabala.com


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