Paris, 13 March 2006
EFITA newsletter / 250 / European Federation for Information
Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment
Health alert
See: http://www.acta-informatique.fr?d=6327
Point of view (in Fr-English): Web cam
Stéphane Saurel is producing wine in the South of France, near Avignon,
not far from the Mont Ventoux (a wonderful region close to paradise!). He had
to deliver a talk at our AgriMMedia seminar held on 6 October 2005. But Stéphane
was too busy on his farm to go to Paris. He decided to introduce our seminar
with a videoconference through the net thanks to a PC, a Web cam, a microphone
and an ADSL Internet access. The result was fairly good. The sound was not perfect
and because of the sun in his office (at the same time, the weather was bad
in Paris) the image contrast was too strong. Anyway the conference was very
interesting.
Contact: Guy WAKSMAN, Stéphane SAUREL
Email: waksman(a)acta-informatique.fr, stephane.saurel(a)online.fr
preagro – The Largest European Research Project on Precision Farming is on
its Way
In preagro 18 institutions from science, research and development,
from public and private services as well as farmers are working in 22 modules
to enhance precision farming. This project is probably the largest joint R+D
activity on precision farming in Europe. It follows an interdisciplinary approach
on analysing how precision farming can provide key issues of sustainability
in land use and develops tools, protocols and standards for an integrated information
management with precision farming. One final goal is a cross-sectoral solution
in managing the flow of information from farms into relevant levels of the value-added
chain in food production and vice versa. Scientific modules develop methods
for non-invasive site and crop characterisation and link this information with
decision making in crop management.
The project started in 2005 for three years. A preceding four year project of
similar size provided key results and tools. The new project pulls together
German expertise in site specific crop production, geo-sciences, information
management and farming business. The research is concentrated on four different
topics: (i) indicators of sustainability in crop management from the viewpoint
of the value-added chain; (ii) harmonized and automated management of information
for precision farming on the farm level; (iii) integrative analysis of site
properties from fields and (iv) smart crop management with precision farming.
The project is a transdisciplinary project, i.e. also stakeholders from farms,
organisations and consumers are integrated. The experiments are done in Germany
on the fields of two farms with different sizes.
The project will provide:
- basics and methods for information systems in the use of precision farming
(automated data collection, modelling of information flows within farms, cross
linking of information within crop management),
- integrative information management for precision farming on the whole farm
(information retrieval and information processing, linking external databases
and standardising information exchange)
- basics, methods and tools to support decision making in precision farming
(non-invasive site analysis with soil surveying and remote sensing, close sensing
on the canopy, integrated crop management),
- technical steps, standards (e.g. agroXML) to exchange relevant information
from crop production with organisations in the value chain of food production
and vice versa,
- analysis of the impact of a broader adoption of precision farming on farm
economy, landscape ecology and national economy,
- necessary steps in higher education and extension to promote precision farming
in practical farming.
The project was invited to present its activities at the world's leading exhibition
for agricultural machinery the Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany in November
2005. There the project also conducted a survey on the acceptance of precision
farming through farmers. More than 2,000 one-to-one interviews were conducted
with the visitors of the exhibition, which came from 75 nations. The results
will be presented soon.
This project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
(BMBF, Bonn), grant reference 0339740/2.
See: http://www.preagro.de/
Contact: Dr. Reinhart SCHWAIBERGER
Email: info@diva-enterprises.de
European Food Safety Authority
See: http://www.efsa.eu.int
Parkinson revisited!
There's nothing quite like a bit of Teamwork and Coordination.
See: http://www.acta-informatique.fr?d=6326
Contact: Mick HARKIN
Email: harkin(a)iol.ie
NB: "Parkinson's Law" = "Work expands to fill the time allocated
to it"
When you think of it...
A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when
the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are
killed first.
This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general
speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of
the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest
brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. Naturally,
it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first.
In this way, regular consumption of alcohol eliminates the weaker brain cells,
making the brain a faster and more efficient machine.
...and that's why you always feel smarter after a few drinks!
Contact: Mick HARKIN
Email: harkin(a)iol.ie
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