Paris, 22 May 2006


EFITA newsletter / 261 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Point of view (in Fr-English): Fertilisation
On 11 May, ACTA Informatique organised a seminar about Agricultural ICT and fertilisation. The same day, the French National Assembly was discussing a new regulation about water quality. Our seminar showed the results of 15 years of works by agricultural ICT companies and advisory organisations which propose today very efficient ICT tools to optimise fertilisation. The best that we can do to limit pollution by fertilisers today is to promote the use of these tools.
Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
Email: Waksman(a)acta-informatique.fr


Internet / old Minitel (Next - 1)
You are showing your age Guy - it is our generation's lot to be the ones who's eyesight and patience fails as the technology gets smaller but not that much faster!
Contact: Andy OFFER
E-mail: Andy.Offer(a)adas.co.uk


Internet / old Minitel (Next - 2)
In the early days of Minitel I visited several farmer cooperatives about three hours from Paris. At that time they published daily grain market prices via Minitel for their members. With this in mind did anyone evaluate Minitel's impact on farmers, on agricultural production and on the rural sector? And what happened to Minitel - did the Internet evolution take over and how, did the farmer's cooperatives have a role in the process, etc.? I think this case study review can be a useful contribution to the on-going evaluation of the "ICT Adoption for Agriculture" processes. It is certainly a paper of interest for the next EFITA conference in Glasgow. Interested? With much appreciation for your EFITA Newsletter efforts and warm regards.
Contact: Dr. Ehud GELB
E-mail: gelb(a)agri.huji.ac.il

Answer (GW): Minitel is still used by many French farmers. The services offered on the Internet are not very different from those offered since the eighties on the Minitel. The take-over by the Internet is rather slow but could speed up because of the development of broadband accesses
The Minitel's impact has been evaluated by M. SALANCON (salancon@ensam.inra.fr) a few years ago.


AKAL 2007 - 15th Conference on Agricultural Work Science
5-6 March, 2007 - VIENNA
The conference is organised by Max-Eyth-Society, Agricultural Engineering in the VDI and the University of Vienna. It will mark an important step establishing a scientific agenda to help efficiently to tackle challenges for work in agriculture. Experts from industry and research establishments will discuss the means, ways and role of agricultural work science in this context. Papers may be submitted in German or English. Participation of scientists and experts from overseas, especially those from countries in Eastern Europe and outside of Europe will be generously supported.
These are the most important deadlines:
- Announcement of contribution with abstract online: 31st July 2006
- Deadline for the acceptance of papers: 15th of September 2006
- Printing-version online: 30th November 2006
See: http://www.nas.boku.ac.at/akal-seminar.html?&L=1
Contact: Isabella KRISTLER
Email: isabella.kristler(a)boku.ac.at


Uniting key players to fight obesity in the EU
See: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/dyna/consumervoice/create_cv.cfm?cv_id=200


Irish automatic salary review
See: http://www.acta-informatique.fr?d=6377


Germany calling!!
Follow the link below - I think some of you will like this. You'll need a sound card of course - but then who is without one these days.
See: http://jm.slove.org/gc/
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie


Cinco pájaros
- Jaimito, si tengo cinco pájaros sobre una rama y le pego una pedrada a uno de ellos, ¿cuántos me quedan?
- Ninguno maestra...
-¿Por qué ninguno Jaimito?
- Ninguno, maestra, porque los demás se van volando del susto...
- Está mal Jaimito, pero me gusta tu forma de pensar...
Luego viene Jaimito y le dice a la maestra:
- Ahora yo le voy a hacer una pregunta: si usted ve a dos mujeres comiendo un helado y una de ellas lo esta chupando y la otra lo esta mordiendo, ¿cuál de ellas está casada?
Después de pensarlo un poco dice la maestra un poco confundida:
- Supongo que la que lo esta chupando...
- No, maestra, la que tiene el anillo, pero me gusta su forma de pensar.
Contact : Liam LOUGHRAN
E-mail: liaml(a)aizabala.com


May you always... Live Well... Laugh Often... Love Much (2)
An elderly gentleman had suffered from serious hearing problems for a number of years. He went to the doctor, and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%.
The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor, and the doctor said, "Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again."
The gentleman replied, "Oh, I haven't told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I've changed my will three times!"


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