Paris, 26 November 2007
EFITA newsletter / 338 / European Federation for Information
Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment
9th International Conference on Precision Agriculture
20–23 July 2008 - DENVER
- Abstracts may be submitted online at http://www.icpaonline.org/SubmissionForm.php
- Online registration
See: http://www.icpaonline.org/
I came across a web site that referred to the English newsletter released
by ACTA. The topics covered look interesting and I would like to be part of
your mailing list, if possible.
See: http://www.agrista.com
Contact: Helmut DREWES
E-mail: helmut(a)agrista.com
TeLearn website
The migration of the TeLearn website into the ICT portal, the new FP7 web
presence of the European Commission, "Information Society and Media"
is finalized.
See: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/telearn-digicult/telearn_en.html
DLG Trendmonitor survey showing farmers' opinions in Europe as announced
at Agritechnica
Farmers in the countries who have most recently joined the EU are planning
to make major investment in their holdings as confidence grows in the economic
future for their businesses and the industry as a whole, according to a new
survey carried out across six EU countries.
Biggest investment increases are likely to be seen in Poland with 31% of farmers
expecting to buy tractors, 19% to buy combines and 15% to buy drilling and cultivation
equipment. Czech Republic and Hungary are next on the list with the UK trailing
a distant fourth in the investment stakes.
Product prices remain the issue most likely to trouble EU according to the survey,
the DLG Trend Monitor, carried out this autumn by DLG, the German Agricultural
Society. Only in the UK, recently hit by foot and mouth disease and the bluetongue
virus, has animal disease taken over from prices as the hottest topic.
The DLG Trend Monitor surveys almost 3000 farmers in Europe on a six-monthly
basis. The survey began in 2003 and is used as a trend index by businesses in
the agricultural sector.
When assessing the current economic climate, German farmers were the most confident
followed by Polish farmers. The UK was equal third with the Czech Republic and
France. This is a sharp turn round as the UK was least confident in spring 2006
and was second bottom of the list last autumn.
When it comes to confidence in their own businesses’ future, German and Polish
farmers were again the most bullish, with UK, French, Czech and Hungarian farmers
equal bottom of the survey – but with confidence measured on the scale of 1-5,
there are only .5 points separating top from bottom as farmers in all six countries
expect to benefit from improving world prices for key commodities such as cereals,
oilseeds and milk. All farmers expect the current better conditions to be sustainable.
Among the three “older” EU states, farmers in the UK appear more likely to turn
their better expected returns into hard on-farm investment. Almost 20% expect
to buy tractors in the near future, 5% to buy combines and 4% to buy drilling
and cultivation equipment. That is almost twice the numbers planning to make
similar investments in France and Germany.
Germany and the Czech Republic lead the way in renewable energy with 20% and
17.5% of farmers saying they expect to invest in the next year.
The results were presented at Agritechnica 2007 by Dr. Reinhard Grandke, DLG’s
Chief Executive Officer. The survey is carried out by the Kleffmann Group.
Contact: Malene CONLONG
E-mail: m.conlong(a)dlg.org
Retired - how I spend my days!
Working people frequently ask us retired people what we do to make our days
interesting. Well, for example, the other day I went into town and went to a
small shop down on High Street. I was only in there for about 10 minutes.
When I came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. I went up to
him and said, "Come on buddy, how about giving a senior citizen a break?"
He looked up, then ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I called him
a heartless Nazi bastard. He glared at me and then started writing another ticket
for worn tires. So I called him a piece of stinking dog shit. He finished the
second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. I called him an asshole
and a pig. Then he started writing a third ticket. I called his mother a slut
and a whore.
This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I verbally abused him, the more
tickets he wrote. Personally, I didn't give a shit. I came downtown by bus.
I try to have a little fun each day now that I'm retired. It's important at
my age.
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail; harkin(a)iol.ie
How to save the airlines?
Dump the male flight attendants. No one wanted them in the first place.
Replace all the female flight attendants with good-looking strippers!
What the hell -- They don't even serve food anymore, so what's the loss?
The strippers would at least triple the alcohol sales and get a 'party atmosphere'
going in the cabin.
And, of course, every businessman in this country would start flying again,
hoping to see naked women.
Because of the tips, female flight attendants wouldn't need a salary, thus saving
even more money. I suspect tips would be so good that we could charge the women
for working the plane and have them kick back 20% of the tips, including lap
dances and 'special services.'
Muslims would be afraid to get on the planes for fear of seeing naked women.
Hijackings would come to a screeching halt, and the airline industry would see
record revenues.
This is definitely a win-win situation if we handle it right -- a golden opportunity
to turn a liability into an asset.
Why didn't Bush think of this?!
Why do I still have to do everything myself?
Sincerely,
Bill Clinton
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