Paris, 31 March 2008


EFITA newsletter / 355 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Conference on Agricultural Policy Implementation and Geo Information (CAPIGI)
8 - 9 April 2008 – Ballsbridge Court – DUBLIN (Ireland)
This years conference brings top stories on agricultural spatial data infrastructure, remote sensing and precision agriculture, veterinary applications of GIS and a track on GNSS technology. CAPIGI brings together governments, industry, research and users to present and discuss current and future applications of geo-informatics in the agricultural domain.
See:  http://capigi.portolis.nl
Contact: Tamme VAN DER WAL
E-mail: tamme.vanderwal(a)portolis.nl


Partnerships - Innovation - Agriculture
3 June 2008 - PARIS
The objective of this meeting is to contribute to the identification of renewed approaches and methodologies for agricultural research with the support of members of the international scientific community and the various stakeholders in the agricultural field.
The meeting will cover two topics: Ecology of innovation and New challenges facing integration. The programme will consist of oral presentations (keynote papers and case studies) and round-table discussions, followed by debates focusing on the two topics.
This meeting will bring together academics, researchers, the private sector, NGOs, government officials and policymakers during an open international debate, thereby creating space for dialogue between the different players in the agricultural arena. Inra and Cirad along with their new joint venture FI4IAR (French Initiative for International Agricultural Research) hope that this will initiate future collaborations that are vital for facing global challenges.
See: http://www.gip-ifrai.fr/
Contact: Michel DODET
E-mail : piameeting2008(a)cirad.fr


Summer University on Information Technology in Agriculture and Rural Development 2008
30 June - 31 July 2008 – BUDAPEST - Hungary
See: http://odin.agr.unideb.hu/su2008/

Organisers:
- CUB - Corvinus University of Budapest, Faculty of Horticultural Science, Department of Mathematics and Informatics
- UD - University of Debrecen, Business- and Agricultural Informatics Department
- EFITA - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment
- HAAI - Hungarian Association of Agricultural Informatics

The purpose of the conference is to give a forum to exchange information on education, research, applications and developments of Information Technologies in Agriculture and Rural Development and publish the most recent results.
This forum is recommended for PhD students and of course everybody welcome! (Submission deadline 30 April 2008).
See: http://odin.agr.unideb.hu/su2008/
Contact: Micklos HERDON
E-mail:  herdon(a)agr.unideb.hu


Joint Conference of IAALD, AFITA and WCCA
24 – 27 August 2008 - Atsugi Campus of TOKYO University of Agriculture
- 12th World Congress of the International Association of Agricultural
Information Specialists (IAALD)
- 6th Conference of the Asian Federation of Information Technology in Agriculture (AFITA)
- 6th World Congress on Computers in Agriculture (WCCA)
See: http://iaald-afita-wcca2008.org/
Dead line for the abstract submission: March 31, 2008
Contact: Seishi NINOMIYA
E-mail: snino(a)affrc.go.jp


Automation Technology for Off-Road Equipment 2008
31 August – 4 September - IGUASSU FALLS CITY
After successful conferences in Chicago 2002, Kyoto 2004, and Bonn 2006, the ATOE 2008 conference will be held in Iguassu Falls City in Brazil from August 31st to September 4th. All automation and robotics for off-road equipment, particularly agronomic and horticultural machinery, is the focus.
To facilitate synergy and reduce costs, the conference will be run as a subconference (with no separate registration fee) to CIGR2008.
See: http://www.acquacon.com.br/icae/
Contacts: John K. SCHUELLER, Daniel MARCAL DE QUEIROZ
E-mail: schuejk(a)ufl.edu, queiroz(a)ufv.br


Tropical Rainforests and Agroforests under Global Change
5 – 9 October - Bali, Indonesia
See: http://www.globalchange-2008.org
E-mail: info(a)globalchange-2008.org


Agriculture in Transition
26 - 29 October - WAGENINGEN (NL)
See: http://www.agricultureintransition.eu
Contact: Krijn POPPE
E-mail: Krijn.Poppe(a)wur.nl


On the UNESCO Open Training Platform
See: http://opentraining.unesco-ci.org/cgi-bin/page.cgi?g=Detailed%2F2246.html;d=1
Contact: Ehud GELB
E-mail: gelb(a)agri.huji.ac.il


Integrated software solutions for the field
See: http://www.farmworks.co.uk


Talking USMC Dog!

A guy is driving around the back woods of Tennessee and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: "Talking Dog for Sale"

He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the back yard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there. "You talk?" he asks.

"Yep," the lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says "So, what's your story?"

The Lab looks up and says, "Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA and they had me sworn into the toughest branch of the armed services...the United States Marines. You know one of their nicknames is "The Devil Dogs."

In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders; because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running, but the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger. So, I decided to settle down.

I retired from the Corps (8 dog years is 56 Corps years) and signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals. I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten dollars," the guy says.

"Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?"

"Because he's such a liar... He never was in the Marines. He was in the Navy!"

Contact: Pierre JOLIVET
Mél : timarcha(a)club-internet.fr