Paris, 28 April 2008


EFITA newsletter / 360 / European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Dear friends,
I just read an article on the dangers of heavy drinking....
Scared the shit out of me.
So that's it!
After today, no more reading.


Web TV and Agriculture, new technologies, new channels, new actors, which perspectives - 53 th AgriMMedia seminar
7 May – PARIS
See: http://www.acta-informatique.fr?d=7233


ICT based regional innovation
7 May – BRUSSELS
eris@ is committed to supporting its member regions to better understand how to exploit ICTs for regional economic and social development. ICTs are more than just another technology. They pervade all aspects of our lives and are bringing about profound changes. Moreover, their potential for innovation and the competitiveness of regions is significant and few regions can afford to ignore it. Within eris@, we have built a body of expertise and good practice and developed systems for sharing these. Why re-invent the wheel when, by collaborating with partner regions you can reduce the costs and the risks and, at the same time, accelerate your region’s development? Come along and find out more about eris@ and the services and benefits eris@ can offer to your region!!
The event will explore the opportunities for regions & the synergies between the CIP, the 7FP and the Structural Funds with representatives from DG Information Society & Media, DG Research and DG Regional Policy.
See: http://www.ianis.net/resources/Pages/displayEvent.aspx?ItemID=1892
See: http://www.ianis.net


News for OR and Natural Resources
1) Get some more submissions to OR50 (http://www.theorsociety.com) (9-11 September, York, UK). We can accept beyond the end of June, but if you can get just a title and authors by April 25th then you will feature in the conference invitational program. No limit on the number of submissions either. We would love to see you in the Agriculture and Natural Resources stream. We hope to lead one or two plenary debates/ discussions
2) Fraternity and News website. We have set up general news aggregation and dissemination site with an e-news mailing list & RSS feeds to focus news dissemination amongst Researchers and Practitioners http://www.or4nr.interdisciplinary-science.net/. In time we hope do evolve the Wiki component to act as an encyclopaedic knowledge base. Send news to
e-news@or4nr.interdisciplinary-science.net
3) The UK Operational Research Society is reinstating its special interest group in this area. Look out for news of this, how you can join and events planned. Hear about it first on http://www.or4nr.interdisciplinary-science.net/!!
Contact : Daniel L. SANDARS
E-mail : daniel.sandars(a)cranfield.ac.uk


Discrete Choice Models: Theory and Applications to Environment, Landscape, Transportation and Marketing"
7 - 18 July 2008 - IMOLA (Bologna),
Discrete choice modelling has been a fast growing topic in the economic literature. Its wide-ranging applications to problems regarding the environment, transportation, and marketing, have recently given rise to a large body of literature. The flexibility of such a technique, the reliability of its results, and the possibility to consider and combine the analysis of stated and real choices make this method one of the most promising in preference estimation.
This course is delivered by top scholars and practitioners in and aimed at learning the fundamentals and the recent advances of discrete choice modelling. It will provide the appropriate knowledge of multinomial, nested and random parameters logit and probit models. The appropriate techniques for the design of experiments and choice tasks will be explained, with software applications and workshops regarding specific problems in the fields of environment and landscape, transportation, and marketing.
See: http://www.unibo.it/Portale/Relazioni+Internazionali/Summer+School/summer/Enviromental+and+Sustainable+Development/Discrete+Choice+Models.htm
See: http://discretechoice.ning.com
Contact: Maurizio CANAVARI
E-mail: maurizio.canavari(a)unibo.it


JIAC2009
> Planning
At this point the final arrangements are being made for putting out the call for abstracts. At the conference we will have three main streams: ‘methodology’, ‘proof of principles and demonstrations’ and ‘network discussions’. To stimulate interaction and creative work methods also a few cross-themes will be part of the program.
For the abstract (and paper) submission we ask participants to make use of a special Internet application (hosted by Wageningen Academic) that helps us with the process of reviewing. The reviewing will be done by the scientific committee. In the next few months potential members for the committee are being addressed.
More information on the call for abstracts will follow soon.

In the following table the planning of the abstract and paper handling is shown:

> Registration
We are planning to open the early registration in October 2008. At this point, on the JIAC web site there will be a possibility to register for the conference. The late registration will start on April 30, 2009.

We expect the conference (late) fee to be € 550. For MSC/PhD students the fee will be € 350 (proof of status required). It will be possible to register for a one day participation for 300 €. The fee includes receptions, lunches, conference dinner, refreshments, a book of abstracts,  excursion transport and transit to and from the conference hotels. If wished for, it is possible to sign up for the ECPA and/or ECPLF proceedings (book) along with the registration for the conference. The books will we printed on demand for an extra fee (the books will be available on CD for free).

> Website
Please check out our website www.jiac2009.nl for more information about the conference, its location and how to contact us. The website of the conference will be updated regularly.

Right now, information is available about the conference hotels. Arrangements with these hotels are being made. It is better not to book yet until the arrangements are final.

On the website there is information available about our sponsors. Please take a look at their logos and websites.
If you are interested in sponsoring the conference, there is information available on the many possibilities we have to offer. Sponsors are welcome, so If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask (see below for contact details).

> General Information JIAC2009
ECPA (European Conference on Precision Agriculture) and ECPLF (European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming) will be joined for the second time with the EFITA conference (European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment). The conference will be held at the campus site of Wageningen University and Research centre (Netherlands) from July 6 to July 8, 2009. There will also be some pre- and post conference activities. One of them will be the international Field Robot Event.

The main objective of the joint conference will be to form a platform for cooperation between different fields of research and to provide an opportunity to join forces with representatives from the agricultural industry and (EU) policy makers. A second objective will be to exchange research efforts focusing on precision agriculture, precision livestock farming and information technology in agriculture, food and the environment.

> Organization and contact
Jan Huijsmans (ECPA)
Kees Lokhorst (chair) (ECPLF)
Ramon de Louw  (EFITA)
See: http://www.jiac2009.nl


Discussion group on ICT and agriculture
The Efita list is good for short announcements... but sometimes you might want to share something on agriculture and ICT which is not crystallised yet into an event, web link or paper.... e.g. your ideas or thoughts. We are a group of European practitioners, researchers and policy makers, who discuss the impact that ICT may have on agriculture. Anyone interested in this theme and in transparent and open sharing, is most welcome to join our Google discussion group. Our group is not moderated. Read more, and subscribe from here: http://groups.google.com/group/sitag?hl=nl

SITAg organises an online discussion on the impact that ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has and will have on the structure of agriculture. We feel that these impacts will be large in the coming years and are currently underestimated. We will see a transition in agriculture comparable with the replacement of horse and men by tractors and pesticides in the 1950s and 1960s - with both advantages and disadvantages. The developments could imply that the traditional family farm is on its way out, giving way to an industrialised type of organisation - if you like it or not. Everybody who has evidence and experiences to support or to challenge these views is much welcome to contribute.
See http://groups.google.com/group/sitag?hl=nl
Contact : Josien KAPMA
E-mail: jk(a)josienkapma.com


A doctor in Ireland wants to get off work and go hunting, so he approaches his assistant

"Seamus, I am going hunting tomorrow and don't want to close the clinic," he says. "I want you to take care of the clinic and all my patients."

"Yes, sir!" answers Seamus.

The doctor goes hunting, returns the following day and asks, "So, Seamus, how was your day?"

Seamus tells him that he took care of three patients. "The first one had a headache, so I gave him Tylenol."

"Bravo, Seamus, and the second one?" asks the doctor.

"The second one had stomach burning and I gave him Maalox, sir," says Seamus.

"Bravo, bravo! You're good at this. And what about the third one?" asks the doctor.

"Sir, I was sitting here and suddenly the door opens and a woman bursts into the room. Quick as a wink she undresses herself, tearing off every stitch of clothing including her bra and her panties, and lies down on the table. She spreads her legs and shouts, "Help me, I beg you! It's been five years since I've seen a man!"

"Lord Thunderin' Jesus, Seamus, what did you do?" asks the doctor.


Seamus said...  "I put drops in her eyes."


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