Paris,
26 July 2010
EFITA newsletter / 471 / European Federation for Information Technology in
Agriculture, Food and the Environment
Seminar “What’s new, what’s next in dynamic system modeling in agronomy”
7 September - PARIS
English seminar organized by the French Network on Modeling Agricultural System
See: http://www.modelia.org
Register soon, places are limited. Preliminary program and inscription:
http://www.modelia.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=53
Contact: François BRUN
E-mail: francois.brun(a)acta.asso.fr
EFITA 2011
11-14 July 2011 - PRAGUE
This is the first call for the 8th EFITA conference that will be held from
11th to 14th July 2011 at the campus site of the Czech University of Life
Sciences Prague, in a beautiful landlocked country in the heart of Europe,
in the Czech Republic. This letter is to brief you on the most important organizational
aspects of the forthcoming conference.
This conference is co-organized with the 8th ECPA, the 5th ECPLF conferences
as there is an established tradition of bringing EFITA, ECPA and ECPLF together.
>>> The main topics are as follows:
- Food quality
- SDI for Agriculture and Food industry
- Sensor technologies
- Future trends
- ICT Adoption
- Knowledge Management
- e-business
- Standardisation and Interoperability
- Rural development
- Nature protection
>>> Important dates
Paper submission: 1st September - 31st October 2010
Registrations: From 1st September 2010
Please check our official website www.efita2011.cz
for further information and full contact details. The website of the conference
will be updated on a regular basis.
See: http://www.efita2011.cz/
Contact: Eva CERVENKOVA
E-mail: conference2011(a)czu.cz
The SEAMLESS Association. System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling,
Linking European Science and Society
The SEAMLESS Association can be seen as a continuation of the EU SEAMLESS
project (See SEAMLESS in a nutshell), which developed an Integrated Framework
for Integrated Assessments based on linkage of individual components (models,
data, indicators) that enables analyses of the environmental, economic and
social contributions of a multi-functional agriculture and the effects of
a broad range of issues (e.g. climate change, new policies, innovation).
See: http://www.seamlessassociation.org/
FAO provides free access to statistics treasure trove
World's largest database of food, hunger and agricultural information
now fully accessible online
Free access to FAO database contributes to sustainable development
9 July 2010, Rome - FAO is granting free and open access to its central data
repository, FAOSTAT, the world's largest and most comprehensive statistical
database on food, agriculture, and hunger, the UN agency announced today.
Previously, it was possible to download without charge a limited amount of
information from FAOSTAT – which contains over one million data points covering
210 countries and territories -- but access to larger batches of statistics
required a paid annual subscription.
>>> The power of numbers
"We are now providing totally free access to this immense pool of data,"
said Hafez Ghanem, FAO Assistant Director General for Economic and Social
Development. "This information is an important tool in the fight to alleviate
poverty, promote sustainable development and eliminate hunger. We're particularly
keen on making sure that economists, planners, and policy-makers in the developing
world, where that tool is needed most, can get at it and put it to good use."
Ghanem also noted that the move forms part of an ongoing FAO effort to provide
easier and more direct access to its vast information assets, an initiative
that came out of an independent external evaluation and strategic planning
process initiated by FAO's Members in 2008.
"FAOSTAT is a powerful tool that can be used not just to see where hunger
occurs, but to drill down and better understand why hunger occurs -- and what
might be done to combat it," added Pietro Gennari, FAO Statistics Division
Director. "It’s especially designed to support monitoring, analysis and
informed, evidence-based policy-making specifically related to rural and agricultural
development and hunger reduction, the only tool of its kind.”
In addition to aiding development planning, the information contained in FAOSTAT
gives developing countries the intelligence they need in order to participate
in and benefit from international trade in an effective and competitive manner.
Donor countries can also use it to identify specific sectors where aid might
be most effectively targeted.
>>> A reservoir of knowledge
FAOSTAT includes data on agricultural and food production, usage of fertilizers
and pesticides, food aid shipments, food balance sheets, forestry and fisheries
production, irrigation and water use, land use, population trends, trade in
agricultural products, the use of agricultural machinery, and more.
FAOSTAT can be consulted using English, French or Spanish and allows users
to select and organize the statistical information into tables and charts
according to their needs and to download it in Excel format. The original
statistic data is supplied by individual countries and regional development
organizations in standardized formats. Records go back to 1961, the dawn of
the Green Revolution.
This reservoir of knowledge is already being used by economists, planners
and national development authorities, donor agencies, international aid organizations,
other UN agencies, NGOs, academic researchers, investors – and farmers.
Current subscribers who will now have free access to FAOSTAT include international
news agencies, development institutions, universities, government ministries
and international organizations.
See: http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/43724/icode/
Se_ual difficulties
A married Jewish couple were in the throes of se_ual difficulties - no
matter what the husband did in bed, his wife never achieved an org_sm. Since
a Jewish wife is entitled to se_ual pleasure, they decide to consult their
Rabbi.
The Rabbi listens to their story, strokes his beard, and makes the following
suggestion: 'Hire a virile young man. While the two of you are making love,
have the young man wave a towel over you. That will help your wife fantasize
and should bring on an org_sm.'
The couple goes home and follows the Rabbi's advice. They employ a handsome
young man and he waves a towel over them as they make love. Alas, the procedure
is a total failure and the wife remains unhappy and unsatisfied.
Perplexed, they go back to the Rabbi and he listens attentively to their experience.
'Okay,' he says to the husband, 'Try it in reverse... get the young man to
make love to your wife and YOU wave the towel over them.'
Once again, they follow the Rabbi's advice. They go home and employ the same
strapping young man. The young man gets into bed with the wife and the husband
waves the towel. The young man gets to work with great enthusiasm and very
soon she has an enormous, ear-splitting, room-shaking, org_sm. The husband
smiles, looks at the young man and says to him triumphantly,
‘'See that, you schmuck? THAT'S how you wave a towel!!!’’
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-amil: harkin(a)iol.ie
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