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EFITA

Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 19 March 2012


EFITA newsletter / 557 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


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Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net


Saint-Patrick day
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy - Benjamin FRANKLIN


IAALD conference
21 - 23 May 2012 - JOHANNESBURG
See: http://www.iaald-africa.org/conferences/2012/index.html


agri-food apps: idea for a session at Smart Agrimatics
13-14 June - PARIS
Apps for Smart phones have already been introduced at different levels of the agri-food chain. There are nice apps for crop protection advisory services and for consumers to do their daily shopping or to get informed about the animal welfare status of meat. Still I believe that we are in an early stage of development. My idea for the Smart Agrimatics workshop, to be held 13th and 14th June in Paris, is to dedicate a session to this phenomenon. Who would be interested to participate and setup and organize such a session?
See: http://lnkd.in/heZem8?goback=%2Egde_3996825_member_98394185
Contact: Sjaak WOLFERT
E-mail: sjaak.wolfert(a)wur.nl


Plea for Help
AERU at the University of Hertfordshire are currently undertaking a research project for the European Commission to develop guidance material for the Managing Authorities (MA) of national and regional Rural Development Programmes such that these programmes can be optimised to help mitigate climate change.

Part of this project involves a consultation process with the MAs to better understand their needs and to help design guidance notes and interactive tools. However, even with help from the Commission we are struggling to find the right people within the EU-27 due to staff changes and reorganisation etc. So if anyone can help us by providing contact details or by contacting the relevant people themselves and directing them to the project website or the project team (aeru(a)herts.ac.uk) we would be very grateful. The consultation process is actually open to any stakeholder so please get involved.
See: http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/aeru/oscar/index.htm

Contact Kathy Lewis, University of Hertfordshire
E-mail: k.a.lewis(a)herts.ac.uk


The second ICT-AGRI call will have two main goals
Firstly, projects must have a proven effect on sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of agriculture’s environmental footprints, etc. Secondly, projects must create progress in the adoption of ICT and automation in farming practice.
A total funding of 4-5 M EUR is expected in a virtual pot (national funding of national project participants). Some countries will apply innovation funds, allowing funding of private companies.
The call announcement is expected by end of March 2012.
The pre-announcement is available from the ICT-AGRI homepage
See: http://ict-agri.eu


Climate-smart agriculture and green growth – can ICT help?
Climate-smart agriculture seeks to increase productivity while reducing contributions to climate change. Success is essential in order to provide enough food for the world’s population and to mitigate environmental damage. The World Bank, FAO and the e-Agriculture community invite you to explore how information and communication technologies (ICT) can support “green growth” and climate-smart agriculture.
ICT holds real promise in two particular areas: as tools for land use planning and management; and, as risk management tools for climate change adaptation. This will be the focus of the two week online discussion.
Share your experiences, ask questions of the subject matter experts, and explore new areas for ICT to have a positive impact on agriculture and climate change. Join us at http://www.e-agriculture.org/forums/current-forum
Subject Matter Experts
- Marjory-Anne Bromhead, Natural Resource Management Adviser, World Bank
- Ademola Braimoh, Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist, World Bank
- Dr Bruce Campbell, Director, Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security, CGIAR
- Dr Elizabeth Dodsworth, Global Director for Knowledge Management, CABI
- Rodomiro Ortiz, Professor of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Eric Seuret, Technology Consultant, Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture
- Pierre Sibiry Traore, Remote Sensing Scientist and Head, GIS, International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
- Pai-Yei Whung, Science Adviser, World Bank
Join the discussion at http://www.e-agriculture.org/forums/current-forum This is the second in a series of discussions following the publication of the “ICT in Agriculture” Sourcebook, responding to the growing demand for knowledge on how to use ICT to improve agricultural productivity and raise smallholder incomes.
Contact: Michael RIGGS
E-mail: michael.riggs(a)fao.org


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See: http://www.resultfirst.com/landing/11may2011/index.php?q=d


Agropolis International on the web
See: http://www.agropolis.org


Speeding up innovation in agricultural engineering
The innovation process in agricultural engineering is not effective. Some incredible new technologies never reach the innovation level. What should be done?
I started to tackle this problem some years ago. In early 1990′s I worked as a young researcher of the Finnish Academy of Sciences to develop sustainable agricultural engineering. Sustainability was then a hit subject in science. I had an innovative and eager research group of young researchers in my group in the University of Helsinki who worked almost 24-7 on the subject. Satellite navigation was tested and simulation models were built to vision the future ‘Position-dependent control of plant production’, later named as Precision Farming. The sky was the limit for ideas. As I had my dissertation in 1995, Precision Agriculture (including also livestock) was seen as an inevitable future.

But what has happened? Only parts of PF or PA have penetrated the markets. The holistic vision of PA as a system is not yet, twenty years later, realised!
OK, I must admit that some great development has been happening. Field navigation and semi-autonomous vehicles with drive assist systems have been quite successful in the markets. In countries with large fields and wide implements, this has been justified both for economy and ergonomics. However, the actual operations such as fertilization and seeding have not been automated as predicted. Integrated Farm Management Information Systems are not there. The vision of ‘GPS-controlled farm’ is still far from reality.

Now, I have to stress that I mean on the markets, in practise. Research projects and prototypes exist. Coming back to my research team, the ‘Star Group’ (yes, that was our nickname), in 1992 we already had a fully operational GPS-controlled combined drill, operating according to a soil sample based plan. We visioned that it would take some years to produce a reliable and easy-to-use system that could be bought from the shelf of almost any local agricultural dealer…

Then I decided to do something about the situation. In 1996, I moved to lead research in MTT Agrifood Research Finland where I started to build new research priorities together with new researchers. A new topic of system acceptability was introduced. We did some research on it and kept a couple of scientific presentations in CIOSTA, ASABE, AgEng, etc. Our finding was that maybe there is something wrong with the usability. New technologies do not fit well for their potential users. In principle, the technology is operational but not in practical life. It needs too much attention, it is too hard to learn and to remember, it does not give the user the needed feedback, it is not reliable enough, etc. Consequently, the new technology does not build trust in itself. The users get bad experiences and stop buying it. Users do not utilise new technologies, and then there are no innovations.

Coming back to present, I have prepared a questionnaire for interested individuals who want to give their opinions, experiences and visions on my research topic ‘how to speed up innovation in agriculture?’. I was happy to receive funding from OECD CRP (Co-operative Research Programme) for this important topic. Below you will find the link to the questionnaire. Please use some time to make a contribution to a more sustainable and innovative agriculture!
Hannu E. S. Haapala
Link to the expert questionnaire


Speeding up innovation in agriculture... Experts say: acceptability and trust are important research topics
See: http://agrinnotech.com/category/uncategorized/


The sport of your choice

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2 The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3 The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4 The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5 The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

And...

The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

THE AMAZING CONCLUSION:

The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.

There must be a ton of people in Washington playing marbles!


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