Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 30 April 2012


EFITA newsletter / 563 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


The distribution of this efita newsletter is sponsored by vitisphere.com
Please, contribute to the content of your efita newsletter, and advertise your events, new publications, new products and new project in this newsletter. Without your support, it will not survive!
Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net

Smart AgriMatics
13-14 June 2012 - PARIS
We would like to remind you that the possibility for early bird registration for Smart AgriMatics has entered its last week. The early bird registration fees are offered only until April 30th, 2012. The early bird fee is only 150 euro, it will be eligible as project costs and we do expect all partners of agriXchange to be present at the conference. So we encourage you to register to the conference as soon as possible!

Also keep in mind that June is a busy month in Paris, so do not wait until the last moment to book your accommodation. You can find suggestions for accommodation at the conference website.

To remind you what the conference is about: Smart AgriMatics 2012 is organised by 3 projects funded by the EU 7^th Framework Programme: agriXchange ICT-AGRI ERA-NET and SmartAgriFood.

The conference is to be held on 13-14 June 2012, in Paris (Hotel Forest Hill La Villette). The main theme of the conference is the future use of ICT and robotics in agriculture and food business, covering the following topics:

- Smart Farming and Precision Agriculture
- Farm Management in the ‘cloud’
- Smart Crop Protection
- Robotic and automation solutions
- Future Internet service infrastructure
- Smart Agri-Logistics
- Smart Horticulture
- Value Chain Analysis
- Supply Chain Event Management
- Smart Food Awareness and Transparency
- Standardisation and Interoperability
- Information and data exchange in agri-food
- Semantic Web and Ontologies in agri-food
- Animal Registration and Identification
- European strategy for ICT in agri-food

The preliminary program is now available and will be finalised soon. We have opened development pages for the sessions at the agriXchange platform, where you can give your input to the leaders of the sessions and so help create good contents at the conference.

Contact: Sjaak WOLFERT
E-mail: Sjaak.Wolfert(a)wur.nl


Agri ICT in Serbia… Public library initiator of change: petition wins high speed Internet for 4,500 people (FAO / AIMS newsletter)
The EIFL-PLIP (Public Library Innovation Programme) published on its website a story on how the villagers of Glavinci in Central Serbia managed to obtain, with the help of their library, high speed internet for the whole village.

>>> Agrolib-Ja: free internet & online farm market
The Glavinci village library is part of the EIFL-PLIP supported "AgroLib-Ja [1]" service for farmers. AgroLib-Ja provides free access to computers and the Internet in four village libraries. The service includes an information sharing website for farmers, but is also about librarians training farmers to use the Internet to find information about modern farming methods, government grants and other opportunities online.
The farmers used their new computer skills to develop a lively online farm produce market – AgroLib – and are now selling fruit, dairy produce, vegetables, honey and handicrafts over the Internet.

>>> Villagers from Glavinci demand faster Internet
AgroLib-Ja became extremely popular, with growing numbers of farmers and their families using the Internet in their local libraries. But in Glavinci there was a problem: the Internet connection was too slow to meet farmers’ needs. Therefore the villagers from Glavinci organized a petition to demand high-speed Internet. It worked. Now over 4,500 people from Glavinci and two nearby villages have access to high speed wireless Internet in their homes and in their village library.
See: [1] http://www.agrolib.rs/?lang=en
See: [2] http://www.eifl.net/public-library-radislav-nikcevic-jagodina-serbia


Highlighting the Community's Use of Social Media
Social media offers the e-Agriculture Community extra ways to engage and communicate beyond this web platform and our occasional face-to-face events.
While the Community's most extensive and detailed information is found on the web platform, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Delicious provide ways for members to stay updated with the latest information, highlight their work through video, exchange information and resources, and expand their global network of colleagues by connecting with others in the field of ICTs for agricultural and rural development.
See: http://www.e-agriculture.org/e-agriculture-social-media


Agricultural Information Management Standards (AIMS) Newsletter
See: http://aims.fao.org/newsletter/10


Stakeholder Meeting Pilot Quality Controlled Logistics in Flowers/Plants Supply Chains
On April 16th 2012 there was a stakeholder meeting of the flowers/plants pilot of the Smart Agri-Food pilot in the European EPC Competence Center (EECC), Neuss, Germany. This pilot analyses and demonstrates the possibilities to integrate RFID and sensor data for dynamic Quality Controlled Logistics in flowers/plants supply chains. Participants of the pilot are Wageningen UR (coordination), TNO, GS1 Germany, Huawei, Atos, EECC, Tuinbouw Digitaal, Baas Plantenservice, Praktiker Max Bahr, FloraHolland, Speksnijder Transport, Van der Salm en Mieloo & Alexander.
Contact : Cor VERDOUW
E-mail : cor.verdouw(a)wur.nl


Rugby story!
It was the Scotland/Wales rugby International weekend in Edinburgh and as the crowds made their way down Princes Street towards Murrayfield, a Rottweiler suddenly lunged towards an eight year old Scottish lass, with its jaws wide open ready to attack.

The crowd nearby gasped in horror but, quick as a flash, a man in red jumped out of the crowd, grabbed the dog by the throat and throttled it.

As the dead dog lay there, and the crowd cheered in admiration, a journalist from the Glasgow Herald who had witnessed the heroic deed, went up to the man and said, 'That was brilliant, I can see the headline now - 'Welsh Rugby Fan Saves Young Girl From Certain Death'.

The man replied, 'No you've got it wrong. I'm not here for the rugby!'

'Don't worry' said the journalist, 'I can see the headline now – 'Welshman Saves Girl From Jaws Of Rottweiler'.

The man replied, 'No you're wrong again. I'm not Welsh; I'm from London.'

The journalist said, 'Don't worry; I can see the headline now – 'English Bastard Strangles Family Pet'.


About the EFITA mailing list
You can use the efita moderated list (> 4400 subscribers) to announce any event / product / web site / joke (!) related to IT in agriculture, environment, food industry and rural areas.
If you want to subscribe a friend, please fill in this form
If you do not wish to receive our messages, please fill in this form