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EFITA

Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 14 / 28 May 2012


EFITA newsletter / 564 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Attention

Dear Efita friends,

I met technical difficulties that prevented me to distribute the Efita newsletter through the Efita mailing list. The Vitisphere.com team worked hard to find out a solution. And I will use a new technical platform to disseminate the efita newsletter.

For those who did not open the Efita newsletter for the last months, this issue could be the last one that they will receive and they will have to subscribe again the efita newsletter…

In fact, 2043 receivers of the Efita newsletters opened at least one of them since January 2012, and 2648 did not. Sorry for those who do not open the newsletter bur read it I in a window of their mailer.

Please take care: the link to subscribe / unsubscribe may be not operational yet.

Please note too that I survived for two weeks without editing any newsletter in English of French. It is a good point after nearly two years of retirement.

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


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

To read this newsletter on our web site
See: http://www.informatique-agricole.org/gazette/efita/efita_120514_564



Call For Papers for The Third National Conference on Agro-Informatics and Precision Agriculture 2012 (AIPA 2012)
1-3 August 2012 - HYDERABAD, India
The Indian Society of Agricultural Information Technology (INSAIT) cordially invites you to participate in the third national conference on Agro-Informatics and Precision Agriculture (AIPA 2012). The AIPA 2012 will be organized by INSAIT in collaboration with International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H), India.

Over the last few decades, several research and development efforts have been made to exploit the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to improve the efficiency of production agriculture and achieve sustainable development. Precision Agriculture involves identification, analyses and management of spatial and temporal variability in soils and crops for profitability, sustainability and protection of the environment. Precision Agriculture employs emerging technologies such as ICT; geospatial technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Remote Sensing (RS); sensor technologies and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN).

The AIPA 2012 will focus on the numerous developments in the important areas of agro-informatics and precision farming relevant in the present agricultural scenario. Further, this conference would prompt and stimulate academia, scientists, extension agencies, farmers and agribusiness institutions to address research issues pertaining to Agro-Informatics and Precision Agriculture.

The conference calls for papers in the following broad themes.
- ICT for agricultural research, education and extension
- ICT for agricultural supply chain management and marketing
- ICT for Natural Resource Management
- Precision crop production
- Precision crop protection
- Precision horticulture
- Precision livestock management
- Precision forestry
- Geospatial technologies in precision agriculture
- Sensor technologies and wireless sensor networks in precision agriculture
- Internet of Things (IOT) applications in agriculture

>>> Steering Committee Chair
Virupakshagouda Patil, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

>>> Conveners
P. Krishna Reddy, IIIT, Hyderabad, India A.R. Alagawadi, University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, India Leisa Armstrong, Edith Cowan University, Australia

>>> Important Dates
Submission of Abstracts (Maximum of 300 words): May 31, 2012 Submission of Camera ready papers (Maximum of six pages): June 30, 2012
See: http://www.iiit.ac.in/aipa2012
Contact: AIPA2012 Secretariat
E-mail: aipa2012(a)iiit.ac.in


UNESCO published "Policy Guidelines for the development and promotion of Open Access" to demystify the concept of Open Access (OA)… (AIMS newsletter)
…and to provide concrete steps on putting relevant policies in place. Dr. Alma Swan, Director of Key Perspectives Ltd (United Kingdom), wrote the publication. She is a leading expert in scholarly communication and Open Access.

>>> Enabling policy environment for OA
The overall objective of this publication is to promote Open Access in Member States by facilitating understanding of all relevant issues related to Open Access. Creating an enabling policy environment for OA is a priority.
The Policy Guidelines will be useful to beginners as well as experts in the world of Open Access, and will assist the decision-makers, administrators and research managers to focus on OA policy development.
See: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002158/215863e.pdf
To comment on this message, follow the link below:
http://aims.fao.org/news/unesco-issued-policy-guidelines-development-and-promotion-open-access


FAO Knowledge Forum Web site has a new look!
The Office of Knowledge Exchange, Research and Extension (OEK) of FAO recently revamped the FAO Knowledge Forum Web site (http://www.fao.org/knowledge/en/). The Web site aggregates various types of knowledge products/resources ranging from communities of practice to publications and from newsletters to FAO’s information systems. It currently lists over 110 FAO Information systems, 55 communities of practice, 50 good practices and 30 newsletters. For latest information, follow the FAO Knowledge Twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/faoknowledge/
Contact: Gauri SALOKHE
E-mail: knowledge-sharing(a)fao.org


Reducing pesticide use with ICT and Robotics?
Reducing the use of pesticides with ICT and Robotics solutions? Some special sessions will be dedicated to this challenge and will get together all involved stakeholders from Europe (researchers, manufacturers, software companies, authorities, end users associations, etc.). These sessions take place within the context of the ICT-AGRI Public-Private Partnerships that aim to facilitate networks - on a European basis - of public and private organisations and enterprises being the necessary complementary actors with respect to use ICT and automation in solutions for a greener agriculture
See: http://www.smartagrimatics.eu/News/tabid/4637/newsId/199/Default.aspx


NAVIPEDIA: The reference for Global Navigation Satellite Systems
See: http://www.navipedia.net/index.php/Main_Page


Do you speak Organic? Breaking Down Language Barriers in Organic & Sustainable Agriculture Education

The survey has been recently launched to answer questions such as the following:

− What are the difficulties you are facing when searching for educational re-sources in different languages?

− How do you cope with the segmentation of knowledge due to language barriers?

− What kind of services would help you locate the resources you are interested in more easily?

Help in finding answer these questions.

Visit: http://www.ieru.org/organicsurvey

>>> Organic.Edunet (www.organic-edunet.eu) is an international portal that has been serving the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture community since 2009, bridging together a network of learning repositories, providing its users (such as new researchers, trainers, professors, professionals, etc.) with a significant volume of relevant resources.
The colleagues from Organic.Edunet are trying to better understand the needs and requirements of people involved in learning and teaching Organic Agriculture and relevant topics (such as, environment, aquaculture, water resources management, etc.). Therefore I would warmly recommend that you devote about 10-15 minutes of your time to participate in their survey and help them get a better understanding on how language barriers can be overcome.

The questionnaire can be accessed in 16 languages.

Contact: Organic.Edunet team
E-mails: info(a)organicedunet.eu


Suggest you’re getting on the waiting list... if not too late...

This new “iPhone 5” will be on sale soon... I've checked with Apple.

They're not sure exactly what date it will be released, but it's definitely before the next WINTER.

I've put my name on the list for when they do.

The sales rep said there is a two year waiting list and I was number 2,794,587,692!

What's the cost?

It doesn't matter what it costs, I'm getting one.

Click here: new Apple iPhone 5


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