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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 29 April 2013


EFITA newsletter / 602 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


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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_130429_602.htm


The archives of this newsletter

See: http://www.informatique-agricole.org/category/gazette-efita/


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Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes... an Anatomy of Wit
Mick Harkin, ex Secretary of EFITA, who has kept us amused with his Friday Jokes over the years, has published a book on Amazon entitled "Jokes, Quotes and Anecdotes... an Anatomy of Wit".
See: http://www.jokesquotesandanecdotes.com
Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-mail: harkin(a)iol.ie


G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture: Open access to publicly funded agriculturally-relevant data is critical to increasing global food security
29 – 30 – April - WASHINGTON DC
At the 2012 Summit at Camp David, G-8 leaders committed to implement a New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. The aim of this was to boost agriculture production in 6 countries and to lift 50m people out of poverty in 10 years.
As part of this commitment, they agreed to “share relevant agricultural data available from G8 countries with African partners and convene an international conference on Open Data for Agriculture, to develop options for the establishment of a global platform to make reliable agricultural and related information available to African farmers, researchers and policymakers, taking into account existing agricultural data systems".
This conference aims to obtain commitment and action from nations and relevant stakeholders to promote policies and invest in projects that open access to publicly funded data streams. This will make such data readily accessible to users in Africa and world-wide, and ultimately support a sustainable increase in food security in developed and developing countries.
A technical group of G8 representatives is working on the development of an agenda for the conference. The specific objectives of the conference are to:
- Demonstrate the impact of open data on food security by showcasing applications of open data;
- Reach agreement on key categories of publicly available agriculturally relevant research and development data that would improve food security, if made readily available to users in food insecure countries;
- Discuss potential options for developing a global data-sharing platform(s), and commit to work towards standardizing existing data-sets and platforms, and sharing best practices to optimize utility for end users.
- Assess potential mechanisms for providing capacity building and support for data dissemination and utilization by developing country partners, especially New Alliance target countries
The date for the international conference has been set, 29-30th April in Washington DC. There is a limit of 40 delegates for each G8 country and DFID would like to see a balanced representation from across academic institutions, the private sector and civil society.
See: https://sites.google.com/site/g8opendataconference/home


7th Call for the 9th European Conference on Precision Agriculture
7 – 11 July – LEIDA – Spain
See: http://www.ecpa2013.udl.cat/seventh_call.html


Innovations in urban food systems (with specific sessions on flows, land and governance)
28-29 October 2013 - MONTPELLIER (Agropolis International)
Building upon the first four Conferences of the AESOP thematic group Sustainable Food Planning in Almere (2009), Brighton (2010), Cardiff (2011) and Berlin (2012), this conference will promote discussions between researchers and practitioners from across disciplines, approaches, and national provenances in the global North and the global South.

This event is organised by the two research labs UMR Innovation and UMR Moisa (that are joint research units from INRA, CIRAD, IAM. M and Supagro) and the UNESCO Chair on World Food Systems, with the support of Agropolis International.

See: http://www1.montpellier.inra.fr/aesop5/

Contact: Damien CONARÉ
E-mail : damien.conare(a)supagro.inra.fr


Agricultural Apps for Smartphones available in France
See: https://docs.google.com/
spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AomFxgOQjxCedFZOQWltejBNNU5LUlgxQUJmRTlyWWc#gid=0



Our article on UAV for weed mapping in early crop season (published in PLoS ONE)
See: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058210
Contact: Jose M. Peña-BARRAGAN
E-mail: jmpena(a)ias.csic.es


AgBiome Secures $14.5 Million Series A Financing; Co. Scales Operations to Develop Novel Agricultural Products to Improve Crop Yield
See: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/agbiome-secures-14-5-million-113000707.html


New Technology Sheds Light on Crop Tissues
See: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2013/130412.htm


Newsletter No 52 (April 2013) - European Soil Portal
See: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201304.pdf


Monitoring Agricultural ResourceS (MARS) Bulletin Vol. 21 No. 4 : Delayed crop cycle in large parts of Europe
See: http://mars.jrc.ec.europa.eu/mars/Bulletins-Publications/Mars-Bulletin-Vol.-
Contact: info-agri4cast(a)jrc.ec.europa.eu


Estimating the soil organic carbon content for European NUTS2 regions based on LUCAS data collection
In 2009, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre conducted the LUCAS soil survey, sampling ca. 20,000 points across 23 EU member states.
This article describes the results obtained from analyzing the soil organic carbon data in the LUCAS soil database. The collected data were compared with the modeled European topsoil organic carbon content data developed at the JRC.
The best fitted comparison was performed at NUTS2 level and showed underestimation of modeled data in southern Europe and overestimation in the new central eastern member states. There is a good correlation in certain regions for countries such as the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland, and France.
Here we assess the feasibility of producing comparable estimates of the soil organic carbon content at NUTS2 regional level for the European Union (EU27) and draw a comparison with existing modeled data. In addition to the data analysis, we suggest how the modeled data can be improved in future updates with better calibration of the model.

Panagos, P., Ballabio, C., Yigini, Y., Dunbar M., 2013. Estimating the soil organic carbon content for European NUTS2 regions based on LUCAS data collection. Science of The Total Environment, Volume 442, 1 January 2013, pp. 235-246
Contact: Panos PANAGOS
E-mail: panos.panagos(a)jrc.ec.europa.eu


AGROVOC 2013 edition released
The AGROVOC Team is pleased to announce the release of the AGROVOC [2] 2013 edition.

The updated version contains 32,188 concepts in up to 22 languages, resulting in a total of 626,211 terms (in 2012: 32,061 concepts, 625,096 terms).

Please explore AGROVOC by searching [3] terms, or browsing hierarchies [4].

AGROVOC 2013 is available for download [5], and accessible via web services [6].

The AGROVOC Team would like to thank all editors and users who contributed to the 2013 edition. We look forward to receiving your comments and proposals to further improve AGROVOC.
[1] http://aims.fao.org/community/metadata/blogs/agrovoc-2013-edition-released
[2] http://www.fao.org/agrovoc
[3] http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/functionalities/search
[4] http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/functionalities/hierarchy
[5] http://aims.fao.org/standards/agrovoc/functionalities/download
[6] http://agrovoc.mimos.my/ACSWWebserviceClient/sampleACSWWebServiceProxy/TestClient.jsp
[7] http://aims.fao.org/community/metadata/blogs/agrovoc-2013-edition-released

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Wonderful English from Around the World

In a Bangkok Temple:

IT IS FORBIDDEN TO ENTER A WOMAN, EVEN A FOREIGNER, IF DRESSED AS A MAN.

Cocktail lounge, Norway:

LADIES ARE REQUESTED NOT TO HAVE CHILDREN IN THE BAR.

Doctor's office, Rome:

SPECIALIST IN WOMEN AND OTHER DISEASES.

Dry cleaners, Bangkok:

DROP YOUR TROUSERS HERE FOR THE BEST RESULTS.

In a Nairobi restaurant:

CUSTOMERS WHO FIND OUR WAITRESSES RUDE, OUGHT TO SEE THE MANAGER.

On the main road to Mombasa, leaving Nairobi:

TAKE NOTICE: WHEN THIS SIGN IS UNDER WATER, THIS ROAD IS IMPASSABLE.

On a poster at Kencom:

ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ? IF SO WE CAN HELP.

In a City restaurant:

OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND WEEKENDS.

In a Cemetery:

PERSONS ARE PROHIBITED FROM PICKING FLOWERS, FROM ANY BUT THEIR OWN GRAVES.

Tokyo hotel's rules and regulations:

GUESTS ARE REQUESTED NOT TO SMOKE, OR DO OTHER DISGUSTING BEHAVIOURS IN BED.

On the menu of a Swiss Restaurant:

OUR WINES LEAVE YOU NOTHING TO HOPE FOR.

In a Tokyo Bar:

SPECIAL COCKTAILS FOR THE LADIES WITH NUTS.

Hotel, Yugoslavia:

THE FLATTENING OF UNDERWEAR WITH PLEASURE, IS THE JOB OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

Hotel, Japan:
YOU ARE INVITED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHAMBERMAID.

In the lobby of a Moscow Hotel, across from a Russian Orthodox Monastery:

YOU ARE WELCOME TO VISIT THE CEMETERY, WHERE FAMOUS RUSSIAN AND SOVIET COMPOSERS, ARTISTS AND WRITERS ARE BURIED DAILY, EXCEPT THURSDAY.

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN ON OUR BLACK FOREST CAMPING SITE, THAT PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT SEX, FOR INSTANCE, MEN AND WOMEN, LIVE TOGETHER IN ONE TENT, UNLESS THEY ARE MARRIED WITH EACH OTHER FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Hotel, Zurich:

BECAUSE OF THE IMPROPRIETY OF ENTERTAINING GUESTS OF THE OPPOSITE SEX IN THE BEDROOM, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE LOBBY BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE.

Advertisement for donkey rides, Thailand:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO RIDE ON YOUR OWN ASS?

Airline ticket office, Copenhagen:

WE TAKE YOUR BAGS AND SEND THEM IN ALL DIRECTIONS. (Just Like British Airways!!!)

A Laundry in Rome:

LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND THEN SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.

And finally the all time classic:
Seen in an Abu Dhabi Souk shop window:
IF THE FRONT IS CLOSED PLEASE ENTER THROUGH MY BACKSIDE…


…Priceless!


Contact: Mick HARKIN
E-Mail: harkin(a)iol.ie


How people in others countries live… not new, but still fun … (1)

>>> The Jewish E L B O W

A Jewish grandmother is giving directions to her grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.

"You come to the front door of the apartment. I am in apartment 301.
There is a big panel at the front door. With your elbow, push button 301. I will buzz you in.
Come inside, the elevator is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow, push 3.
When you get out, I'm on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell."

"Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I hitting all these buttons with my elbow? .........


"What… You're coming empty handed?"


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