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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 14 July 2014 EFITA newsletter / 656 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment The US ban on Belgian Waffles! See: http://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2014/07/01/waffle-house-belgian-waffle/ 
To correspond with me (GW), please use this address: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net Call for Book Chapters on GIS and Agroenvironmental Sustainability Deadline of chapter's proposals: 30 July 2014. See: http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/1403 Addressing Household Food Security in the Context of Changing Climate and Environment (course) 12-21 August - KATHMANDU, Nepal. The 10-day course will provide the participants with an opportunity to understand the concept of food security and systems, the persistence of poverty in urban and rural areas in the wake of the recent food and economic crises, the alarming state of malnutrition in the community as resulting from lack of access to productive assets and the global policies and treaties affecting food security. The fee costs 1,800 USD. This includes room and board, tuition and in-country course related costs. >>> Other courses: 1. Integrating a Value Chain Perspective in Rural Development - August 26 - September 4 2. Co-creating Knowledge with Farmers: Redefining Research Relationships - September 16 to 25 3. Community-based Integrated Watershed Management - October 7 to 16 4. Democratizing Governance through Visualization in Participatory Processes - November 10 to 14 See: http://www.iirr.org Contact: Dulce DOMINGUEZ E-mail: dulce.dominguez(a)iirr.org Gallery: International farm robot contest showcases students' ingenuity Twenty-three teams from 10 countries recently competed at the International Field Robot event held during the DLG Field Days. This international competition brings international student teams and their autonomous field robots to Bernburg-Strenzfeld, Germany, to compete in five assigned tasks. See: http://farmindustrynews.com/precision-farming/international-farm-robot-contest-showcases-students-ingenuity See: https://fre2014.uni-hohenheim.de/ FIspace meets John Deere See: http://www.slideshare.net/SjaakWolfert/fispace-meets-john-deere Blog: UAV show offers plenty to see One of the first unmanned aerial vehicle shows to offer visitors live demos draws interest. In this blog we offer a look at many aspects of the Precision Aerial Ag Show where farmers were learning plenty about this new technology. See: http://farmindustrynews.com/blog/uav-show-offers-plenty-see Gallery: First ag-focused UAV event takes off Hundreds showed up on Wednesday for the kick-off of the 2014 Precision Aerial Ag Shown (PAAS) in Decatur, Ill - about 900 tickets were sold ahead of time. The event is the first-ever show to focus solely on UAV use in agriculture, and it’s taking place on the Farm Progress Show grounds, known as Progress City. Take a look at some of the day’s events, and see a wide sampling of the models that were available to see and watch in action at the show See: http://farmindustrynews.com/precision-farming/first-ag-focused-uav-event-takes Do you know Global precision farming market will be worth $3,721.27 million by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 13.36%? See: http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/268230-precision-farming-market-by-technology-gps-gnss-gis-remote-sensing-vrt-components-automation-control-sensors-fms-applications-yield-monitoring-vra-mapping-soil-monitoring-scouting-global-forecast-analysis-2013-2018-.html NB: CAGR = Compound annuel growth rate
We’re about helping you manage variability Whether you’re a grower, consultant, supplier, or researcher—you have something in common: your fields vary. The variability may be in water-holding capacity, organic matter, yield potential, nematode pressure, soil pH—or many other possibilities. One thing is certain—managing these fields as if they were uniform is not the best strategy. Before you can manage soil variability— or manage inputs differently, you need to map it. And map it with the accuracy and intensity that truly captures the variations. Veris Technologies is dedicated to designing and building the products you need to map and manage your variability. Veris Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1996, and Veris products are now being used in more than 40 states and 25 foreign countries. See: http://www.veristech.com/index.aspx See: http://www.veriscanada.com/publications/ See: http://www.atb-potsdam.de/en/institute/about-us/team/portrait/portrait/michael-schirrmann/document.pdf Alternative management practices (AMP) - Using soils to mitigate carbon emissions. JRC scientists finds that making alternative uses of arable land could potentially help capture significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. They investigated the potential carbon sequestration of six of the most representative agricultural management practices on arable soils, and finded that the conversion of arable land to grassland results in the highest potential soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration rates, whereas the conversion of grassland to arable land has the effect of strongly increasing the amount of carbon losses to the atmosphere. The scientists have used a recently developed high resolution pan-European simulation platform to assess the potential impact of six management practices on SOC stock levels of arable soil under two IPCC climate change scenarios to 2100: arable to grassland conversion (and vice versa), straw incorporation, reduced tillage, straw incorporation with reduced tillage, ley cropping and cover crops. According to the results of three policy simulations carried out by the scientists, the allocation of just 12% of arable land to different combinations of agricultural management practices would produce significant mitigation effects, which would be sufficient to reach the EU's target of cutting its emissions to 20% below of the 1990 levels by 2020. Data available: The projected SOC baseline content (t C ha-1 in 0-30 cm depth) of the arable land use, where the following alternative management practices (AMP) are applied: AR_GR_LUC = conversion from arable to grassland; AR_RES = crop residue management; AR_RT = reduced tillage; AR_RET = crop residue + reduced tillage; AR_LEY = ley in rotation; AR_CC = cover crops Information and data available in: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/Themes/SOC/CAPRESE/ Lugato E., Bampa F., Panagos P., Montanarella L. and Jones A. (2014). Potential carbon sequestration of European arable soils estimated by modelling a comprehensive set of management practices. Global Change Biology (2014), In Press, doi: 10.1111/gcb.12551. See: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu Contact: Panos PANAGOS E-mail: panos.panagos(a)jrc.ec.europa.eu Hillary Rodham Clinton Supports Biotech, GM Crops Hillary Rodham Clinton was the keynote speaker at a luncheon during the BIO International Convention in San Diego, California, USA and was interviewed by Jim Greenwood, president and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. According to the San Diego Union Times, Clinton endorsed the use of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs in agriculture to improve crops, such as by engineering them for drought resistance. She suggested the biotech industry stress these characteristics instead of focusing on the term GMOs. On GMOs, Clinton said the biotech industry "should continue to try to make the case to those who are skeptical that they may not know what they are eating already, because the question of genetically modified foods or hybrids has gone on for many many years, and there is a big gap between what the facts are and what the perceptions are." Clinton said, "I stand in favor of using seeds and products that have a proven track record, you say, and are scientifically provable to continue to try to make the case to those who are skeptical." She noted that she promoted drought-resistant seeds while combating food insecurity in Africa, which "by definition, they have been engineered to be drought-resistant." "If you talk about drought-resistant seeds, and I have promoted those all over Africa, by definition they have been engineered to be drought-resistant," Clinton said. "That's the beauty of them. Maybe somebody can get their harvest done and not starve, and maybe have something left over to sell." See: http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---12570-e.htm
About the joke of last week about Texas A&M University, one of the best US university! I see the newsletter has now taken up Aggie jokes for the entertainment of your readers. The class of jokes that make Texas A&M graduates seems simple and uneducated is referred to here as Aggie jokes. There are entire books of these in case you are not aware. In Texas, these are popular with graduates of other universities and some Aggies who have an especially good sense of humor. These jokes are easier to take today when Texas A&M is one of the leading research institutions in the US. Of course, they overlap greatly with jokes about whatever ethnic, national or cultural group (Polish, blondes, lawyers, etc.) the teller wishes to highlight. I do enjoy your newsletters. Keep up the good work. Steve Stephen W. SEARCY, P.E. Professor and Head Biological and Agricultural Engineering - Texas A&M University Email: s-searcy(a)tamu.edu Old joke At the French Baccalauréat exam, the dissertation test given to the students in the Philosophy class: Tackle in the most possible concise way the three following topics: 1. Religion 2. Sexuality 3. Mystery The best student got a 20 out of 20 points: “My God, I am pregnant! But from who?”
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_140707_655.htm
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