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Net Futures 2015 FIWARE Challenge: European competition internet applications for perishables: submit your idea until February, 16th 2015 16 February FInish is organising the Net Futures 2015 FIWARE Challenge. It will award innovative ideas that are making use of FIWARE and have a clear business impact. This challenge addresses SMEs, web-entrepreneurs and start-ups to develop proposals for food related applications in a wider context and is open to the development of applications of any kind as long as their implementation is based on FIWARE technologies. The process is divided into two stages. The first stage or call for ideas invites participants to submit innovative ideas for applications that can be developed using the FIWARE technology. Proposals (ca. 2 pages long) shall be submitted to the FInish accelerator until February, 16th 2015, using the following email address: (FInish-Info(a)FInish-Project.eu). A template, further detailing the contents is available on the related website http://netfutures2015.eu/fiware-challenge/ Contact: Cor VERDOUW E-mail: cor.verdouw(a)wur.nl Leading GPS companies are losing the Chinese agriculture market BeiDou is a Chinese satellite navigation system built to eliminate dependence on American satellites. This year, China will select 13 of the biggest agricultural provinces and work with 130,000 agricultural machinery cooperatives, to install BeiDou terminals in 6 million pieces of machinery. See: http://smartaganalytics.com/blog/2015/01/can-chinas-beidou-replace-gps-and-drive-the-tractors-of-tomorrow/ Gallery: New innovations from 360 Yield Center A new stalk chopper, a portable soil tester and a sprayer attachment system that allows for late-season nutrient application all drew the attention of about 1,500 growers at the 360 Yield Center summit. See: http://farmindustrynews.com/farm-equipment/new-innovations-360-yield-center Check out the latest technologies that may be useful in your farming operation See: http://farmindustrynews.com/technology-decision-time Mobile apps for tech-savvy corn growers Hand-held tools turn that smartphone into a powerhouse machine for 2015. See: http://farmindustrynews.com/ag-technology-solution-center/mobile-apps-tech-savvy-corn-growers
Apple: what do you do after becoming the world’s most profitable company? See: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/31/apple-worlds-most-profitable-company-iphone-china See: http://www.mac-history.net/apple-people/steve-jobs/2014-02-02/turning-around-like-apple Newsletter No. 73 (January 2015) - European Soil Data Centre See: ,http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/utilities/newsletter/201501.pdf Rainfall Erosivity in Europe The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as ‘rainfall erosivity’, which takes into account the rainfall amount and intensity. The study resulted in a Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and a rainfall Erosivity map at 500m grid cell resolution for the European Union (EU) and Switzerland. The scarce availability of high-temporal resolution data obliges soil erosion modellers to estimate this factor based on rainfall data with only low temporal resolution (daily, monthly, annual averages). The purpose of this study was to assess rainfall erosivity in Europe using a model based on the best available datasets. Data were collected from 1 541 precipitation stations in all EU Member States and Switzerland, with temporal resolutions of 5 to 60 min. The model used showed a very good performance, with some prediction uncertainty in northern Scandinavia, the west of Ireland, Scotland, the high Alps and parts of Spain due to the low number of stations and high diversity of environmental features. The Mediterranean and Alpine regions were found to have the highest rainfall erosivity values, while Scandinavian countries were found to have the lowest. Rainfall erosivity in Europe is a key parameter for estimating soil loss and soil erosion risk, but the use of this dataset can be widely extended to other applications: landslide risk assessment, flood risk forecasting, post-fire conservation measures, ecosystem modelling, agricultural management and design of crop rotation scenarios. See: http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/library/themes/erosion/RainfallErosivity/ Contact: Panos PANAGOS E-mail: panos.panagos(a)jrc.ec.europa.eu Monsanto Shareholder Meeting Gets Heated: "We’ve had a lively afternoon" Wall Street Journal - 30-Jan-2015 - By Jacob Bunge Monsanto Co. has long been a lightning rod for debate, but at its annual shareholder meeting Friday, the biotech-seed company was tagged with blame or credit for an even larger number of issues than usual. The sometimes emotional, nearly two-hour meeting sounded at times like a daytime talk show, minus thrown chairs and shouting. Critics charged Monsanto with responsibility for spikes in diabetes and autism, among other human and environmental problems. Springing to Monsanto’s defense were farmers, its own employees, and a nun who praised its efforts to reduce water use. The meeting at Monsanto’s St. Louis headquarters tested CEO Hugh Grant‘s stated determination to more directly engage critics of large-scale agriculture and genetically modified crops. For some environmentalists and advocates of organic farming, Monsanto has become the poster child for a kind of industrialized farming reliant on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, including the company’s trademark Roundup. Advocacy groups that had purchased Monsanto shares and submitted shareholder resolutions focused on corporate governance used some of their time at the microphone to lambast Monsanto over human health problems, particularly in children, which they attributed to widespread use of Roundup, a formulation of the chemical glyphosate. “I’m imploring you to choose a new direction,” said Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America, who spoke at length. “Stop poisoning our children.” Monsanto’s Mr. Grant, who noted that he was the father of three children as well, responded that myriad studies had shown “no linkage” between Roundup and the maladies described by Ms. Honeycutt. Lisa Lindsley, a shareholder-advocacy manager for advocacy group SumOfUs, critiqued executive-pay practices. A representative of As You Sow, an environmental advocacy group based in Oakland, Calif., warned that Monsanto’s lobbying activities could expose it to financial risks. The group’s proposal seeking annual disclosure around Monsanto’s lobbying efforts and spending didn’t pass. Mr. Grant said Monsanto’s compensation politices and lobbying practices were responsible. In Monsanto’s corner, Donna Farmer, an employee of 24 years who said that she studies the safety of the company’s products, took the microphone to emphasize the stringent testing done on Monsanto’s pesticides. Fred Yoder of Plain City, Ohio, one of several farmers present who help advise Monsanto, thanked Monsanto for glyphosate. “It’s changed my life. It’s changed agriculture,” he said. Sean Haggerty, a Jesuit, commended what he said were Monsanto’s efforts to curb the Colombian government’s aerial spraying of Roundup to destroy drug plantations in that country after such spraying also damaged farmers’ food crops. Sister Barbara Jennings, of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, lauded Monsanto’s efforts to increase water efficiency. Some business did get done. Shareholders elected all nine board members nominated and approved a proxy-access proposal, which could make it easier for investors to nominate their own candidates to Monsanto’s board–and which the company recommended against. Though that proposal was nonbinding, it got 53% of shares voted, and Mr. Grant said that Monsanto directors would likely alter its policy in response. Still, corporate governance seemed to take a back seat with much of the discussion revolving concerns raised around sickened children and animals, struggling farmers, famine and poverty. “We’ve had a lively afternoon” Mr. Grant said toward the end of the meeting. See: http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2015/01/30/monsanto-shareholder-meeting-gets-heated/
Leimington Spa station ghost buster (in UK) See: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/halloween-haunting-leamington-spa-train-station-calls-ghostbusters-1471829 Full body scans at airports: December 2013 Statistics On Airport Full Body Screening From CATSA (Canadian Air Transport Security Administration) CATSA disclosed the following Airport Screening Results: Thought you'd like to know...
See: https://truthinmediablog.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/year-end-tsa-report-what-full-body-scans-found/ 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_150209_682.htm
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