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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), May 4, 2020
EFITA newsletter / 928 - European Federation for Information Technology
in Agriculture, Food and the Environment
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>>> Statistics
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>>> Plenty
of jokes <<<
How we saw the future yesterday?
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Hypochondriacs, desperate, nostalgic, indignant, rebellious, don't especially look at these statistics / Hypochondriaques, désespérés, nostalgiques, ne regardez surtout pas ces statistiques
>>> Prevalence of undernourishment (%) in developing countries since 1970, 1970 to 2015
This is the main FAO hunger indicator. It measures the share of the population that consumes an amount of calories that is insufficient to cover the energy requirement for an active and healthy life (as defined by the minimum dietary energy requirement). Data from 1990 onwards is well-established within FAO estimates. Earlier estimates extending the period 1970-1989 are significantly more uncertain.
Voir ourworldindata.org
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>>> Percentage of children underweight (low weight for age), 1986 to 2017
Share of children aged under five who are defined as underweight (low weight for age), measured as the percentage of the total under-5 population.
See ourworldindata.org
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>>> Life expectancy at birth, including the UN projections, 1950 to 2099
Shown is the observed life expectancy at birth for both sexes since 1950 and the Medium Variant projections by the UN Population Division.
See ourworldindata.org
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Good old days (?????): Le rappel des glaneuses, 1859, par Jules Breton (1827-1906)
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The first modern pandemic. The scientific advances we need to stop COVID-19. By Bill Gates
Melinda and I grew up learning that World War II was the defining moment of our parents’ generation. In a similar way, the COVID-19 pandemic—the first modern pandemic—will define this era. No one who lives through Pandemic I will ever forget it. And it is impossible to overstate the pain that people are feeling now and will continue to feel for years to come.
The heavy cost of the pandemic for lower-paid and poor people is a special concern for Melinda and me. The disease is disproportionately hurting poorer communities and racial minorities. Likewise, the economic impact of the shutdown is hitting low-income, minority workers the hardest. Policymakers will need to make sure that, as the country opens up, the recovery doesn’t make inequality even worse than it already is.
At the same time, we are impressed with how the world is coming together to fight this fight. Every day, we talk to scientists at universities and small companies, CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, or heads of government to make sure that the new tools I’ve discussed become available as soon as possible. And there are so many heroes to admire right now, including the health workers on the front line. When the world eventually declares Pandemic I over, we will have all of them to thank for it.
See gatesnotes.com
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Why the German approach to trace the infection is too expensive? Since it requires a lot of mapower...
In Germany, if someone is tested and confirmed positive, the doctor is legally required to inform the local government health office. The doctor must provide all personal data—name, address, phone number—so that the health office can contact the person and ensure they isolate themselves.
Then the local health office begins the process of contact tracing. They interview the infected person, find out how to contact all the people he or she has met in the past couple of weeks, and contact those people to ask them to self-isolate and get a test.
This approach relies on the infected person to report their contacts accurately, and also depends on the ability of the health authorities to follow up with everyone. The normal health service staff can’t possibly do all this work even if the case numbers are fairly low. Every health system will have to figure out how to staff up so that this work is done in a timely fashion. Everyone who does the work would have to be properly trained and required to keep all the information private. Researchers would be asked to study the database to find patterns of infection, again with privacy safeguards in place.
See The first modern pandemic. The scientific advances we need to stop COVID-19. By Bill Gates
Good old days (?????): Winter - The Faggot Gatherers, by Jean-François Millet (1814 - 1875) - National Museum Wales
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Learn how to add easy-to-use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) processing
to your remote sensing applications with this 2-part training session
over 2 consecutive days.
Person using L3HArris geospatioal softwareThe use of Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SAR) data has become increasingly popular around the world due
to its many benefits such as the ability to capture data at night and
see through cloud cover. Although SAR data can be complex and hard to
work with, L3Harris Geospatial in close collaboration with their partner
sarmap SA have created easy-to-use tools for some of the most common
SAR processing applications to extend the benefits of SAR data to wider
audiences.
See
chest.ac.uk
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The
Efita newsletter is sponsored by:
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How IGS reduces vertical farming costs?
See agfundernews.com
See intelligentgrowthsolutions.com
Good old days (?????): Jeunes glaneuses par Jules Breton
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Yanmar SMASH Precision Agriculture / Robots in Toscany
With its European research facility nestled in the hills above Florence, Italy, Yanmar R&D Europe (YRE) is well placed to focus on a variety of field-based studies to bring added value to the agriculture industry – and possibly even attract a new generation of workers to the land. These include the two-year, four-million Euros ‘SMASH’ project being carried out in cooperation with 10 technology partners to develop a mobile agricultural ‘eco-system’ to monitor, analyse and manage agricultural crops.
Kubota and Aurea partner in precision ag for fruit growers
Kubota Corporation and Aurea Imaging announced their partnership to explore, validate and demonstrate their combined technology and system solutions for fruit growers around the world. Read more
How can they make the full fruit growing cycle as autonomous as possible?
See futurefarming.com
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Agerris farm robots getting ready for commercialisation
Australian Agerris has raised AUD $ 6.5 million from deep tech investors to produce its new robots.
See futurefarming.com
Taranis and Lanafil bring precision ag to Uruguay
Lanafil’s customers get access to the Taranis remote scouting platform that analyses crops and provides insights.
See futurefarming.com
Joskin pushes back the limits of the extreme!
The X-TREM2 is a concentrate of all the JOSKIN know-how. Thanks to an ingeniously narrowed chassis, this machine combines a high capacity tanker with high diameter wheels. The result is a perfect weight balance and an outstanding ground seating, the whole providing a minimal ground compaction!
See futurefarming.com
Irrigation automation market worth USD 6.7 billion by 2025
Growing awareness about benefits of irrigation automation fuels growth of the irrigation automation market.
See futurefarming.com
Onset introduces new wireless soil moisture sensors
Onset’s new HOBOnet TEROS sensors are to provide a greater range of soil measurement options.
See futurefarming.com
Good old days (?????): The couch burners , 1910, by Arthur Hacker (UK, 1858 - 1919)
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Pandemic highlights automation gaps – and possibilities
If ever there was an argument for automation in the agriculture sector, the ongoing pandemic brings it into stark relief.
See futurefarming.com
Arise, robotic slug slayers, by Richard Martyn-Hemphill
Phase one, the group of companies informed AFN, will focus on developing an AI slug detection capability, including multi-spectral imagery. Phase two will then look to deliver slug detection using Small Robot Company’s ‘Tom’ robot. This will use hyperspectral imagery and artificial intelligence to detect slugs both at scale and autonomously. Mobile imaging of slugs and field-surface materials in glasshouse conditions is anticipated by autumn 2020; the detection and mapping of slug infestations are anticipated to be delivered in-field in spring 2021. Phase three will then focus on the development of precision spraying, delivering an in-field slug treatment solution with SRC’s precision spraying ‘Dick’ crop-care robot prototype for autumn 2021.
See agfundernews.com
Wisdom (and wallets) of the crowd: Small Robot Company closes crowdfunding campaign at £2.1m, by Richard Martyn-Hemphill
See agfundernews.com
How NYC'S farmers markets are successfully surviving covid-19
See agritecture.com
Union Square Greenmarket app (New-York City)
See grownyc.org
Good old days (?????): October: The potato gatherers by August Vilhelm Nikolaus Hagborg (SE, 1852 - 1921)
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Green ammonia could slash emissions from farming – and power ships of the future
See theconversation.com
In a Crisis, Pessimism Is Natural but Realism Is Crucial, by Marian L. Tupy
“In every age everybody knows that up to his own time, progressive improvement has been taking place; nobody seems to reckon on any improvement in the next generation. We cannot absolutely prove that those are in error who say society has reached a turning point – that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us and with just as much apparent reason... On what principle is it that with nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?”
Thomas Babington MACAULAY, British historian and statesman (1830)
See humanprogress.org
The psychology behind a pandemic – by the psychologist Steven Pinker
Ne pas oublier d’activer le sous-titrage
Germany's Covid-19 expert: 'For many, I'm the evil guy crippling the economy', by Laura Spinney
Germany’s leading coronavirus expert Christian Drosten on Merkel’s leadership, the UK response and the ‘prevention paradox’.
…/…
Q: What do we know about that intermediate host – is it the “poor pangolin”, as it’s come to be known?
A: I don’t see any reason to assume that the virus passed through pangolins on its way to humans. There is an interesting piece of information from the old Sars literature. That virus was found in civet cats, but also in raccoon dogs – something the media overlooked. Raccoon dogs are a massive industry in China, where they are bred on farms and caught in the wild for their fur. If somebody gave me a few hundred thousand bucks and free access to China to find the source of the virus, I would look in places where raccoon dogs are bred.
…/…
Q: Are human activities responsible for the spillover of coronaviruses from animals into people?
Coronaviruses are prone to switch hosts when there is opportunity, and we create such opportunities through our non-natural use of animals – livestock. Livestock animals are exposed to wildlife, they are kept in large groups that can amplify the virus, and humans have intense contact with them – for example through the consumption of meat – so they certainly represent a possible trajectory of emergence for coronaviruses. Camels count as livestock in the Middle East, and they are the host of the Mers virus as well as human coronavirus 229E – which is one cause of the common cold – while cattle were the original hosts for coronavirus OC43, which is another.
…/…
See theguardian.com
Optimistas y pesimistas: qué nos hace pensar que todo va a salir bien o fatal
Aunque no lo parezca, la mayoría tendemos a confiar en que las cosas irán a mejor.
Sharot cita en su libro un estudio con enfermos de cáncer menores de 60 años. Los pesimistas tenían más probabilidades de morir en los primeros siete meses que los optimistas con pronóstico y estado de salud similar. En otro estudio, los optimistas mostraban una recuperación más rápida tras una operación del corazón y tenían menos posibilidades de recaer.
En general, añade Sharot, los optimistas viven más y con mejor salud. Además del menor estrés y ansiedad, las personas optimistas están más predispuestas a seguir las indicaciones de los médicos, explica Vidal, ya que confían más en sus posibilidades de recuperación. Los optimistas creen que sus acciones van a servir para algo, mientras que los pesimistas no tienen tanta fe en sus posibilidades y desisten más a menudo.
Ver El Païs
https://verne.elpais.com/verne/2020/04/28/articulo/1588084928_800681.html
Michael Moore: to watch if you have the time and if you feel like it
Michael Moore is this documentary filmmaker who disturbs by the relevant and impertinent questions he asks, and an always offbeat approach.
It’s quite easy to not like him.
But this time, you may appreciate the performance, yet not always entirely in good faith.
And it’s not with the tedious and lengthy arguments of engineers
Planet of the Humans, 1h 40 min.
Talking Dog for Sale
A guy spots a sign outside a house that reads “Talking Dog for Sale” Intrigued, he walks in.
“So what have you done with your life?” he asks the dog.
“I’ve led a very full life,” says the dog.
“I lived in the Alps rescuing avalanche victims.
Then I served my country in Iraq.
And now I spend my days reading to the residents of a retirement home.”
The guy is flabbergasted.
He asks the dog’s owner, “Why on earth would you want to get rid of an incredible dog like that?”
The owner says, “Because he’s a liar! He never did any of that!”
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Contact: Guy WAKSMAN
E-mail: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net
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