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Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), July 19, 2021

EFITA newsletter / 995 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment


Do not miss the Virus Jokes in English and French

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28 French sites out of a fairy tale
See a few French wonders


3 remarks (GW)

- I am fascinated by data journalism and that's why I like to publish graphs.

- Regarding the publication of paintings, I try to respect copyright. But sometimes I make mistakes, which is why some paintings are not displayed as I expected.

- Wanted Info about recent German flooding
In France, there are a few of us who think that the destruction of dams in our rivers to allow better circulation of fishes is a cause of both flooding and of difficulties encountered in times of drought.
Dams make it possible to retain water in times of drought and to slow down flooding phenomena in rainy periods.
If climate change is a cause of flooding in Germany and Belgium, could the destruction of dams be another cause of recent flooding among many others (constructions, etc.)?
Contact: Guy Waksman
E-mail: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net


Ag illiteracy: What happened, and where do we go from here?

By encouraging agriculture to be included into core curriculum concepts in primary and middle schools, we can help strengthen agriculture literacy.

Agriculture plays a vital role in virtually every aspect of our lives. Yet agriculture literacy and trust in the American food system continues to dwindle.

Everyone has an idea that comes to mind when they hear the word “agriculture.” For some, they may think of a farmer tending to cows in a pasture, whereas others may imagine a factory polluting the environment.

The sentiments people have tended to vary widely.

It is not the fault of people who grew up in urban environments being illiterate about agriculture. These consumers have basically no connection to those who are producing their food and become skeptical when they see influencers and celebrities push misinformation about GMOs or pesticides.
.../...
See agdaily.com


Before computers...

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Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: The village maiden, by John Brown Abercromby (1843 - 1929, Scottish)

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Borlaug and Vogt and the world they sought to build, by Jack DeWitt

A while back I read the book The Wizard and the Prophet. No, it is not a Harry Potter book. It was written by Charles Mann and published in 2018. The wizard in this case is renowned plant scientist Norman Borlaug and the prophet is William Vogt. Vogt, born in 1902, founded “apocalyptic environmentalism” and spent his life warning that humankind must reduce consumption or the Earth’s ecosystems would be overwhelmed.

Sound familiar? It’s a theme we constantly hear these days. But Vogt was preaching it when Earth’s population was about 2.5 billion vs. nearly 7.8 billion now. Vogt’s, solution was to eat less meat so that more farmland could be devoted to food crops. Today’s solution by environmentalists is no different.
.../...
See agdaily.com


Two blades of grass: the impact of the green revolution

That’s the title of a paper by Douglas Gollin, Casper Hansen, and Asger Wingender just published in the Journal of Political Economy (an earlier ungated version is here). It’s unusual to find a paper focused on a core agricultural and farming question published in one of the top general interest economics journals, but I suspect the magnitude of the effects are so large, it’s hard to ignore. Here’s the abstract:

“We estimate the impact of the Green Revolution in the developing world by exploiting exogenous heterogeneity in the timing and extent of the benefits derived from high-yielding crop varieties (HYVs). We find that HYVs increased yields by 44% between 1965 and 2010, with further gains coming through reallocation of inputs. Higher yields increased income and reduced population growth. A 10-year delay of the Green Revolution would in 2010 have cost 17% of GDP (gross domestic product) per capita and added 223 million people to the developing-world population. The cumulative GDP loss over 45 years would have been US$83 trillion, corresponding to approximately one year of current global GDP.”
See jaysonlusk.com


Humanity’s Most Ancient Enemy May Be on Its Way Out, by Marian L. Tupy

Thanks to COVID-19, few have noted the emergence of an amazing new malaria vaccine.
.../...
Malaria, the most common disease spread by the mosquito, is a thing of the past in much of the developed world, but the parasite still infects some 200 million people a year – killing 400,000. Children aged under the age of five are most susceptible to malaria, accounting for a majority of the fatalities worldwide. In addition to the human suffering, malaria imposes huge economic costs on some of the poorest countries in the world – nine percent of the gross domestic product in Chad, for example.
.../...


"Limited choice of drones built for application jobs"

For special applications, such as fertilising and spraying, the range of drones on offer to farmers is quite limited.
See futurefarming.com


Partner feature: How to control growth phases intelligently and efficiently

Cameras can support the visual monitoring of products and growth phases of crops.
See futurefarming.com


Autonomous sprayers: Autonomous sprayer ‘crawls’ underneath strawberry gutters

Strawberry cultivation company developed an autonomous vehicle for crop protection in tunnels.
See See futurefarming.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: La bénédiction des blés en Artois, 1857, par Jules Breton (1827-1906)

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Archives of our newsletters in French and English
Voir Afia
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Field robots: New autonomous implement carriers arriving from Norway

AutoAgri field robots are electrically driven and are compatible with existing implements.
See futurefarming.com


Data management: Agworld: Crossing the hurdle of combining data

Combining data in a structured way is often a problem. Agworld helps growers manage their data.
See futurefarming.com


Satellite imagery: SatSure launches soil moisture and India cropland data

SatSure in India launches farm-level soil moisture and India cropland data using satellite imagery.
See futurefarming.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Berger et moutons, Luigi Chialiva (1841-1914)

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Field robots: WUR student: ‘Developing virtual field robot challenging’

WUR students won the international Field Robot Event with their virtual robot. How did they do it?
See futurefarming.com


Drainage: How to balance draining fields with holding onto nitrogen

Draining waterlogged farm fields helps crops but can leach nitrogen into waterways. Purdue University researchers conducted a three-decade-long experiment to find out how different farming practices and drainage strategies affect crop growth and nitrogen loss from fields.
See futurefarming.com


Pioneer Yield Pyramid Decision Tool to Aid in Complex Crop Management Decisions

Sophisticated crop modeling helps farmers prioritize top factors associated with increased yield.
See precisionag.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Bergère et moutons, Luigi Chialiva (1841-1914)

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Solinftec Launches Tool to Streamline Grain Trading, Handling and Storing

Solinftec Grain solution brings efficiency to elevators with one digital tool to optimize grain marketing and freight management.
See precisionag.com


John Deere Now Offers JDLink Connectivity Service at No Additional Charge

JDLink connectivity makes it easy for customers to connect machines and to stay connected.
See precisionag.com


Costa Group to Start Deploying Arugga’s Pollination Robots Across Australian Tomato Fields

The Israeli startup aims help growers solve critical challenges related to more efficient pollination.
See precisionag.com


GeoPard Integrates with MyJohnDeere Operations Center

MyJohnDeere customers can now seamlessly upload their data into the GeoPard system.
See precisionag.com



Brazilian farm management platform Aegro scores seed funding, eyes fintech opportunity, AFN, by Leonardo Gottems

Brazilian farm management platform Aegro has raised 12 million reals ($2.22 million) in a seed round led by existing investors SP Ventures and ABSeed.

Also participating in the fundraise were local VC firms SLC Ventures — the corporate venture capital arm of agribusiness company SLC Agrícola — and Banco Rendimento affiliate ADM Venture Capital, in addition to family offices and angel investors from the agricultural sector including Luis Felipe Carchedi and Nizan Guanaes.

Headquartered in Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, Aegro was founded in 2014 by computer engineers Francisco de Borja, Pedro Dusso, Thomas Rodrigues, and Paulo Silvestrin. Today, it employs a team of 92.

According to the startup, its app connects “the field to the office,” giving farmers more control across the whole breadth of their operations.

“Through Aegro, the producer or farm manager can carry out all their agricultural, financial, and operational planning, in addition to having easy access and control of the property’s stock and assets,” CEO Dusso told AFN.

The software is aimed at farms ranging from 100 to 10,000 hectares, and is used by growers of soybean, corn, rice, coffee, sugarcane, cotton, citrus, and grape.

Aegro’s services cover close to 4,700 farms, totaling over 2 million hectares, the startup says.
…/…
See agfundernews.com


Farmitoo scores $12m as European farmers turn to online shopping, AFN, by Jack Ellis

Farmitoo, a France-based online marketplace for farm equipment, has raised €10 million ($11.9 million) in fresh funding.

The round saw participation from Parisian VC Ventech, Toulouse-based IXO Private Equity, and French government-linked bank Bpifrance, which invested out of its Ambition Amorçage Angels fund (F3A) alongside several unnamed angel investors.

According to Farmitoo, more and more farmers and growers across Europe are buying equipment online rather than through the traditional physical channels. The Paris-based startup says that the average farmer is spending €10,000 each year to buy farm equipment online; while the 2020 edition of the Agrinautes study — an annual survey of French farmers carried out by Terre-net and La France Agricole to track tech adoption trends — found that 70% of respondents shop for equipment online.
.../...
See agfundernews.com


RootCamp is looking for agritech startups to join its latest batch & disrupt the food value chain, AFN Sponsored Post

Are you an agritech startup that wants to scale its business to its full potential and have a positive impact in the agrifood industry? Then join the RootCamp Acceleration Program!

RootCamp is an international incubator based in Hannover, Germany, for technology-oriented startups in the agrifood sector. Agriculture faces mounting challenges, from climate change to population growth to shifting consumer preferences. RootCamp’s mission is to disrupt the agrifood value chain by bringing corporates and startups together to develop customized solutions that solve real problems. The corporate partners include K+S AG, a globally recognized company in the mineral and fertilizer industry, and KWS Group, one of the world’s leading plant-breeding firms.

For our upcoming batch, we’re looking for solutions from all verticals of the agrifood value chain, but especially solutions in the following areas:

- Agriculture biotechnology including biostimulants, gene editing, biological plant protection, microbiome and seed treatment technologies;
- Carbon farming technologies and tools; and
- Digital solutions, like marketplaces, decision systems, and agronomic consulting platforms.
.../...
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Les vaches au pâturage de Francesco Filippini (IT, 1853 - 1895)

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France’s Gaïago raises $15m to scale up natural soil solutions, AFN, by Thin Lei Win

In a sign of soaring interest in farming practices that improve the health of soil and boost its ability to capture carbon, French startup Gaïago has secured €13 million ($15.4 million) in its first funding round. The St Malo-based company has developed biological crop input products aimed at revitalizing soils across Europe.

The participation of some of the region’s best-known investors, such as Crédit Agricole and Telos Impact, is a sign of confidence in the startups’s potential – as is the milestone of a European agtech company raising more than €5 million ($5.9 million) at this stage, Gaïago president Jean-Pierre Princen tells AFN.

“It’s very significant because it means those guys have done their due diligence, and they understand the farmers and our project,” said Princen, an industry veteran with more than three decades of experience working for multinationals such as DuPont and Cargill.
…/…
See agfundernews.com


Nestlé to enter cell-cultured meat market in partnership with Israeli startup, AFN, by Jack Ellis

- Nestlé is planning to enter the cell-cultured protein market in a partnership with Israel startup Future Meat, Bloomberg has reported citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
- The Swiss multinational is reportedly designing a range of products that blend bioreactor-cultivated meat from Future Meat with its own plant-based protein technology.
- Timings for launching the products on the market will depend on gaining regulatory approvals, the sources said.
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory (?????): Grandma's care, Francesco Filippini (IT, 1853 - 1895)

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The US is about to go all-in on paying farmers and foresters to trap carbon, Grist, by Nathanael Johnson and Ysabelle Kempe

…/…
There’s no doubt that offset money goes to wonderful causes. A payment meant to encourage farmers to experiment with climate-friendly techniques is clearly better than doing nothing, even if that farmer was already doing a lot of experimenting. But what if all the money spent on offsets last year that allowed companies to wash their hands of carbon emissions went to the much more straightforward solution of stopping pollution in the first place?

For Garrett, planting his fields in Iowa, there’s no debate. He’s convinced that, regardless of whether it offsets pollution, soil carbon sequestration is crucial for those who want to push American-style high-productivity farming to new heights. Garrett is aiming to break the Iowa state record on corn yield. And he might already be setting records for carbon capture in farmland — though that’s a lot harder to measure.

“I can’t tell you how much carbon was sequestered,” he said. “But you know what? The answer is a shit-ton.”
See grist.org


Dishing the dirt on ag carbon credits, AFN, by guest contributor: Dan Blaustein-Rejto

…/…
In the past several years, a host of companies have launched services focused on generating and selling agricultural carbon credits, mostly from farmers who adopt practices, like planting cover crops, that sequester carbon in their soil. The growing marketplace for carbon has attracted some big names: Microsoft recently committed to buying up to $2 million of credits; US President Biden has called for a ‘carbon bank‘ to help farmers get paid for sequestering carbon or reducing emissions; and CEOs of agribusiness companies like Nutrien have gone as far as calling agriculture “the solution to greenhouse gas emissions.”

However, agricultural carbon credits have always had problems that warrant caution from prospective purchasers, policymakers, and environmental groups. As more companies enter the market, new problems are cropping up.
See agfundernews.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Le dossier, Francesco Filippini (IT, 1853 - 1895)

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AgGateway: Watch Recorded Sessions: Sustainability, Track & Trace and More

AgGateway held a successful Education & Action Week in June – thanks to all who participated! If you missed a session, you can access the recordings at no cost and take advantage of the valuable information shared with the industry.
See aggateway.org


Epik Systems: Farm and Carbon Management Solution Development

AgGateway welcomes Epik Systems, a product incubation service provider focused on building sustainability solutions. Epik is particularly interested in AgGateway’s ADAPT, an open-source project that enables interoperability between different agriculture software and hardware applications.
See aggateway.org


Over the last few decades, life expectancy has risen across all country income levels

Importantly, the gap between the richest and poorest places is narrowing.


Biden targets big tech in executive order aimed at anti-competitive practices, by Kari Paul

‘Capitalism without competition is exploitation’, president said while denouncing era of business monopolies.
.../...
The order does not only take aim at the tech space – Biden’s efforts to rein in corporate power also extend to his infrastructure plans, as he has called on major companies to pay their “fair share” in taxes to help fund his proposals.
.../..
The measures targeting big tech acquisitions come weeks after Biden nominated the anti-trust scholar Lina Khan to the FTC, signaling a renewed effort to target big tech firms.

>>>> It also encourages the FTC to limit farm equipment manufacturers’ ability to restrict the use of independent repair shops or do-it-yourself repairs – such as when tractor companies block farmers from repairing their own tractors.
…/…
Discussing the need to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans, Biden said on Wednesday: “I’m not trying to gouge anybody, but, I mean, just get in the game.”
.../...
See theguardian.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Last Chance or Bust, 1900, Charles M. Russell

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European Soil Data Centre Newsletter No.132 (July 2021)
See esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu


To defeat hunger, knowledge is key and sharing it is vital

Held online on Thursday 1 July, and attended by 563 participants from 124 countries, the AGRIS Virtual Annual Conference 2021 was a tremendous success.
See fao.org

 
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Canada: Wood Pellets for Heat and Power

Canadian wood pellet production is forecast for continued growth in 2021 as plant capacity utilization improves. Production expansion continues to be driven mainly by growth in exports, particularly to the UK and Japan, as increases in domestic consumption for heat and power generation remain limited.
See apps.fas.usda.gov


Net zero: What does it mean for farmers and ranchers? By Elizabeth Maslyn

It's easy to think about the ways farmers emit greenhouse gasses, but it's hard to think about how they contribute to net zero emissions by cleaning the air

NB: Elizabeth Maslyn is a Cornell University student pursuing a career in the dairy industry. Her passion for agriculture has driven my desire to learn more, and let the voices of our farmers be heard.
See agdaily.com


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Wild Man’s Meat, 1899, Charles M. Russell

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Lucy Wills; hero of progress

In the early 20th century, millions of pregnant women in the developing world suffered from a severe and mysterious anemia.

In 1931, Lucy Wills cured them with a jar of Marmite.

By discovering a cure for anemia during pregnancy, Wills has prevented the suffering and potential deaths of millions of women, and their babies, around the world. Her discovery also prevents countless debilitating birth defects.
See humanprogress.org


New EU law allows screening of online messages to detect child abuse, by Luca Bertuzzi

The European Parliament adopted on Tuesday (6 July) the final version of the ePrivacy derogation, a temporary measure enabling providers of electronic communication services to scan and report private online messages containing material depicting child sex abuse. The provisions also allow companies to apply approved technologies to detect grooming techniques.
See euractiv.com

 

Breakthrough CRISPR Gene Therapy Could Be a ‘One and Done’ Injection, by Jason Dorrier

.../...
Participants in the trial suffer from a condition called hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis, in which a mutated gene produces a malformed protein (transthyretin) that builds up in and damages the heart and nerves. The disease is eventually fatal.

Patients received a single infusion of a CRISPR-based therapy into their bloodstream. Blood carried the therapy to the liver, where it switched off the mutated gene and curtailed production of the errant protein. Though the Phase 1 trial was small, the approach had strong results relative to existing options. And it hints at the possibility other genetic diseases may be treated in a similar fashion in the future.

The University of California, Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, who shared the Nobel Prize for CRISPR, cofounded Intellia, the company that, alongside fellow biotech company Regeneron, developed the treatment (NTLA-2001) used in the UCL trial.

“This is a major milestone for patients,” Doudna said. “While these are early data, they show us that we can overcome one of the biggest challenges with applying CRISPR clinically so far, which is being able to deliver it systemically and get it to the right place.”
.../...
See singularityhub.com


Our world in data:
A healthy diet: three billion people cannot afford one

What people really need is a diverse and nutritious diet. Getting enough calories is important, but it is not sufficient to live a healthy and productive life. Eating only cereals and starchy foods will leave you deficient in protein, essential fats and the wide range of micronutrients that our bodies need to function optimally.Most countries develop ‘food-based dietary guidelines’ which provide recommendations on what a ‘healthy diet’ would look like. This includes guidelines on what balance of foods across the many groups – cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, meat and dairy – is considered best for long-term health.
.../...


Find your score and help create Tree Equity in cities and towns across America

A map of tree cover in any city in the United States is too often a map of race and income. This is unacceptable. Trees are critical infrastructure that every person in every neighborhood deserves. Trees can help address damaging environmental inequities like air pollution.

The score evaluates data from each neighborhood’s.

The Tree Equity Score developed by the conservation group American Forests has shown that some wealthy neighborhoods enjoy almost 50 percent more greenery compared to lower-income communities.


USA: Share of U.S. Federal Revenue from Different Tax Sources (Individual, Payroll, and Corporate) 1950 – 2010 (source Wikipedia)

 

USA: Relationship between a state’s Covid death rate over the past week and its overall vaccination rate (source NYT)

By The New York Times | Sources: State and local health agencies, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Census Bureau

 


Confusion over Delta, by David Leonhardt (NYT Newsletter)

The Delta variant is more contagious. It does not appear to be more severe (thanks to the vaccination - The vaccines reduce severe Covid cases even more sharply than total cases).
.../...
If Delta were more severe than earlier versions of the virus, the percentage of cases leading to hospitalization or death should be rising. They’re not, as you can see in these two charts:
.../...

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Worth the 18 seconds (one of the best jokes I know)

A couple on an African Safari witnessed a small antelope being chased down by a cheetah.

While the kill was about to happen before their eyes, the husband casually remarked:

"I'll bet the antelope gets away.”

The wife answered:

"If that antelope survives this one, I'll give you sex every day for the rest of your life."

The deadly chase was recorded. 18 second video


Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Le spannocchiatrici, Francesco Filippini (IT, 1853 - 1895)

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


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