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 Châtenay-Malabry (FR - 92290), 26 April, 2021 EFITA newsletter / 983 - European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment Do not miss the Virus Jokes in English and French The informatique-agricole.org site now offers you the possibility of subscribing the RSS feeds of its two newsletters See RSS feeds to implement to ensure that you continue to receive this newsletter To unsubscribe this newsletter, please contact me directely: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net if this link Unsubscribe does not work. Please note that I changed the presentation of the links that are embedded in the name of the web service. 
To correspond with me (GW), please use this address: guy.waksman(a)laposte.net To subscribe the efita newsletter (please ask your friends and colleagues to test this link) Efita Newsletters subscription IOF2020 would like to thank you for your attendance and contributions The Internet of Food & Farm 2020 (IoF2020) project came to an end on 31 March 2021. Hence, we celebrated its legacy with a final digital event, gathering partners, experts and members of the European institutions. The event addressed three main aspects, which are relevant for the project and the agricultural sector alike: state of the art technology, lessons learned during the project’s research, self-sustaining ecosystems of research and innovation alongside policy recommendations for the digitalisation of agriculture. See iof2020.eu Efita 2021 Conference 25 -26 May 2021 - Digital Agriculture Web Conference The European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and the Environment (EFITA) would like to invite you at the first EFITA International online Conference in 2021. As a way to keep the momentum and engagement of our society, while maintaining the plans for the 2022 physical EFITA conference, this conference and its format are planned as a response to the unpredictable situation created by the COVID-19. This event is an opportunity to bring together engineers, scientists, technicians, aca-demics and industry people in a new way to exchange knowledge, ideas, to present innovations and to discuss the state-of-the-art and future use of ICT in the agri-food sector and bio-resources production sectors.
May 2021 EFITA Web conference participants: questionnaire about ICT in Agriculture (distributed since the 1997 Efita Conference) The 2021 replies with the earlier collated insights will enable finalising our 25 years questionnaire overview - planned to be presented at the EFITA 2022 conference. See Questionnaire Contacts: Ehud GELB and Gilad RAVID E-mail : ehud.gelb(a)mail.huji.ac.il Tech Hub LIVE Conference & Expo 20-21 July - Iowa Events Center - DES MOINES, Iowa, USA Meister Media Worldwide (familiar for CropLife and PrecisionAg), is holding the 2021 Tech Hub LIVE Conference & Expo this summer to bring together a community of like-minded professionals to learn, connect and engage with leaders across data-driven agriculture sectors The new trade show and conference will be a full-spectrum event addressing the issues and market segments in data-driven precision agriculture and digital technology, with particular focus on the Midwestern United States. The forum aims to bring together the suppliers, practitioners and technology enablers who are leading this evolution and empowering the future of agriculture. See techhublive.com Before computers...
Weekly newsletters about ICT in Agriculture in English and French Both newsletters have around 14000 subscribers. >>> Last weekly EFITA Newsletters in English (created in 1999) Efita Newsletters >>> Last weekly AFIA Newsletters in French (created more than 20 years ago in 1997) Afia Newsletters >>> Statistics for the last efita newsletter >>> Last issue of the afia newsletter >>> Last available satistics for the afia newsletter Social Media in the Brazilian Market, by Alexandre Vendemiatti With about two-thirds of the Brazilian population on social media, Brazil is home to over 140 million social media users. The most popular ones include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. On average, Brazilians spend about 3 hours 31 minutes on social media daily, making Brazil one of the world's heaviest users of online social platforms. As a result, the FAS's Agricultural Trade Office (ATO) in Sao Paulo created an Instagram account (@usfoodexperience) to disseminate information about U.S. food culture, U.S. agricultural products, and expands the dialogue about U.S. cuisine among Brazilians. In addition, the ATO is working with a research firm to help the ATO make strategic decisions to increase U.S. food culture visibility to Brazilian consumers and widen their perception of U.S. food culture. The ATO encourages U.S. exporters to consider the ATO's market intelligence when entering the Brazilian market. See apps.fas.usda.gov Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Homme assis au crâne déformé en forme d'épis de maïs tenant un vase - Mexique, culture Maya, 300 av. JC - 600 ap. JC (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
The race gap in U.S. life expectancy has narrowed considerably and is now smaller than the gender gap. Today, black women outlive white men in the United States. While inequality persists, all groups have made tremendous gains. NASA Harvest, CropX Partner to Support Sustainable Ag Initiatives NASA Harvest aims to deliver critical insights to governments and farmers worldwide in support of informed and science-driven decision making. See precisionag.com Smart Guided Systems Targets Business Growth Following Deere Partnership Founder Steve Booher acquired and commercialized technology that increases the precision and accuracy of chemical spraying on permanent crops. See precisionag.com
The First AI Virtual Assistant for Sustainable Farming Bayer Crop Science and Biome Makers team up to validate an automatized recommendation engine using soil microbiome and environmental data. See precisionag.com Tavant Enables Kubota to Leverage AI to Accelerate Digital Transformation The platform powers the Kubota Quality System (K-QA) to track equipment field defects. See precisionag.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Personnage en posture de méditation, consommation de maïs fermenté, boisson psychotrope, à des fins rituelles - Équateur, 500 av. JC - 500 ap. JC (Inv. 71.1973.48.1) © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
How did we the future yesterday?? See the incredible collection developed by Alain Fraval Yanmar Launches Automated Fish Counting System Using Image Recognition Technology In fish farming, it is essential to know the number of fish inside each net in order to control production volume and the amount of feed used. Furthermore, in recent years as part of a drive towards more sustainable resource management, fishing vessels are required to accurately report the number of young pacific bluefin tuna caught in the wild, which end up being used for breeding at fish farms. Current methods are laborious and time-intensive requiring manual counting of the total number of fish caught, and visually counting underwater images when moving the fish to aquaculture nets. To tackle this problem and support the aquaculture industry, YMS has developed the Automated Fish Counting System which significantly reduces the time needed to count fish. Yanmar’s Research & Development Center developed image recognition and processing technology and an integrated system including hardware, such as a specially designed underwater camera and image processing computer, to realize real-time automated counting. Under optimal conditions, the system has succeeded in automatically counting tuna with an accuracy of more than 98%. In the future, YMS aims to contribute to greater efficiency and development of the fishing and aquaculture industry by reducing feed costs, cutting work time, and facilitating the accurate reporting of catches. See mynewsdesk.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Chicomecoatl, déesse du maïs - Mexique, culture aztèque 1350 - 1521 (Inv. 71.1887.155.14) © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
Spot spraying: Scottish engineer’s spot sprayer hits the target Colin Taylor designed and built a spot sprayer to identify and treat weeds in grassland. See futurefarming.com Crop care: Top four natural crop protection products Leading experts identify the most-promising ‘green’ products for horticulture and row crops. See futurefarming.com Business: New NZ $ 40M investment fund for New Zealand technologies Finistere Ventures launched a NZD $40M fund in partnership with New Zealand Growth Capital Partners. See futurefarming.com Crop care: Natural crop protection products: the roadmap ahead These are the current and future trends surrounding green products. See futurefarming.com Data: GrowAG gives Australian farmers access to latest technology Free platform shows agrifood innovation opportunities and a database of research projects. See futurefarming.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Poupée katchina - Etats-Unis, culture Zuni, début XXè siècle (Inv. 71.1951.35.4) © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
AI’s food security impact, AFN, by guest contributor Joe Byrum Few problems facing humanity are as serious as the looming food security crisis. This series has looked at the role artificial AI can play in finding solutions to this problem. These approaches include the interpretation of satellite imagery to boost yields, enhancing climate resilience, developing agrobots, and boosting food security through biometrics. .../... “Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will – and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again,” author Ray Bradbury wrote. “It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.” Computational intelligence is beginning to embody the art of the possible, and this will help those developing systems to ensure the growing world population has access to the food it needs. See agfundernews.com The carbon question: Making global carbon markets work for farmers, AFN Sponsored Post Paul Gambill spent his early career as a software engineer making mobile apps for Fortune 500 companies. In 2015, he reached an inflection point that eventually led to the creation of Nori, a blockchain-based carbon removal marketplace. “Climate change was kind of staring me in the face,” he says. The problem preoccupied him far more than corporate app design. “I was thinking, perhaps naively, ‘well, the problem is too much greenhouse gas in the air, so then the solution is to pull those gases back out and store them somewhere’.” In other words, climate change was an engineering problem, Gambill thought. Gambill organized a networking forum in Seattle, where he lived, and quickly his thinking around the problem of climate change evolved. “I started realizing, this is not fundamentally a technology problem. We’re not missing technology,” he explains. “The problem is we know what to do; we’re just not doing it. To me, that speaks to a lack of incentives.” See agfundernews.com Brazil’s Agrolend raises $1.6m seed funding for farmer fintech solution, by Lauren Manning Ag fintech has been catching more attention lately, as startups see an opportunity to modernize some of the more antiquated ways in which farmers take care of financial matters. Brazil’s Agrolend is one of those startups, and it just raised $1.6 million in a seed round involving 30 investors. SP Ventures, one of Brazil’s most active VCs, participated in the round along with fellow Brazilian fund Barn Invest, local family office Provence Capital, and US agribusiness giant Continental Grain Company. Co-founder Andre Glezer told AFN the startup initially considered keeping investors to friends and family, but found that VCs had a strong interest in what it had to offer. See agfundernews.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory (?????): Cuiller anthropomorphe wakemia - Côte d'Ivoire, culture Dan, XIXè siècle (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Masque d'épaule Nimba - Guinée, culture Baga, fin du XIXè siècle - début du XXè siècle (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
TV Host Jimmy Kimmel Shares Hilarious Video of a 'Grooving' Sendoff to Trump The celebrations that broke out on Twitter were less about Joe Biden winning and more about Trump finally leaving. See #kimmel What Ever Happened to Donald Trump? Just months after leaving office, the former president has all but disappeared. See theatlantic.com Mortality outcomes with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in COVID-19 from an international collaborative meta-analysis of randomized trials By Cathrine Axfors, Andreas M. Schmitt, et al. We found that treatment with hydroxychloroquine is associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 patients, and there is no benefit of chloroquine. See nature.com
A Good Read: “GM Crops and the Global Divide,” by Jennifer Thomson, commented by Kathleen Hefferon Henry Miller Farmers should be free to choose whichever seeds and other farming methods are best suited to their circumstances. In any case, fear of new crop varieties is unwarranted. Crops with new, improved traits were provided to African farmers long before GM crops were available, and many of the so-called local varieties are themselves the result of previous scientific research and development performed in their own countries. In Uganda, for example, more than half of the new maize varieties are the products of Ugandan research, not of foreign multinationals. In addition to this, the fear of permitting African farmers to use modern technologies is generally a moot one, as they cannot afford tractors, irrigation systems or fertilizers. One thing they are far more likely to afford, however, is seed for better-performing GM crops – as illustrated by the fact that more farmers in developing countries plant GM seeds than in industrialized countries. Since 1995, when GM crops were first commercially grown, more than 70 countries have adopted them, either by planting or importing them. In 2019, more than 17 million farmers, 95% of whom come from developing countries, planted 190.4 million hectares of GM crops. These numbers could, and should, be much higher, but shortfalls in the adoption of useful technology are causing a major impact on agricultural productivity and preventing the widespread cultivation of potentially life-saving, income-boosting crops. Thomson offers many examples of dysfunctional government approaches to GM crops, such as in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, no doubt egged on by anti-GMO sentiment. The culprits include the Kenyan Ministry of Public Health, the anti-GMO entity Inf’GMO of France in the case of Tanzania, or in Uganda, the President of the country himself. In summary, in “GM Crops and the Global Divide,” Professor Jennifer Thomson capably traces the historical significance and current impacts of European influences on colonial governance, aid, trade, and educational involvement on African leaders and their people. It’s a revealing and sobering read. See europeanscientist.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory:Serrure de grenier à céréales - Mali, culture Dogon, fin du XXè siècle (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
The Failed Promise of Organic Foods, by Phil Harvey & Matthew Rees (April 19, 2021) This year marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture starting to implement its organic food rules. They allow companies to feature a “USDA Organic” seal on their packaging. This seal of approval has helped the U.S. organic food market expand from less than $8 billion in sales in 2000 to more than $50 billion in 2019. But as the market has grown, so have the falsehoods about organic food. It’s useful to remember what the “organic” designation was – and was not – meant to be. The goal was simply to fortify trust in the fast-growing but fragmented organic food market. “Let me be clear about one thing,” said Dan Glickman, the Clinton Administration’s Secretary of Agriculture who oversaw the organics designation. “It is not a statement about food safety. Nor is ‘organic’ a value judgment about nutrition or quality.” But through clever (and often misleading) marketing, a halo effect has developed around organic food. Its advocates frequently tout the food as safer, healthier, and better for the environment than conventional food, and that’s one reason many people are willing to pay the higher prices that organics command. The claims have also helped shape public opinion: A 2018 Pew poll found 45 percent of U.S. adults surveyed — and 54 percent of those aged 18-29 — believe that organic fruits and vegetables are healthier than conventionally-grown produce. The reality is quite different. The claims that organic food is safer, healthier, and better for the environment are simply false. See realclearmarkets.com
Palomares, guerra atómica sobre el cielo español Una serie documental recrea el accidente nuclear que el régimen franquista trató de esconder mediante la censura primero y el folclore después, con la inmersión de Fraga en las aguas mediterráneas Ver elpais.com Unión Europea y armas nucleares: Francia a la cabeza, por Jesús A. Núñez Villaverde Ver realinstitutoelcano.org La nueva batalla de la España vacía Colectivos de provincias despobladas estudian el salto a la política ante el mínimo avance de sus reivindicaciones. Sentado en un bar de la Plaza Mayor de Madrid, Guitarte cuenta que a pesar de estar en las instituciones, los de Teruel Existe son “gente de la calle” que decidieron entrar en política porque no estaban conformes con lo que se hacía. “La lucha contra los desequilibrios territoriales es el proyecto político más interesante que hay. Y no es un concepto local, sino global”, concluye. El Plan de medidas para el Reto Demográfico, dotado de más de 10.000 millones de euros, representa el primer paso, aunque la plataforma de la España Vaciada exige un pacto de estado contra la despoblación que asegure su continuidad. Mientras le recuerdan al Gobierno que hay tareas pendientes como lo hicieron este miércoles, cuando las campanas tocaron al unísono en todos los pueblos y en Madrid, y con un bombo y aplausos recordaron que el corazón de la España vacía “sigue latiendo fuerte”. Ver elpais.com Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Poupée - Cameroun, épis de maïs, perles, début du XXè siècle (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
The desert island (Jewish) joke A Jewish man is shipwrecked on a desert island. He’s stuck for years! Using materials from around the island, he builds a house, a store, and a synagogue. Eventually, he’s made a whole neighborhood. One day, he’s rescued by a passing ship. The sailors help him collect his few possessions and get ready to leave the island forever. Just before they leave, one of the sailors says, “Hey! Why’d you build two synagogues?” The man rolls his eyes. “This,” he says, pointing at one building, “Is my synagogue.” “And that,” he says, pointing at the other, “Is the one I would never set foot in!”. Nothing
is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory: Poupée,
jouet pour les petites filles fait par les mères - Sénégal,
épi de maïs égrainé, début du XXè
siècle (musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac)
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