Section VII: Information Technology
Information Systems
Advance the development and effective use of information and communication technologies in all areas of agriculture in order to increase its sustainability, quality of operations and produce, productivity and profitability of the businesses. Target those technologies to every link of the production chains, education, research and policy making.
Members

Chair:
Prof. Seishi Ninomiya, University of Tokyo, Institute for Sustainable Agro-ecosystem Services (ISAS),
Midori-cho 1-1-1, Nishi-tokyo, Tokyo 188-002, Japan
T.: +81 42 463 1611
F.: +81 42 464 4391
E-mail: snino@isas.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Vice Chair:
Dr. Jiannong Xin, IFAS Office of Information Technology、University of Florida,
PO Box 110495 Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
T.: +1 352 846 3217
F.: +1 352 392 5857
E-mail: xin@ufl.edu
Secretary:
Dr. Stavros G. Vougioukas, Agricultural Engineering Laboratory, Dept. Of Hydraulics, Soil Science and Agricultural Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Egnatias 156, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
T.: +30 2310998718
F.: +30 2310998729
E-mail: bougis@agro.auth.gr
Members:
Prof. Antonio Mauro Saraiva, University of São Paulo, School of Engineering, Agricultural Automation Laboratory,
Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, trav3, n158, Sao Paulo, SP, 055508-900 Brazil
T.: +55 11 3091 9088
F.: + 55 11 3091 5294
E-mail: saraiva@usp.br
Prof. Omar Ulloa, EARTH University in Costa Rica,
4442-1000,San Jose, Costa Rica
T.: +506 716 0000
F.: +506 713 0001
E-mail: o-ulloa@earth.ac.cr
Dr. Stanley C. Best Sepulveda, Instituto de Investigación Agropecuaria
INIA – Quilamapu, Casilla 426, Chile
T.: +56 42 209761
F.: +56 42 209799
E-mail: sbest@inia.cl
Dr. Miguel Castro Neto, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação,
Campus de Campolide, 1070-312 Lisboa, Portugal
T.: +351 213 870 413
F.: +351 213 872 140
E-mail: mneto@isegi.unl.pt
Prof. Yibin Ying, Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environment
Sciences, Zhejiang University, No. 866, Yuhangtang Street, Xihu District,
Hangzhou 310058, P. R. China
T.: +86 57188982885
F.: +86 57188982885
E-mail: ybying@zju.edu.cn
Dr. Victor Alchanatis, Agricultural Research Organization –Volcani Center, Dept. of Sensing, Information and Mechanization, Engineering Institute of Agricultural Engineering ARO - The Volcani Center,
P.O.Box 6 Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
T.: +972-3-968 3504
F.: +972-3-9604704
E-mail: victor@volcani.agri.gov.il
Dr. Patrizia Busato, University of Turin, Dipartimento di Economia ed Ingegneria Agraria, Forestale ed Ambientale (DEIAFA), Italy
T.: +39 011 670.8623
F.: +39 011 670.8639
E-mail: patrizia.busato@unito.it
Dr. Pilar Barreiro Elorza, Technical University of Madrid (UPM),
Laboratorio de Propiedades Físicas y Tecnologias Avanzadas en Agroalimentacion (LPF-TAG), Dpto. Ingeníeria Rural, Edificio "Motores y máquinas", E.T.S.I. Agronómos - U.P.M.,
28040. Madrid. España
T.: +34 91 336 58 51
F.: +34 91 336 58 45
E-mail: pilar.barreiro@upm.es
Dr. Iver Thysen, Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries,
ICT-AGRI Project Office, Nyropsgade 30, 1780 København V, Denmark
T.: +45 3395 8164
E-mail: ivat@ferv.dk
Dr. Arno Ruckelshausen, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrueck Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, Albrechtstr. 30,
49076 Osnabrück, Germany
T.: +49-541-969-2090
F.: +49-541-969-2235
E-mail: a.ruckelshausen@fhos.de
Honorary Chairs:
Prof. Yasushi Hashimoto, Member of Science Council of Japan, Member of IFAC-council, 6-4-2-701Chifunemachi, Matsuyama, Ehime, #790-0011, Japan
T.: +81 899 41 4191
E-mail: yh840@peach.ocn.ne.jp
Prof. Axel Munack, FAL, Institute for Technology and Biosystems Engineering, Bundesallee 50, D-38116 Braunschweig, Germany
T.: +49 531 5964201
F.: +49 531 5964299
E-mail: axel.munack@fal.de
Prof. Nick Sigrimis, Agricultural University of Athens, Dept. Agricultural Engineering, Iera Odos 75, 118 55 Athens, Greece
T.: +30 1 529 40 36
F.: +30 1 529 40 39
E-mail: n.sigrimis@computer.org
Prof. Fedro Zazueta, Director, Office of Academic Technology, University of Florida, P.O. Box 117345, Gainesville, FL 32611-7345, USA
T.: +1 352 3920371
F.: +1 352 3920765
E-mail: fsz@ufl.edu
Prof. Antonio Saraiva, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Caixa Postal 61548, Sao Paulo SP 05424-970, Brazil
T.: 55 11 3091 5366
F.: 55 11 3091 5294
E-mail: amsaraiv@usp.br
Mission, Objectives, Scope and Activities
Mission
The mission of Section VII is to advance the use of information and communication technologies to harness optimal farm management and food supply chain, achieving sustainable agriculture. The sustainability includes productivity, profitability, environmental harmonization, robustness against climatic change, food security, food safety, food quality and farm welfare. ICT should be utilized in almost all the fields in CIGR and interdisciplinary collaborations are particularly important in the Section VII activities.
Objectives
Section VII aims to promote people to achieve the following targets through maximally utilizing most up-to-date ICT;
- Enhancement of e-education/training tools to effectively transfer technologies to farmers
- Enhancement of data acquisitions and development and sharing with efficient tool supports
- Enhancement of data and model integrations for effective decision supports
- Enhancement of DSS development for farmers, extension staffs, policy makers and distributors
- Enhancement of R&D of basic technologies and tools adaptable to ICT applications in agriculture
Scope
The scope of Section VII is broad covering;
- Policy
ICT policies for rural development, ICT adoption in rural community, e-government, e-agribusiness
- Data content development
agricultural resources data banks, market information, weather information, soil information, technology information, digital library, intellectual property
- Applications
decision support system, precision farming, sensors, knowledge management system, GAP support system, traceability system, e-learning/training system, extension service
- Technology
data/text/Web mining, cloud computing, social media/Web technologies, metadata, standards and cataloging, taxonomy, ontology and the semantic Web, information retrieval, open source tools, sensor network, sensors, Grid, human-computer interaction, mobile services, remote sensing, GIS, pattern recognition, image analysis, modeling, security
Activities
To achieve the objectives, Section VII promotes the collaborations among related groups, providing opportunities to discuss and exchange information among them. The main activities of Section VII are to organize sessions and workshop collaborating with several organizations which have the similar aims in terms of the utilization of ICT in agriculture.
Section VII co-organizes WCCA (World Congress of Computer in Agriculture) as a member of INFITA (International Network of Federations of Information Technology in Agriculture, http://www.infita.org/). A WCCA takes place annually synchronously with one of the international conferences organized by one of the INFITA members.
- CIGR2010 in Quebec, Canada (June, 2010)
- EFITA2011 in Praque, Czech (July, 2011)
- WCCA Workshop in Windhoek, Namibia (July 2011)
- AFITA2012 in Taipei, Taiwan (September, 2012)
- EFITA2013 in Italy
Section VII organizes sessions and workshops on specific topics during the CIGR conferences
- “Sensor Network and its Applications in Agriculture”, an organized session in CIGR2011 in Tokyo
- A plan to propose a workshop in CIGR2012 in Spain (July, 2012)
Section VII co-organizes workshops and sessions in several related conferences and meetings
- “Agriculture and Food Security Workshop” in 5th GEOSS Asia-Pacific Symposium in Ahmadabad, India (January, 2012)
- “ICT for Optimal Crop Management against Climatic Change”, a proposed session in APAN (Asia Pacific Advanced Network) Chiang-Mai Meeting (February, 2012)

