CIGR Newsletter No 47
++ CIGR NEWS ++ CIGR NEWS ++ CIGR NEWS ++
NEWS FROM THE PRESIDIUM
A report from the President
I recently visited England, Israel, Turkey, Greece and Denmark and made a series of presentations on behalf of CIGR. The itinerary:
May 10: Silsoe College and Silsoe Research Institute.
May 11: Annual meeting of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers, Cirencester, England.
May 18: Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
May 19: Department of Agricultural Engineering, Israel Institute of Technology, Technion, Haifa, Israel.
May 26/27: VIIth International Congress on Agricultural Mechanization and Energy (ICAME 99), Adana, Turkey.
May 31: Department of Agricultural Machinery, University of Ege, Izmir, Turkey.
June 2-5: Energy and Agriculture, Towards the Third Millennium, co-sponsored by CIGR Section IV,
Agricultural University of Athens, Greece.
June 14-17: Work Sciences in Sustainable Agriculture, CIOSTA, co-sponsored by CIGR Section V,
Horsens, Denmark.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY DISCUSSIONS:
1. At every stop I presented an update of current CIGR programs including the handbook, electronic journal, global email network and future congresses and section meetings. I found a great deal of interest in these programs which are part of the CIGR global network for agricultural engineers.
2. Richard Godwin, Silsoe College of Cranfield University, reported that the Institute of Bio Sciences and Technology unit from the Cranfield Campus has been transferred to the Silsoe Campus and Tony Turner has been named the new Head of School. The traditional undergraduate program, namely B.Eng. in Agricultural Engineering will continue and will be joined by an enhanced undergraduate degree M.Eng. and also a BSc degree. The heavily research orientated postgraduate school is offering MSc by Research, MPhil and PhD and Engineering Doctorate (EngD) degrees in the areas of: Soil Dynamics, Tillage and Traction, Waste Engineering, Water and Environmental Management, Precision Farming, Earth Observation and Geostatics, and Postharvest Technology.
For further information contact R.Godwin@cranfield.ac.uk
3. Brian Legg, Director of Silsoe Research Institute has resigned effective August 31, 1999 and will assume a new
position as Director and Chief Executive, NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany). Uniquely in Europe, the Institute offers a full range of crop variety and seeds services, including plant variety registration, variety performance evaluation, seed testing and seed certification. These activities are underpinned by research in molecular biology and the use of information technology.
For further information contact Brian.Legg@bbsrc.ac.uk
4. The Institution of Agricultural Engineers held its annual meeting at The Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester with some 70-80 members plus 60-70 students in attendance. The theme of the meeting was "Water—the Key Factor in the 21st Century". Sir Crispin Tickell, the Keynote speaker pointed out that 97% of the earth’s water is salt water in the sea, 2% is unusable and the remaining 1% is fresh water for all uses—domestic, commercial, agriculture, and so on. Professor Melvin Kay followed with a very interesting paper on efficient use of irrigation water.
For further information contact M.Kay@cranfield.ac.uk
5. In Israel, the Agricultural Engineering Institute is one of the seven Institutes in the Agricultural Research Organization of the Volcani Center. Many interesting research projects are underway. Two that attracted my attention were:
a. Car wash concept for cleaning fresh produce. Hot water spray combined with brushes clean peppers, melons and other produce and greatly reduces decay, extends shelf life and removes chemical residues. The economic impact of this technology is estimated to have saved Israeli farmers $32 million US in two seasons.
For further information contact peiperum@ias.agri.gov.il
b. Ozone sterilization—A new device for sterilization of containerized material has been developed by agricultural engineers at the Volcani Center. It is particularly suitable for disinfecting glass, plastic or metal objects. This novel device can also be used for disinfecting live materials such as tissue cultures.
For further information contact Uri Peiper at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering at peiperum@ias.agri.gov.il
6. Agricultural engineers at the Israel Institute of Technology, the Technion, have many interesting projects. I found three projects particularly intriguing because they go beyond the usual boundaries of agricultural engineering and have great potential to improve the welfare and stability of mankind.
a. Mechanical demining—mine clearance is essential for postwar areas to maintain everyday life. It is especially important in rural areas where farmers have to work over the whole area and turn the soil by plowing. A series of machines has been developed for different conditions. Examples include several designs utilizing a rotating chain mounted in front of a dozer blade or on a swinging arm which can be operated by remote control for operator safety. Another design utilizes a deep rooting chain somewhat like a potato digger that sifts the soil to clear buried mines.
For further information contact Gedalyahu Manor at agmanor@tx.technion.ac.il or Dan Wolf at agdwolf@tx.technion.ac.il
b. Another project has the goal of eliminating "water" as a source of conflict between nations. Ilan Amir is working with a group at Harvard University to develop strategies to avoid wars over water rights and availability. The concept is that the maximum cost of water is the cost of desalination. National water needs are usually far less than the cost of a few military jet aircraft. So why not settle water conflicts peaceably.
For further information contact Professor Amir at agamir@tx.technion.ac.il.
c. "Energy Towers" have been the focus of Dan Zaslavsky's research for the past 15 years. They have the potential to revolutionize energy production. Energy towers produce renewable electric power from hot and dry desert air. Atomized water is sprayed at the top of a huge hollow tower. It cools the air, raises its density and causes it to drop rapidly at a high velocity. Turbines are placed around the periphery at the base of the tower to drive electric generators. This technology provides an enormous source of renewable and clean electricity at a cost less than that of conventional power plants.
For further information contact Professor Zaslavsky at agdanz@tx.technion.ac.il
7. The VIIth International Congress on Agricultural Mechanization and Energy was held in Adana, Turkey with some 200 participants. During the Congress I met with Professor Gurol Ergin, President of the Turkish Chamber of Agricultural Engineers, Professor Alaettin Sabanci of the University of Cukurova and Professor Kamil Sindir of the University of Ege. We agreed in principle for the Chamber to become a member of CIGR. I was very impressed with the agricultural mechanization program in Turkey and look forward to active participation of Turkish agricultural engineers in CIGR.
8. The CIGR Section IV energy conference was co-sponsored by the European Commission, EurAgEng, FAO-SREN and UNESCO. George Papadakis did an excellent job as chairman of the organizing committee. Approximately 150 participants attended from 23 countries. Oral presentations and posters reported on a wide range of solar energy applications, energy efficiency studies, biomass conversion, and environmental and policy aspects.
For further information contact gpap@auadec.aua.gr
The CIGR Section IV Board, chaired by Abdellah Ramdani of Morocco, decided to hold the next meeting in Bali, Indonesia in the year 2001. Tentative dates are August 27-31. The general theme will be "Integrated Renewable Energy Systems for Regional Development".
For further information please contact: Mr. Kamaruddin Abdullah at kdin@bogor.wasantora.net.id
A complete report of the meeting will appear in Newsletter No. 48. For further information contact ramdani@maghrebnet.net.ma
Several post conference tours were held. I went to Kythnos Island (3 hours from Athens by ferry) to see a hybrid energy system in which PV and wind energy replaced a part of the island’s electricity provided by a diesel generator. The goal is to provide up to 60% of the island's energy needs from renewable sources.
For further information contact George Betzios of the Public Power Company of Greece at gbetj@tee.gr
9. CIGR Section V and CIOSTA (Commission Internationale de l’Organization Scientific du Travail en Agriculture) organized a conference in Horsens, Denmark with the theme "Work Sciences in Sustainable Agriculture". Approximately 100 individuals from more than 20 countries attended and 75 manuscripts were included in the proceedings. I presented a paper entitled "Globalization of Agricultural Engineering: the Role of CIGR". The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for Krakow, Poland in 2001. For further information contact Villy.Nielsen@agrsci.dk or Tarmo Luoma, Chairman of Section V at tarmo.luoma@tts.fi
10. Arnie Moller operates a small Danish consulting company involved in information and technology transfer in relation to agriculture, food production and biotechnology. I visited his office where he has about 50,000 summaries of technical articles on a wide variety of subjects of interest to agricultural engineers.
If you need technical information and want it interpreted for your situation, contact him at email@agricontact.dk
11. In conclusion, this was a most interesting trip where I made hundreds of new contacts on behalf of CIGR. In every country, agricultural engineering is in transition. Reorganizations are being contemplated. Discussions are taking place about the core subject matter and the uniqueness of our profession.
I believe that the work of agricultural engineers is vital! The need for us to effectively articulate the vital nature of our work is urgent. I ask everyone to think carefully about the social and economic benefits of your work to people. Send me a copy of your "success" stories. I will see that your successes are widely publicized so that the public and key policy makers better understand the work of agricultural engineers. Contact me at stout@tamu.edu
Bill A. Stout
President CIGR, 1999/2000
Report on travel to Egypt by
El Houssine Bartali, Incoming President 1999/2000
From April 7-15, 1999 El Houssine Bartali travelled with a group of 31 agricultural engineers from Morocco and France to Egypt. Here is a short report of his travel which was organized by the Moroccan Association of Agricultural Engineers and the French General Council of Agricultural Engineering.
On Wednesday 7th April, I met with Dr. Talib Ali, the Regional Animal Production and Health Officer at FAO regional office for the Near East in Cairo. Dr. Talib Ali and I discussed the activities of the network for North Africa and the Middle East on animal housing, namely a newsletter and the next workshop in Iran in 2000 and I had the opportunity to inform him about CIGR activies and in particular the CIGR Handbook with special regard to volume II dealing with animal production and aquacultural engineering.
On Thursday 8th the group visited the National Water Research Center (NWRC), a pioneering institution for various water research activities in Egypt. It was established in 1975 as a research organ of the Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources (MPWWR). Under the jurisdiction of NWRC, 12 research institutes exert concerted efforts to implement a comprehensive research planserving ongoing MPWWR projects and national development in general. Each of these institutes is concerned with one research discipline in the field of water engineering and related issues. Disciplines and issues covered by the research institutes include for example climate and environment, irrigation, drainage, hydraulics, water management, groundwater, construction, channel maintenance, mechanical and electrical. The NWRC includes a training center for continuing education. It acts as the coordination unit for African Water Resources Network. It has also established communications with international organizations such ICID (International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage) and WWC (World Water Council).
I also had the opportunity to talk to people like Mr. Hussein El ATFY, Undersecretary, Minister’s Office Affairs Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources; Prof. Mohamed R. ADEBARY, Vice Chairman, NWRC and Director of Nile Research Institute; Dr. Hassan Amer President of the Egyptian national committee of ICID and Dr. Mohamed I. ABDOU, Senior researcher, manager of the training center.
The group also visited a large modern farm on the west side of the Nile delta. Various crops and fruit trees are grown there using pivot irrigation and drip irrigation with also very modern dairy units.
On Friday 9th we visited the North Sinai development project (El Salaam canal project). This project aims at irrigating a total area of 620 thousand acres (220 thousand
acres west of the Suez canal and 400 thousand east of the Suez Canal) and was started in 1991. In view of the scarcity of water resources limited to a proportion amounting to 55.5 billion m3 annually from the Nile river, the Ministry of Public Works and Water Resources prepared a strategy for the re-use of agricultural drained water which spilled in the sea, estimated at about 7.5 billion m3 annually. The Ministry started important steps to implement this strategy by expanding in new agricultural lands, using Nile water mixed with drained agricultural water. El Salaam canal project comes beforehand of projects relying on this strategy, by using around 2.3 billion m3 annually from agricultural drained water. This volume of water will be mixed with an equal amount of water from the Nile Damietta branch. El Salaam canal is a trapezoidal canal with concrete lining which carries a flow rate of 16 m3/s and which spans from east to west crossing underneath the Suez canal by a siphon located 27 km south of the city of Port Said. The portions of the canal west and east of the Suez canal are respectively 85 km and 125 km. The visit was guided by the Director of the project and his staff.
On Tuesday 13th we visited the Asswan high dam built between 1961 and 1971 and flew back to Cairo where we visited the Agri-food international fair of Cairo where I met with Dr. Ahmed El Bahiri and Dr. Ahmed M. Kacem respectively director and researcher at the Research and testing station on tractors and agricultural machinery affiliated to the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute. About 100 staff members work in this station including researchers, engineers technicians and administrators. The work carried out in the station covers:
i.testing of tractors for stability, fuel consumption, testing of combines, sprayers, pumps for irrigation
ii.consulting and extension
iii.training sessions
I also met with Mr. Amrou Abou Freikha, director at Tanta Motors CO. SAE Partners in Development. This is one of the largest companies in the field of agricultural machinery and equipment leading Egyptian market for almost half a century. With a staff of 167 engineers and personnel, this company has an infrastructure for manufacturing, marketing, sales and maintenance of agricultural, environmental and ventilation equipment. The company is planing to attend the Casablanca international agricultural fair. I informed them about CIGR activities and CIGR section III in particular. I have handed over their addresses and brochure to Dr. Bourarach, President of section III.
EL Houssine BARTALI
Professor and Head, Agricultural Engineering IAV Hassan II
Rabat - Morocco
NEWS FROM REGIONAL AND NATIONAL SOCIETIES
EurAgEng Field of Interest SW:
Soil and Water
Report on the International Conference on "Subsoil Com-paction and Soil Dynamics: Processes and Environmental Consequences". Kiel (Germany), 24-26 March, 1999.
Soil compaction is nowadays considered to be an issue of paramount importance in soil erosion and conservation, which may have dramatic economic and environmental consequences in world agriculture. Recent progress in scientific understanding of soil compaction and its implications improved insight into proper vehicle and soil management. There is still a pressing need to adopt a more rigorous approach to the conduct of basic research on the processes that lead to the compaction of the soil.
On these subjects an International Conference was held in Kiel on 24-26 March, 1999, organized by the Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, with the scientific support and co-sponsorship, among other Frameworks, of the IUSS (International Union of Soil Science) and the EurAgEng Field of Interest SW: Soil and Water.
The Conference was attended by 120 participants from 35 countries, and a total of 85 papers were presented, 33 in plenary sessions and 52 as posters. In his address the Chairman of the Conference, Prof. Rainer Horn, gave an exhaustive review of the latest findings on the soil compaction processes.
After the opening speech, Prof. Daniel Tessier, Chairman of the IUSS: Commission 1 "Soil Physics", brought the greetings of his organization and 3 invited speakers and 30 authors focused the audience’s attention on the following topics:
* Subsoil compaction processes
* Tillage and traffic effects on soil compaction and soil strain
* Effects of soil deformation on physical properties
* Soil deformation modelling
* Databases and use of GIS technology.
Prof. Daniele De Wrachien, in his key-note lecture, highlighted the policy and trends in Soil Science of the EurAgEng Field of Interest on Soil and Water and announced that further developments and research results falling under the scope of the topics covered by the Conference will be dealt with within an International Workshop on "Sustainable Soil Management for Environmental Protection: Soil Physics Aspects", to be held in Italy, in July 2001, organized by the Institute for the Study and Conservation of the Soil of Florence, in cooperation with IUSS and EurAgEng.
Prof. Daniele De Wrachien
EurAgEng Vice President
Coordinator Field of Interest SW: Soil and Water
CLUB OF BOLOGNA
Strategies for the Development of Agricultural Mechanisation
10th MEMBERS' MEETING
The 10th members' meeting of the Club of Bologna and XXX EIMA - the International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition will be held on 14-15 November, 1999 in Bologna.
The event is sponsored by UNACOMA S.r.l. and is under the auspices of CIGR.
The Welcome Address will be held by the President of UNACOMA. Major subjects of the Meeting are:
Subject 1: Advancements on the technologies for inputs distribution.
* The case of animal waste slurry - Key-Note Speaker: F. Sangiorgi (Italy)
* The case of mineral fertilizers - Key-Note Speaker: P. Balsari (Italy)
* The case of irrigation - Key-Note Speaker: E. Kenig (Israel)
Subject 2: Transfer of technologies from developed to developing countries: experiences and results in Asia and the Far-East.
* The case of Korea - Key-Note Speaker: K. Uk KimM.
* The case of P.R. China - Key-Note Speakers: Wang and L. Zhang
* The case of India - Key-Note Speakers: G. Singh; A. Firodia
The detailed Agenda for the meeting can be downloaded from the web of the Club of Bologna: http://www.smart.it/unacoma/pubblico/attivi_gb.html
Bio-Robotics II
The first international workshop on Bio-robotics was held at Gandia, Spain in September 1997, aiming at promoting exchanges on robotics and automated machinery studies on bioproduction systems in the world. This announcement notes the second one that develops and expands the research domains from bio-robotics toward a whole system of information-oriented agriculture/horticulture in the 21st century.
The workshop Bio-Robotics, Information Technology and Intelligent Control for Bio-production Systems - BIO-ROBOTICS II aims at providing a forum for presenting new approaches and results on bioproduction robots including many kinds of automated or autonomous machine systems with/without manipulators, information-oriented technology to deal with variability, and technology intelligence for bioproduction systems. It is expected to develop new automated bioproduction systems accompanying with commercialization of various robots by discussions in this workshop. To realize the automated bioproduction systems, many kinds of sensing systems are obviously required, which leads us to meet the demand for describing/recognizing its complicated working objects such as cultivating field. This avenue comes across many kinds of application sites for bio-robotics research. Precision farming, as well as greenhouse technology, is one of the new integrated application sites with systems approach to manage the spatial and temporal variability attributing to bioproduction systems.
Contributions should present the feasibility and availability of bio-robotics and information technology in the development of bioproduction systems. The International Program Committee is expecting to have original papers on theoretical issues relating to fundamental methodology for such as bio-robotics and complexity management, on technology such as automation, machine vision and variable-rate technology, and on practical applications.
Paper should include the description of significant results on ongoing research, implementations or critical analysis of existing systems and approaches.
Haruhiko Murase
e-mail:hmurase@bics.envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp
Attention younger members!
Scholarships for MSc, MEng, MBA and PhD –
a rare opportunity!!
A number of EU funded scholarships are available for studies leading to various Masters degrees and for PhD fieldwork at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand. The awards are for appropriately qualified nationals of EU member countries and cover all costs of air travel, board and lodging, tuition and related expenses for 20 months (Masters degrees) or 8 - 12 months (PhD). AIT is a regional education and research centre established in 1959 at a delightful, well-equipped, campus just outside Bangkok. A wide range of technologies is covered through Schools of Environment; Resources and Development; Civil Engineering; Advanced Technology and Management.
Further details from: Prof. Gajendra Singh
E-mail: singhg@ait.ac.th or web site:
http://www/ait.ac.th or contact derek.sutton@bbsrc.ac.uk
