CIGR Newsletter No 62
CIGR C o-S p o n s o r e d A c t i v i t i e s
International Conference on
"Land Reclamation and Water Resources Development"
This conference, organised by the Lombardia Region and the Italian Association of Land Irrigation and Reclamation Agencies, with the co-sponsorship of CIGR, EurAgEng, ICID and WWC, will be held in Mantua, Italy, from 27 to 29 May 2003. It will deal with sustainable drainage and land reclamation development in the European Mediterranean environment. The discussion will focus on the prospects of building new drainage and land reclamation systems and on the rehabilitation and modernisation of the existing ones, in Italy as well as in other European Mediterranean Countries.
The main themes of the Conference will be
- Water resource management for agricultural purposes
- Planning and design of drainage and land reclamation systems
- Financial and institutional aspects of drainage and land reclamation frameworks.
The conference will consist of an Opening Session, two Topic Sessions and a Closing Round Table discussion with invited key-note speakers, and a post-conference study tour. The official languages will be English and Italian. Translation facilities will be provided.
For further information, contact the Conference Convenors:
Prof. Daniele De Wrachien, Institute of Hydraulics Agricultural, State University, Via Celoria, 2, 20133 Milan, Italy; Tel.: +39 02 50316902 , Fax: +39 02 50316911, E-mail: daniele.dewrachien@unimi.it; or Dr. Giorgio Negri, Italian Association of Land Reclamation Agencies, 26100 Cremona, Italy; Tel.: +39 0372 31872, Fax: +39 0372 534856, E-mail: unirelom@tin.it
4th European Conference on Precision Agriculture & 1st European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming
These two parallel Conferences will be held from 15 to 19 June 2003 in Berlin, Germany. The combination of the 4th ECPA and the 1st ECPLF will allow a comprehensive analysis of the state of precision agriculture in both fieldcrop and animal production. It will also, for the first time, give the chance of drawing up perspectives for a co-ordinated development and for creating visions for an integration of plant production and animal husbandry on the farm of the future, in terms of sustainable and "transparent" production.
The conferences are organised by the Institute of Agricultural Engineering (ATB), Potsdam-Bornim/Germany, and the Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF), Müncheberg/Germany. Co-organisers are professional societies and institutions of agricultural engineering, such as VDI-MEG, EurAgEng and CIGR, and of Agronomy, Crop- and Soil Sciences and Animal Sciences, such as DLG, DGFZ, EAAP
The conferences, held in English, will deal with the following topics:
4th ECPA, focused on precision agriculture:
- Systems research and modelling
- Methods and tools for analysing spatial variability
- Crop management strategies
- Decision support tools
- Sensors and their application for decision support
- Yield formation, nutrient dynamics and energy flow
- Long term effects on site and environment
- Information management on field and farm level
- Impact on economics and management of crop production
- Statistics, data analysis and research design
- Teaching, extension and training
- Social aspects and impact on national economy
1st ECPLF, focused on precision livestock farming:
- Systems research and modelling
- Decision support tools for process and product quality; chain management
- Effects on animal welfare and environment
- Telemetric measurement and monitoring of animal welfare parameters
- Sensors and their application for air quality and pollution control
- Sensors and their application for decision support in milking processes
- Sensors and their application for measurement and control of feed production processes
- Sensors and their application for decision support in animal feeding, health management and reproduction
- New technologies for individual identification of farm animals
- Documentation for quality assurance and safety
Excursions and sightseeing tours will familiarise participants with Brandenburg, the state surrounding the German capital Berlin. It is known for its rich cultural heritage including the famous parks and palaces of Potsdam, and for the quiet landscape with numerous lakes along the rivers Spree and Havel. Equally, Brandenburg stands for professional large-scale farming, typical for the whole North-Eastern part of Germany.
For further information please contact: Conference office 4th ECPA and 1st ECPLF, Dipl.-Ing. agr. Andreas Jarfe, Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research (ZALF), Department of Land Use Systems and Landscape Ecology, Eberswalder Strasse 84, D-15374 Muencheberg, Germany. Tel: ++ 49 (0) 33432 / 82-257; Fax:++ 49 (0) 33432 / 82-389; E-Mail: ajarfe@zalf.de . URL: http://www.ECPA-Berlin.org
7th Workshop on Spray Application Techniques in Fruit Growing
Sponsored by the University of Turin, DEIAFA – Mechanics Section, and the Province of Cuneo, the 7th Workshop will be held from 25 to 27 June 2003 in the Meeting Centre in Cuneo, Italy . It will continue the series of meetings initiated in Gorsem, Belgium in 1991, and continued in the Netherlands (1992), France (1993), Switzerland (1994), England (1995), Poland (1997) and Belgium (2001).
The objective of the workshop is to exchange recent information on research progress and the state of the art in spraying techniques for fruit crops, e.g. in orchards, soft fruit plantations, and vineyards. It is a platform for open discussion between the researchers, manufacturers as well as policy-makers involved in fruit growing, crop protection, application technology and environmental issues. Participants are encouraged to present their results from research at any stage of development, from the preliminary tests to the accomplished research projects.
The participants will have a unique chance to visit orchards in the province of Cuneo (northern Italy), one of the numerous fruit processing companies in the region, and the University of Turin with its famous Agrarian Faculty of Grugliasco and Crop Protection Technology Laboratories (DEIAFA). They will also witness a field demonstration of sprayers and diagnostic equipment for testing of sprayers.
Topics
- novel spray application technology
- performance of fruit crop sprayers
- testing and adjustment of fruit crop sprayers
- filling and cleaning of sprayers
- nozzles, adjuvants, atomisation and spray quality
- precision fruit crop spraying
- decision support systems in plant protection
- spray drift
- spray optimisation in plantation crops
- risk assessment and management in fruit growing
- dose rates determination in fruit crops
- methodology of research on spray application
- other related topics
The official language of the workshop will be English. A book of abstracts will be provided to all participants at the registration desk during the workshop. Proceedings will be printed and sent to the participants after the meeting.
In keeping with the policy of the previous workshops, costs will be kept as low as possible with the aid of sponsors. Registration fees are Euro 180 (Euro 80 for students). Accommodation will be available in the hotels of Cuneo, with prices ranging from 30 to 100 Euro /day/person.
Deadline:
Submission of full papers 25 June 2003
Further information, such as a provisional programme and a preregistration form, is available on the conference web page at http://www.insad.pl/1st_ann.htm . Workshop Office: University of Turin, DEIAFA–Mechanics Section, Via Leonardo da Vinci 44, I 10095 Grugliasco, Italy. Phone: +39 11 6708595 / 6708587, Fax: +39 11 6708591, e-mail: sprayfruit.2003@unito.it
4th EFITA Conference 2003
This conference of the European Federation for Information Technology in Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (EFITA) will be held in Debrecen and Budapest,Hungary, from 5 to 9 July 2003 . It will deal with the following topics:
- Expert and decision support systems
- Internet/networking applications, e-services
- E-commerce/e-business
- Information systems
- IT economics
- Production chain support
- GIS/RS applications
- Extension support systems
- Strategies/policy
- Farm management
- Education/training
- Sustainable agriculture and IT
- Precision agriculture
- Quality management and food safety control.
The conference consists of EFITA Workshops (July 5) and a combination of the following two elements (July 7-9):
The "mainstream conference" gives room for a broad spectrum of themes related to the design development and use of IT systems in and for the agri-food sector. It will include plenary sessions, parallel working group sessions, poster sessions, and computer demonstrations.
The "conference symposia" are small conferences within the EFITA conference. They address specific interest groups and focus on applications of information and communication systems in specific areas. They will be organised according to up-to-date matters of interest.
Deadlines:
Early registration 30 April 2003
Late poster abstract registration 15 May 2003
The conference language will be English. Papers and posters are requested for all listed subject areas and related fields. Participants wishing to make refereed or oral presentations are requested to send abstracts of 300 to 600 words. Please use the form supplied on the Conference Web site.
Early registrations are welcome to be sent electronically through the conference web site or by e-mail. The conference fee (Euro 380 before / 450 after 30 April 2003 for EFITA members; Euro 190 / 220 for students) includes workshop costs, conference materials, welcome reception, lunches, dinners, coffee, tea and scheduled excursions during the conference.
For further information check http://www.date.hu/ efita2003/ or contact the conference secretariat by e-mail: efita2003@date.hu.
ITAFE’03: International Congress on Information Technology in Agriculture, Food and Environment
Co-sponsored by CIGR, among others, this congress will be held from 7 to 10 October 2003 in Izmir, Turkey . The topics are related to the design, development, use and management of Information and Communication Systems in and for agriculture and extension, agribusiness and food industry, agricultural policy and environment:
- Information and communication systems for the improvement of activities
- Decision support systems (DSS)
- GIS, GPS, RS application
- Precision farming
- Expert systems
- Database management systems (DBMS)
- E-Commerce
- Education and training
- Distance learning
- Strategy and management information systems
- Modelling and use of statistical analysis
- Simulation applications
- Biotechnology and bioinformatics
- Wireless communication
- Laboratory systems
- Automation in process control
- Quality control and standards
- Environment control systems
- Water management systems
- Data acquisition and signal processing
- Role of IT in rural development
- IT in developing countries
All accepted papers will be available in the proceedings during the congress. The official language of the congress will be English.
Dates and Deadlines:
Notification of acceptance 15 May 2003
Submission of full papers 15 August 2003
Please send all correspondence to: ITAFE’03 Congress Secretariat, Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, TURKEY. Tel./Fax : +90 2323427642 E-mail: itafe@agr.ege.edu.tr or itafe@ziraat.ege.edu.tr Further information, registration forms, etc., can be found at http://www.itafe.ege.edu.tr/

