Agribusiness meets informatics: Tri-Organisation-Conference GeoFARMatics in Cologne

The public conference provides a unique opportunity to discuss the emerging ICT and geo-information business in agriculture. The organising groups are part of the EU-funded projects Future Farm, agriXChange and the CAPIGI-network.

Internationally renowned speakers give state-of-the-art insight into relevant aspects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the agribusiness throughout plenary sessions. Researchers, developers and users will present novel solutions, recent discussions and new concepts on how to manage production information and geo-information in agriculture and the related value added chain of production. In addition, separate paper sessions, workshops, poster sessions and exhibitions address more specific topics such as:

Farm Management Information Systems
Designing international standards for information exchange in agribusiness
Standardisation and Interoperability
Providing standards through Web Services
Trends in Geo Information for farmers and administration
Trends for ICT in agribusiness
Emerging technologies in Ag-Software
Emerging technologies in on-farm geo-information applications and software
More information on the program of the conference at: http://www.GeoFARMatics2010.org.

About 150 participants are expected from all over the world. The conference brings together industry (software companies, machine manufacturers, system developers) as well as scientists and government active in both (geo-)information management and agriculture administration that share interests in the environment.

The pressing issues and demands for Information and Communication Technologies in agriculture will be summarized by the delegates during the conference in the ‘Cologne declaration on Information Exchange and ICT in European Agriculture’. This appeal is addressed towards politics, research, industry and funding.

During a press background talk the media have the chance to get answers to their questions in this pressing field of modern agriculture from the organizers, relevant delegates and politicians of the conference (Friday, 26th Nov. 13:30 until 14:30, Holiday Inn, Cologne).

The key issue of the EU-funded project FutureFarm (http://www.futurefarm.eu) is to analyse future demands of farms towards their information management. Based on these results the researchers developed a concept for a new Farm Information Management Systems (FMIS) which will help to improve communication, crop management and documentation. Standards from cross compliance, regional regulations or from buyers can automatically be implemented in the FMIS and its application in the daily planning and management of information on farm. Data intensive technologies such as Precision Farming and robotics provide a wealth of information and are specifically considered. [Contact: armin.werner@zalf.de]

The overall objective of the EU-funded project agriXchange (http://www.agrixchange.eu) is to coordinate and support the setting up of sustainable network for developing a system for common data exchange in agriculture. This will be achieved by (i) establishing a platform on data exchange in agriculture in the EU, (ii) developing a reference framework for interoperability of data exchange, (iii) identifying the main challenges for harmonizing data exchange. [Contact: Sjaak.Wolfert@wur.nl]

The CAPIGI-network (http://www.capigi.eu) brings together governments, industry and research to discuss the impact of geo-information in implementing agricultural politics. During this joint conference CAPIGI presents a workshop about the enabling role of geo-information (satellite data, soil sampling, crop monitoring, machine guidance, variable rate applications et cetera) in information management, both on-farm and in information chains. This CAPIGI workshop will present a state-of-the-art overview on innovations and research in geo-information sciences. These emerging technologies get illustrated with practice experiences and benefits in agricultural policy implementation. [Contact: roosmarijn.haring@aerovision.nl]

Contact:
Susanne Hecker
Phone +49 33432 82 309
Mobile +49 151 405 455 03
Email susanne.hecker@zalf.de
Not to be published, just for contacts through the media
[1) for FutureFarm: armin.werner@zalf.de; Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF); Müncheberg (Germany) +49 33432 82-310
2) for agriXchange: Sjaak.Wolfert@wur.nlm; Wageningen University Research (WUR); Wageningen (NL); +31 317 485 939

3) for CAPIGI: tamme.vanderwal@aerovision.nl; Aerovision BV; Naarden (NL); +31 (0)6-13158318]