Category Archives: Conference

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Webinar: Data Governance Issues in Digital Agriculture. A farmer’s perspective

Conference, Digital Farming, Meeting, research

A webinar organised by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Data Science User Group.

Friday, Nov 5, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Central US Time, Data Science User Group monthly speaker event:  

Foteini Zampati will talk about ” Data Governance Issues in Digital Agriculture. A farmer’s perspective.”

How to attend: The event will be hosted online via Zoom (https://illinois.zoom.us/j/92602473524?pwd=cExZQVN6UHFxVU1UR0Zad2JPaHZtQT09). To attend, RSVP at CU DSUG Event Page: https://www.meetup.com/CU-DSUG/events/btjlgsyccpbhb/

Abstract: There is no doubt that data-driven agriculture has increased the agricultural production and productivity, reduced the risk and improved resilience in farming, brought more economic and efficient use of natural resources, and helped farmers in decision making. The key actors in agriculture, farmers in general and smallholder farmers in particular feel that they are not the ones who are harnessing the benefits of digital technologies and discourages them from fully adopting them. Farmers have concerns about who controls access to, and sharing of, data that are generated on and their  farms, they have concerns about their privacy and their data rights, and in many cases they are not fully aware of the benefits of digital farming. They need assurances of their data sharing and control, they seek transparency and trust. This webinar will focus on farmers’ perspective and how they could actively participate in a more equitable data sharing and exchange in the agri-food value chain by contributing to the design of a fairer data governance framework. The development of ag codes of conduct is an example that will be explored.

Bio: Foteini Zampati is a legal professional with almost 20 years of experience. She holds an LLB in Law and LLM in European Union and Business Law. Currently she is working as an international freelance consultant on data privacy, compliance, and ethics. During her career Foteini has collaborated with various stakeholders, among them the United Nations of Food and Agriculture (FAO), the Kenyan Government, the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ) on international projects to develop policies, codes of conducts and guidelines for fairer and more responsible data governance frameworks.

She has also worked as a data rights research specialist to support the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative on Ethical and Legal aspects of Open data.

One of the main areas of her expertise is the research and analysis of national and international legislation on (Open) Data and Intellectual Property, ownership issues and data rights, compliance and best practices across all aspects of national and European privacy and security, as also data protection law and regulation (GDPR) in the agricultural sector.

Selected publications by the speaker:

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SEED Conference, the project that planted innovative seeds

Conference, Digital Farming, research

Last September 2021 SEED – Smart Entrepreneurial Education and training in Digital farming – KA3 Erasmus plus project finished.

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SEED started in 2018 and during 3 years of work established a lot of important collaborations among partners and the final meeting “Agrifood Digital Innovation” in Spello (Italy held more than 50 participants.

The conference focused on Smart entrepreneurship for the digital transition, attended by numerous experts from the agricultural sector, entrepreneurs and the Councillor for Agriculture of the Umbria Region, Roberto Morroni.

Matteo Giambartolomei – Umbraflor, Regional Nursery Company – General Manager, introduced the conference together with the “Corriere dell’Umbria” Director’s Davide Vecchi.

The debate addressed the agriculture sector and the discussion focused on the need to team up among all the farms and experts to ensure an efficient and successful presence on the market.

The Umbria region has to be competitive and offers the excellence of local products, which are undervalued. Thanks to the new digital innovation tools and the training of young people in the sector, starting in schools, we planted the first seed.

People attended and debated were: Alessio Miliani – Fertitecnica Colfiorito – Sabrina Annibali – Agricola Fratelli Annibali – Altheo Valentini – CEO of EGInA Srl – Venusia Pascucci – Dirigente IIS Ciuffelli-Einaudi – Fabio Rosi – Confagricoltura Umbria, Michela Sciurpa – General Director of Sviluppumbria.

Together with: Fabio Famoos of All Food SpA, Marcello Serafini – Director of Parco 3A Todi – Giorgio Scassini of Befood Srl, Gruppo Grifo Agroalimentare ,“Azienda Agricola i Chicchi” and Francesco Pace of Acacia Group.

Thanks to all participants!

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World Food Day: OECD call for better food systems

Conference, report

The first UN Food Systems Summit was held during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23 2021. The purpose was to accelerate action and to transform food systems to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. food image

There are three major challenges facing food systems, firstly ensuring food security, secondly supporting people’s livelihoods, and thirdly doing so in an environmentally sustainable way. Effective policies are needed if these three goals are to be achieved.

The Action Areas of the UN Food System Summit are the result of an 18-month inclusive and engaging process with diverse stakeholders.

Action Track 1 –  access to safe nutritious food for all

Action Track 2 – Sustainable consumption

Action Track 3 – Nature positive production

Action Track 4 – Livelihood and equality

Action Track 5 – Resilience

Action track 6 – Governance

Find out more about the Action Areas of the UN Food System Summit

Digital agriculture will play a significant role in addressing these action areas as a digital agriculture system can help gather agricultural data more frequently and accurately. together with other data, like weather information, farmers can make more informed and appropriate decisions about their farms. These decisions could be quickly implemented with greater accuracy through technologies like robotics and advanced machinery. These systems can also provide feedback more efficiently to improve knowledge.

To support World Food Day, OECD have created the OECD Food Systems portal, a resource to support better policies for food systems.

A Food Systems Community has been established to gather and connect key stakeholders across the food system and is open to everyone with an interest in following developments and contributing to the Summit. Visit the Food Systems Community platform

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Digital Agricultural Data Webinar

Conference, Digital Farming, research
Register for Webinar which is part of the  Research Data Alliance Interest Group for Agricultural Data (IGAD)’s Coffee Break initiative. It will take place on 20 October 2021 at 13:00 CEST.

The webinar, titled Growing Digital Agriculture from the Grassroots: designing just and sustainable agricultural data applications will feature Sarah-Louise Ruder, Dr. Hannah Wittman, and Kevin Cussen, from University of British Columbia (UBC) Farm.

 During this webinar, Sarah-Louise Ruder, Dr. Hannah Wittman, and Kevin Cussen will present LiteFarm, a living case study for a tool that leverages digital technology for social and ecological justice. LiteFarm is a free, open-access, and open-source web-based application developed through farmer-led consultation by the (UBC) Farm, as well as through community-based research with farmers across North and South America. IGAD YouTube image

As a community-driven, free and open-source application reporting on social, financial, and ecological indicators, LiteFarm is unlike other digital farming tools. It equips farmers with the data and tools to make informed decisions about the health of their farm, their livelihood, their community, and the planet. Though still in early development, hundreds of farmers on six continents have adopted the platform to run their farms.

Even further, the presenters will facilitate a conversation on data governance, justice, and transitions to more just and sustainable food systems with questions including:
  • In the age of big data and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what governance and economic models support food & data sovereignty?
  • What are data commons? Who gets to define and enact data commons? Who is involved? Who can share what and with whom?
  • What governance and economic models could secure the longevity of non-profit innovations like LiteFarm, without charging for access or monetizing farmer data without their informed consent?

 Registration is now open. Interested participants can register for the webinar  here.

The final webinar in the series is titled ‘Analysis of time series of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data – the new quality of information for Agriculture’ on 27 October 2021.

To watch past webinars in full visit the RDA/IGAD YouTube channel
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SEED Project holds its final conference

Conference, Digital Farming, research

The SEED Project (Smart Entrepreneurial Education & training in Digital farming) held its final conference on Thursday September 9th 2021 at the Brussels Office of the Umbria Region.

The conference theme was “New Educational Perspectives for Digital Entrepreneurship in agriculture“.

Download the SEED final conference agenda.

The event aimed to contribute to innovative actions concerning the design and implementation of education and training approaches that can help farmers and farm advisers develop the skills they need in the face of the digital transition in agriculture. It sought to examine digital entrepreneurial actions and activities in rural areas. Addressing the digital skills gap is not straightforward. It is necessary to construct an enabling environment of vocational qualifications so that skills development can take place.

Digital technologies hold the key to create a smarter, more effective and resource-efficient agricultural sector.  The conference heard about a number of existing digital solutions that can help their farms to become more sustainable and productive. However, the take up of digital technologies remains quite limited across Europe. There are many barriers to implementing new technologies, including relatively low levels of knowledge and skills needed to ensure a smart and sustainable digital future for European agriculture and rural development.

Download the conference presentationsagrihub graphic

Agrihub
LiveAdapt livestock farming
New educational perspectives for digital entrepreneurship in agriculture
Digitalisation in agriculture training
Connecting CEA Solutions to Critical Challenges
Colfiorito-sustainability
Entrepreneurial education in agriculture in Albania
Entrepreneurial Education in Agriculture: Navarra

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SEED Project holds final peer review event

Conference, Digital Farming, Meeting, research

Partners in the SEED Project held their final partner meeting and peer review event in Ghent and Brussels on 7-9 September 2021.

The project welcomed more than 50 participants from across Europe to examine the outputs and activities of the project and help establish a plan for exploitation of the outcomes.

The exploitation plan was based on a workshop at the University of Ghent on September 8th 2021, carried out with more than 40 peer reviewers from across Europe.

The plan was developed to describe the activities that should be carried out to enhance the successful exploitation of the project results in terms of future development after the project has been completed. Exploitation planning usually  involves the promotion and use of the products or processes and placing them on the market.

An introduction to the project was given by the project coordinator Altheo Valentini from Umbraflor. The partners from Belgium, Italy, Slovakia and Spain presented the impact of the project in their own institutions, regions and countries.

The Powerpoint slides are provided here.

The actions and outcomes of the SEED Project

 

Following this introduction, a peer review workshop activity took place where participants were invited to add their expertise to the project by answering the following four questions:

  1. In what areas should the SEED Project continue to make an impact?
  2.  Who are the key stakeholders / targets to take forward the work of SEED?
  3.  Which parts of the SEED outputs can most be used by others?
  4.  How can we engage companies, training organisations and Ministries of education?

Based on this review an exploitation plan was presented at the final conference of SEED on September 9th 2021.

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SEED Project Final Partner Meeting

Conference, Meeting

Partners in the SEED Project held their final partner meeting at the University of Ghent, Belgium on Tuesday 7th September 2021.  The meeting was in a hybrid meeting format (face to face and via Zoom) due to remaining Covid travel restrictions. t-pant image

The Smart Entrepreneurial Education and training in Digital farming – SEED project develops skills in agriculture by introducing a digital transformation in the profession.

The project facilitates the development of skills and competences to meet labour market needs and also to be more flexible in anticipating future skills’ gaps for the digital agriculture sector.

The partner meeting discussed the final actions in the project, which concludes at the end of September and dealt with final reporting for the project and remaining issues.

The partners finalised plans for the final peer-review event to be held on Wednesday 8th at ‘t Pand, an historic building in the centre of Ghent and for the final project conference at the Umbria Region office in Brussels on Thursday 9th September.

 

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Social Hackathon Umbria 2021

Conference, Digital Farming, Meeting

After a one-year break due to the pandemic, the Social Hackathon Umbria will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a major digital co-creation event focused on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and shared with Fertitecnica Colfiorito and FAO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

#SHU2021 foresees a four-day Hackathon, Workshops, Exhibitions and Laboratories, next 1-4 July 2020 in the beautiful setting of the Colfiorito Park, a protected natural area and example of many sustainable development practices of the Umbria Region.

At the same time as the training courses, we will launch a call for ideas on four thematic areas: #zerohunger, #zerowaste, #zeroimpact and #zeroignorance.
The call is open to local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) including NGOs, non-profit associations, and any other type of public and private organisation (including informal groups of young people under 35 years of age) that works for or supports the third sector and the society in general. Applicants can propose any sort of digital solution that is relevant to their internal and/or external needs and that respects the following selection criteria:
  • social relevance: is the digital project relevant to at least one of the challenges proposed by the Social Hackathon Umbria?
  • local community impact: will the digital solution have an impact on the CSO development and/or on the quality of services provided to disadvantaged target groups?
  • Social Hackademy adequacy: is the project idea in line with the skills and knowledge acquired during the #hackAD training? Is it possible to develop it during the 48 hours of Hackathon?

For each area, we will select the two most relevant ideas that can be developed by teams of up to 8 members led by an experienced team manager. During the 48 hours of the hackathon, teams will be able to create a pitch, prototype or product to present in front ofan international jury for the award of a digital prize with a commercial value of €100.

Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the challenge first-hand… visit https://www.socialhackathonumbria.info/en/live-the-challenges
Deadline to apply is Friday 4 June 2021!

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SEED Webinar during European Green Week, June 7th 2021

Conference, Digital Farming, Meeting, sustainability

 

“The carbon footprint of digital technologies in the AgriTech and Precision Agriculture sectors”

 

The European Environment Agency warns that “Europe’s environment is at a tipping point”. This event examines the situation in the agriculture sector, sharing practices as well as issues and challenges being faced. In the context of the European Green Deal and the European Commission’s ambition to adopt an EU Action Plan Towards a Zero Pollution Ambition for air, water and soil in 2021.

The webinar will introduce the SEED project which has created new qualifications and curricula incorporating digital farming and the tools and technologies for more sustainable practices. A panel of experts, that have implemented research or innovative practices in order to assess, monitor and reduce the energetic impact of digital transformation in agriculture, will present their work and discuss the zero pollution goals.

Panelists include:

Antonio Román

Innovation project technician
@ Innogestiona Ambiental (Spain)
The LiveAdapt Project: solutions for adaptation
to climate change of extensive livestock production

Karel Charvat

Plan4All, AgriHub.cz
Digital innovation centre & its contribution
to climate change & zero pollution

Cláudia Brites

Head of Sustainability @ Ecoinside
Sustainability in the agriculture sector

7th June 2021
11.00 AM CET

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SEED Project presented at EUROGEO2021

Conference, report

The SEED Project was disseminated at the EUROGEO 2021 Conference on April 23rd 2021.  Due to the Covid pandemic the conference was held online, hosted by UNEC, Madrid, the Spanish Open University.

The conference theme Sustainable Development Goals for all, where the SDGs seek to promote a multidimensional model of development capable of guaranteeing sustainability. This involves a complex process of political and economic discussion and environmental concern with different views, which must be addressed from all areas of society.

SEED was included as part of the presentation “Geo_projects and Innivation in Education”. You can follow the presentation here below.

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Future of Agriculture Forum

Conference, Digital Farming

The European Commission announced the 2021 Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA) will take place in March, incorporating their annual conference on March 23rd in a  virtual studio-based format.

The event will focus on ‘food system renewal’ recognising that the world must urgently deal with the implications of the Covid-19 crisis but also with the increasingly severe consequences of climate change.

With a critical role to play in the drive to sustainability, the FFA2021 will examine how the food system can and should renew in all aspects, as well as what will be needed to achieve this transition.

Under the direction of Forum Chairman and former EU Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnick, FFA2021 will bring together high-level speakers from the EU and across the globe.

Registration is free – find out more

SEED news from EGInA

Conference

Last Friday September the 27th, Altheo Valentini on behalf of EGInA and the SEED partnership participated in the conference “Il digitale per l’Agrifood in Umbria” (Digital technologies in the Agrifood industry in the Umbria Region). The conference was held in Perugia and it aimed at the construction of a dialogue involving all stakeholders of the sectors: agricultural companies, innovation experts, lawyers, policy makers, marketers, researchers, citizens. Among the new technologies that are having a great impact on the Agrifood industry, the speakers at the event underlined the importance of Artificial Intelligence, internet of things and blockchain. The event represented a great opportunity to introduce the SEED project and explore potential links.