simul+ InnovationHub: Projects (Status: 6.12.2018)

The goal of the project is to create a digital experimental field with a focus on the necessary communication and cloud infrastructures. The experimental field serves to investigate and test technologies for blanket wireless data transmission with the help of 5G in rural areas to network agricultural Enterprises and utilise data hubs. The test field is a platform and shop window with non-discriminatory access to test and demonstrate new and future digitisation applications for agricultural purposes and for innovations in rural areas. Press date: 7 February 201

Beyond Scarcity : Water Security in the Middle East and North Africa

Water has always been a source of risks and opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet rapidly changing socioeconomic, political, and environmental conditions make water security a different, and more urgent, challenge than ever before. This report shows that achieving water security means much more than coping with water scarcity. It means managing water resources in a sustainable, efficient, and equitable way. It also involves delivering water services reliably and affordably, to reinforce relationships between service providers and water users and contribute to a renewed social contract. Water security also entails mitigating water-related risks such as floods and droughts. Water security is an urgent target, but it is also a target within reach. A host of potential solutions to the region's water management challenges exist. To make these solutions work, clear incentives are needed to change the way water is managed, conserved, and allocated. To make these solutions work, countries in the region will also need to better engage water users, civil society, and youth. The failure of policies to address water challenges can have severe impacts on people's well-being and political stability. The strategic question for the region is whether countries will act with foresight and resolve to strengthen water security, or whether they will wait to react to the inevitable disruptions of water crises

Source-tracking cadmium in New Zealand agricultural soils: a stable isotope approach

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal, which is accumulated by plants and animals and therefore enters the human food chain. In New Zealand (NZ), where Cd mainly originates from the application of phosphate fertilisers, stable isotopes can be used to trace the fate of Cd in soils and potentially the wider environment due to the limited number of sources in this setting. Prior to 1997, extraneous Cd added to soils in P fertilisers was essentially limited to a single source, the small pacific island of Nauru. Analysis of Cd isotope ratios (ɛ114/110Cd) in Nauru rock phosphate, pre-1997 superphosphate fertilisers, and Canterbury (Lismore Stony Silt Loam) topsoils (Winchmore Research Farm) has demonstrated their close similarity with respect to ɛ114/110Cd. We report a consistent ɛ114/110Cd signature in fertiliser-derived Cd throughout the latter twentieth century. This finding is useful because it allows the application of mixing models to determine the proportions of fertiliser-derived Cd in the wider environment. We believe this approach has good potential because we also found the ɛ114/110Cd in fertilisers to be distinct from unfertilised Canterbury subsoils. In our analysis of the Winchmore topsoil series (1949-2015), the ɛ114/110Cd remained quite constant following the change from Nauru to other rock phosphate sources in 1997, despite a corresponding shift in fertiliser ɛ114/110Cd at this time. We can conclude that to the present day, the Cd in topsoil at Winchmore still mainly originates from historical phosphate fertilisers. One implication of this finding is that the current applications of P fertiliser are not resulting in further Cd accumulation. We aim to continue our research into Cd fate, mobility and transformations in the NZ environment by applying Cd isotopes in soils and aquatic environments across the country

A Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment among Small Farmers: A Case Study in Western Honduras

Climate change is now affecting every known society. Small farmers in Low Income Countries (LICs) are especially vulnerable to climate change patterns because they depend heavily on rain, seasonality patterns, and known temperature ranges. To help build climate change resilient communities among rural farmers, the first step is to understand the impact of climate change on the population. This dissertation aims to use information and communication technology (ICT) to assess climate change vulnerabilities among rural farmers. To achieve this overall goal, this dissertation first proposes a comprehensive Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Framework (CCVAF) that integrates both community level and individual household level indicators. The CCVAF was instantiated into a GIS-based web application named THRIVE for different decision makers to better assess how climate change is affecting rural farmers in Western Honduras. Qualitative evaluation of the THRIVE showed that it is an innovative and useful tool. The CCVAF and its instantiation provides an important initial step towards building climate change resilience among rural farmers. It is the first attempt to provide a comprehensive set of the indicators with related measurements and data sources for climate change vulnerability assessment. The framework thus contributes to the knowledge base of the climate change vulnerability assessment. It also contributes to the design science literature by providing guidelines to design a class of climate change vulnerability assessment solutions. To the best of our knowledge, the CCVAF is the first generalizable artifact that can be used to build a group of ICT-based climate change vulnerability assessment solutions. Another knowledge contribution of this dissertation is its reproducibility by making the input and output data available to the research and practitioner community through a GeoHub. For practical contributions, the framework can be easily used by researchers and practitioners to consistently design a vulnerability assessment tool, starting with the set of indicators organized by the three-level determinants, and following specific spatial data analysis and models. Such an ICT-based tool adds practical values to tackle climate change challenges

The Agrobiodiversity Index: Methodology Report v.1.0.

Authors: Remans, R.; Jones, S.; Quiros, C.; Smith, A.G.; Attwood, S.; Werneck, F.; Negra, C.; Hoogendoorn, C.; Menza, G.; Villani, C.; China, R.; Tutwiler, A.The Agrobiodiversity Index is an innovative tool that measures the current state of agrobiodiversity in markets and consumption, in agricultural production, and in genetic resource management, and the extent to which commitments and actions at country, company and project level support sustainable use and conservation of agrobiodiversity. Status indicators are scored based on spatial global data sets and national data sets accessed through global databases at United Nations agencies. Action indicators are scored based on country reports, such as those from the World Information and Early Warning System on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (WIEWS) and in the State of the World Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture, both compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), as well as other spatial datasets. Commitment indicators are scored based a text-mining tool that analyzes policies, strategies and other national legislation, retrieved from the FAO’s legislation and policies database, FAOLEX. The Agrobiodiversity Index has 22 indicators, comprising 3 commitment indicators, 4 action indicators and 15 status indicators

Primjena poslovne inteligencije za analizu podataka i podršku odlučivanju u poljoprivredi

The aim of this paper is to investigate and to present possibilities of using business intelligence in agriculture. We shortly introduced the term of business intelligence, presented some of its application in agriculture, and also presented some simple tools and its application for data analysis on a concrete set of data on small farms. By using these tools, decision makers are able to create custom data views from different perspectives, according to their specific needs and using their own skills. This should result in getting timely business information tailored to their needs.Cilj ovog rada je da se istraže i prezentuju mogućnosti primjene poslovne inteligencije u poljoprivredi. Ukratko je predstavljen pojam poslovne inteligencije, prikazane su neke od primjena u poljoprivredi, kao i mogućnosti za analizu podataka korišćenjem jednostavnijih alata poslovne inteligencije na konkretnom skupu podataka o poljoprivrednim gazdinstvima. Zahvaljujući primjeni tih alata, donosioci odluka imaju mogućnost da samostalno kreiraju poglede na podatke iz različitih perspektiva, te da na vrijeme dobiju informacije bitne za poslovanje, u formi prilagođenoj vlastitim potrebama

Questionnaire design, sampling strategy and preliminary findings: the Burdekin region

This report focuses firstly on the survey instrument development and the sampling design for this project. It then provides a preliminary analysis of the initial data collected from land managers in the Burdekin region, mainly in the form of descriptive statistics. It also provides provisional recommendations for key stakeholders regarding possible actions that should be considered in future interactions with land managers. Two questionnaires were developed – one for cane growers and one for graziers. When developing questionnaires, we sought to keep questions similar in each questionnaire wherever possible, to enable comparisons between both groups (e.g. socio-demographics, attitudes and motivations) and between the case study areas (e.g. cane growers in Wet Tropics and cane growers in Burdekin). As such, two questionnaires have been developed with identical questions on the first three pages. The remaining questions were similar but relevant to particular behaviours for the grazing and sugar cane industries. The final versions of the questionnaire are included as Appendices 4 and 5. The sample population in the preliminary analysis was obtained from a membership database of cane and cattle producers supplied by NQ Dry Tropics. Each respondent was allocated a unique identifier which enable the researchers to de-identify the data. This identifier will also allow the researchers to track changes in future responses across the three years and to analyse those changes. The preliminary analysis captures only people in the Burdekin region who were already engaged in programs including those that related to water quality improvement as well as other programs in the Burdekin region. Insights from the preliminary analysis of data collected in round one show that the respondents: • Have a mature profile - the median age of cane growers and graziers is 52 years which is significantly greater than the median age of the Australian population (37 years). • Own or own & manage (80% of cane growers and 84% of graziers) their property. • Have lengthy land management experience - (average of 18.9 years for graziers and 20.9 years for cane growers), often following earlier generations on properties: maintaining traditions and heritage is important (over 50% of respondents indicated this to be of the highest importance). • Do not make decisions in isolation – family / extended family are commonly involved. • Are positive about overall quality of life (>90%). • Have no significant plans to change future practices (>90%). • Do not believe their farming practice adversely impacts water quality in local streams, rivers, and waterways (61% of cane growers and 30% of graziers). • Do not believe that the cane/grazing industry plays a significant role in the declining health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) (66% of cane growers and 39% of graziers). • Tend to shift the blame related to water quality and the health of the Great Barrier Reef to other industries, organisations and individuals. The findings indicate that there is a need to ‘sell the science’ to gain acceptance of the cause-effect relationship between farming practice and water quality. There is potential to extend the key role of extension officers in potentially influencing increased uptake of best management practices. The main ways in which they can be supported in their interactions with land managers include: • Supporting innovators (‘positive deviants’). • Ensuring that land mangers see their expertise is valued and their voices are heard. • Facilitating sharing of ideas and practices. • Building on the role of farmers whose views are respected as potential information gatekeepers/disseminators/role models. • Ensuring that all persuasive communications are integrated in terms of key messages. • Developing strategies for minimising the impact of competing and conflicting messages. • Incorporating social media strategies as part of an integrated communication strategy that centres on the information channels and platforms used and preferred by land managers. • Incorporate long-term relationship management strategies based on customer relationship management and business to business marketing concepts. • Utilise Social Network Analysis to identify: (a) key information gatekeepers / opinion leaders who may help or hinder information dissemination and innovation uptake, and (b) where individual extension officers may fit into various networks. • Consider the use of farmer typologies in developing resources to aid extension officers in their interactions with land managers. Note: The survey was delivered in both the Dry Tropics and the Wet Tropics region of Queensland, therefore, the survey development and sampling strategy (Section 2) and recommendations (Section 4) of this report include common content with Section 2 and 4 of the Interim report - Questionnaire Design, Sampling Strategy and Preliminary Findings (The Wet Tropics) (Farr et al., 2017b)

CERNAS – Current Evolution and Research Novelty in Agricultural Sustainability

This book addresses original studies and reviews focused on the current evolution and research novelty in agricultural sustainability. New developments are discussed on issues related with quality of soil, natural fertilizers or the sustainable use of land and water. Also crop protection techniques are pivotal for the sustainable food production under the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, allied to innovative weed control methodologies, as a way to reduce the utilization of pesticides. The role of precision and smart agriculture is becoming more pertinent as the communication technologies improve at a high rate. Waste management, reuse of agro industrial residues, extension of shelf life and use of new technologies are ways to reduce food waste, all contributing to a higher sustainability of the food supply chains, leading to a more rational use of natural resources. The unquestionable role of bees as pollinators and contributors for biodiversity is subjacent to the work of characterization of beekeeping activities, which in turn contribute, together with the valorization of endemic varieties of plant foods, for the development of local communities. Finally, the short circuits and local food markets have a decisive role in the preservation and enhancement of rural economies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio