ADVANTAGES OF AN INFORMATION SYSTEM MONITORING AND STOCKS AGRICULTURAL PRICES. CASE STUDY – ROSIM

Abstract agricultural policy in our country is based on information dispersed, especially because there is no centralized monitoring system, who to provide reliable information, while the agricultural and food market is experiencing a general feeling of instability - basically, it consists of channels and a dysfunctional organizational structure, based on communication systems do not operate in real time.. An integrated on-line monitoring of prices of agricultural products is of great interest due to the integration of computer technology (communications and agricultural sciences, based on specific concepts: client / server architecture, the integrated platform software, decision support, database distributed relational distance communication through the web, object oriented programming, mathematical modeling, interactivity etc.)

Decision making models embedded into a web-based tool for assessing pest infestation risk

Current practices in agricultural management involve the application of rules and techniques to ensure high quality and environmentally friendly production. Based on their experience, agricultural technicians and farmers make critical decisions affecting crop growth while considering several interwoven agricultural, technological, environmental, legal and economic factors. In this context, decision support systems and the knowledge models that support them, enable the incorporation of valuable experience into software systems providing support to agricultural technicians to make rapid and effective decisions for efficient crop growth. Pest control is an important issue in agricultural management due to crop yield reductions caused by pests and it involves expert knowledge. This paper presents a formalisation of the pest control problem and the workflow followed by agricultural technicians and farmers in integrated pest management, the crop production strategy that combines different practices for growing healthy crops whilst minimising pesticide use. A generic decision schema for estimating infestation risk of a given pest on a given crop is defined and it acts as a metamodel for the maintenance and extension of the knowledge embedded in a pest management decision support system which is also presented. This software tool has been implemented by integrating a rule-based tool into web-based architecture. Evaluation from validity and usability perspectives concluded that both agricultural technicians and farmers considered it a useful tool in pest control, particularly for training new technicians and inexperienced farmers

Chapter 15. COMET2.0-Decision Support System for Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Accounting

Improved agricultural practices have a significant potential to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A key issue for implementing mitigation options is quantifying emissions practically and cost effectively. Web-based systems using process-based models provide a promising approach. COMET2.0 is a further development of the web-based COMET-VR system with an expanded set of crop management systems, inclusion of orchard and vineyards, new agroforestry options, and a nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions estimator, using the Century and DAYCENT dynamic ecosystem models. Compared to empirical emission factor models, COMET2.0 accounted for more of the between site variation in soil C changes following no-till adoption in Corn Belt and Great Plains experiment sites. Predicted N2O emission rates, as a function of application rate, timing (spring vs. fall), and use of nitrification inhibitors, were consistent with observations in the literature. Carbon dynamics for orchard and agroforestry compared well with field measurements but limited availability of data poses a challenge for a fuller validation of these systems. Advantages of a practiced-based approach, using dynamic process-based models include integration of interacting processes and local conditions for more accurate and complete GHG accounting. Web-based systems, designed for non-experts, allow land managers and others to evaluate trade-offs and select mitigation options for their particular conditions. Experimental networks such as GRACEnet will play an important role in improving decision support tools for implementation of agricultural GHG mitigation.Peer Reviewe

TOWARDS GLOBAL E-AGRICULTURE: THE CHALLENGE OF WEB-BASED DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR GROWERS

Globalization is influencing several agriculture aspects: market globalization has increased export from producing to consuming countries where different food safety or pesticide residue regulations apply, and has raised awareness of global problems linked to agriculture production (i.e., chemical pesticide pollution). Pests, diseases and weeds may cause significant damages to growers and the cost of pesticide increases. Environmental pollution and risk of unwanted residues on food forced researchers to find ways to optimize pesticide applications. However, extension services and research in pest management is often fragmented and efforts to develop support tools for pest management are often duplicated. Furthermore, sometimes the knowledge does not spread from research centers to growers due to difficulties in knowledge transfer. Decision support systems (DSS) are widely used for assisting with integrated pest management (IPM), crop nutrition, and other aspects of information transfer. Developing highly portable and especially web-based DSSs that can be easily adapted to new environments is therefore desirable in view of agriculture globalization. Web-based models and DSSs have the major advantage of reducing software development, maintenance, and distribution costs, while making the relevant knowledge easily accessible to growers world-wide. This paper presents two examples of web-based agricultural DSSs and demonstrates the potential use of these systems in a wide application range in order to adapt to the needs of globalization. Allowing the choice of different values for the parameters renders these DSSs very flexible. Their development process integrated agricultural expertise from two distinct research centers with information systems know-how from a third center, over two countries, demonstrating the need for a global software development that crosses country borders. The results show that it is possible to satisfy the prerequisites: reducing software development cost by enlarging the number of users and reaching growers among whom specific knowledge on diseases is not yet established

A CommonKADS Model Framework for Web Based Agricultural Decision Support System

Increased demand of farm products and depletion of natural resources compel the agriculture community to increase the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in various farming processes. Agricultural Decision Support Systems (DSS) proved useful in this regard. The majority of available Agricultural DSSs are either crop or task specific. Less emphasis has been placed on the development of comprehensive DSS, which are non-specific regarding crops or farming processes. The crop or task specific DSSs are mainly developed with rule based or knowledge transfer based approaches. The DSSs based on these methodologies lack the ability for scaling up and generalization. The Knowledge engineering modeling approach is more suitable for the development of large and generalized DSS. Unfortunately the model based knowledge engineering approach is not much exploited for the development of Agricultural DSS. CommonKADS is one of the popular modeling frameworks used for the development of Knowledge Based System (KBS). The paper presents the organization, agent, task, communication, knowledge and design models based on the CommonKADS approach for the development of scalable Agricultural DSS. A specific web based DSS application is used for demonstrating the multi agent CommonKADS modeling approach. The system offers decision support for irrigation scheduling and weather based disease forecasting for the popular crops of India. The proposed framework along with the required expert knowledge, provides a platform on which the larger DSS can be built for any crop at a given location

Breeding climate change resilient maize and wheat for food security

Climate change is affecting agriculture directly or indirectly, worldwide and is an important challenge that threatens the long-term production growth of cereals. Fluctuating temperature, green-house gases, rainfall, and high humidity directly affect the crops, pathogens, insects, and weeds. Several new diseases, weeds, and insect pests have started appearing with the changing climate. Maize and wheat are the two of the most important food crops worldwide with too are getting affected. Predictions suggest that climate change will reduce maize and wheat production this will coincide with a substantial increase in demand for maize and wheat due to rising populations. Maize and wheat research has a crucial role to play in enhancing adaptation to and mitigation of climate change while also enhancing food security. The varieties of agricultural crops with increased tolerance to heat and drought stress and resistance to pests and diseases are serious for handling existing climatic variability and for adaptation to progressive climate change. Numerous climate resilient agricultural technologies such as zero tillage (no tillage), laser land leveling, happy seeder, raised-bed planting, tensiometer, and rotavator have been invented for the conservation of agricul-ture. Further, drip irrigation and fertigation, leaf color chart (LCC) for need-based application of nitrogen, integrated nutrient management (INM) systems, integrated pest management (IPM) systems, integrated disease management (IDM) systems, site-specific management systems using remote sensing, GPS, and GIS, and Web-based decision support systems for controlling diseases and insect pests are being commercialized to mitigate the climate change

Digital Technology To Support Organic Growers ? Mesclun: A Web App To Help Designing Complex Organic Vegetable Production

For organic vegetable growers, combining long rotations involving a high level of plant diversity with intercropping can bring economic and ecological benefits but often increase management complexity and workload. To support the decision making of farmers facing such challenges, the research-action objective of the MESCLUN programme is to develop a web application based on the innovative computer technologies of knowledge graphs and semantic web. In this French transdisciplinary project, we articulate methods and frameworks from different fields (agronomy, economy, design, knowledge and computer engineering) with expertise of agricultural practitioners (organic growers, advisors, teachers, organic farming students). Through an iterative and participatory approach based on co-innovation workshops in 4 contrasted regions of France, we design, develop and test web app prototypes to help farmers to appropriate systemic thinking, explore and assess their “own” solutions in the organisation of complex organic vegetables systems. We will present functionalities/interface of the first web app prototype. We will for example show how the web app can help growers to plan their crops in space and time considering contrasted fertility and plants health strategies as well as marketing requirements. We will also illustrate how different simulations can be assessed from a socio-economic perspective (workload and income). Based on those first results, we will examine the specificities, added value and blind spots of our web app compared to other decision making tools in the organic agricultural sector. To feed a more general debate, we will provide critical discussion points on the potentialities and limitations of innovative digital solutions to support decision making in complex organic farming systems

Agricultural information dissemination using ICTs: a review and analysis of information dissemination models in China

Open Access funded by China Agricultural UniversityOver the last three decades, China’s agriculture sector has been transformed from the traditional to modern practice through the effective deployment of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information processing and dissemination have played a critical role in this transformation process. Many studies in relation to agriculture information services have been conducted in China, but few of them have attempted to provide a comprehensive review and analysis of different information dissemination models and their applications. This paper aims to review and identify the ICT based information dissemination models in China and to share the knowledge and experience in applying emerging ICTs in disseminating agriculture information to farmers and farm communities to improve productivity and economic, social and environmental sustainability. The paper reviews and analyzes the development stages of China’s agricultural information dissemination systems and different mechanisms for agricultural information service development and operations. Seven ICT-based information dissemination models are identified and discussed. Success cases are presented. The findings provide a useful direction for researchers and practitioners in developing future ICT based information dissemination systems. It is hoped that this paper will also help other developing countries to learn from China’s experience and best practice in their endeavor of applying emerging ICTs in agriculture information dissemination and knowledge transfer

@grogest_Ambiental: a web-based decision support system for agribusiness.

In agribusiness, the treatment and sustainable management of waste in intensive production systems must consider productivity and economic gains in the short term and the sustainability of agricultural production. The acquisition of technical information, and the knowledge about the characteristics of the rural property, are fundamental for stakeholders, especially considering the adequacy of sustainable environmental practices. It is necessary to provide a web-based system to support stakeholders in discovering and understanding their productive context. This paper proposes a solution to support stakeholders? decision-making to improve sustainable practices in agribusiness. The proposed solution is applied in the agricultural domain, focusing on sustainability, by implementing a web system supported by an ontology to organize and provide strategic information through a mobile app. Technical and regulatory environmental practices documents are recommended for a relevant context, considering a feasibility study with experts in the field. As a result, the approach provided decision-making support offering technical information efficiently and agile for stakeholders.WebMedia 2021