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What aspect(s) of on-farm experimentation are of interest to you? Let us know by filling this one-question survey.
The one-size-fits-all approach of research has had success but advances are slowing. “How well crops and livestock grow depends on the interaction of genes, management and environment. As weather patterns fluctuate, gains in production will depend ever more on innovating in context. Big knowledge flowing from institutes to farm must be complemented by local knowledge.” Small-scale agricultural innovation will boost yields and protect the planet. See this Nature Comment.
On-farm experimentation (OFE) and precision agriculture technologies could be a potent mix for driving change in agricultural systems. Many of us recognize the significant opportunity in large, tech heavy and digitally enabled cropping enterprises. However, most of the world’s agricultural land is characterized by extensive, tech-poor livestock systems (LS). “OFE in LS” could help to introduce appropriate digital technologies in a way that is meaningful to farmers. Have a look at this recording from Matthew McNee, agronomy advisor in the Falkland Islands.
A lot of agricultural experimentation in Africa is conducted on farms. What can the rest of the word learn from OFE with an African flavour? A good place to start was the 1st African Conference on Precision Agriculture held just last week from 8 to 10 December. The African Plant Nutrition Institute, the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and the International Society of Precision Agriculture were behind this successful inaugural event. even hundred participants at 14 sites representing 51 countries were put together on this occasion. On-demand content will soon be made available on the conference website for participants.
Farmers often feel that they do not get the value back after sharing their data. The GODAN (Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition) organization has recently made available an Agricultural Data Codes of Conduct Toolkit. By using the toolkit, they can understand and control what is done with the data, who can do what, and so on. They feel engaged, considered and this strengthens the farmer value structure. The toolkit allows farmers to select clauses that might be of relevance and to easily produce a printable and saveable Code of Conduct that provides the conceptual basis for general, scalable guidelines (production, ownership, sharing and use of data in agriculture).
Have a look at a very packed page on the challenge around data with clarifications on the lexicon for terms such as “metadata, interoperability, governance, cleaning and big data.” We learn that “over the last two years, a CODATA-led pilot project has developed, tested and refined methods for aligning metadata specifications, taxonomies and ontologies to address these problems in a consensual fashion.”
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