Newsletter on Agriculture & Innovation July 2018
Milan Kouřil believes that climate change is impacting the quality of grasslands in the Czech Republic, “There has been a change in their composition, increased photosynthetic activity and a longer growing season.” He is part of an Operational Group developing methods of monitoring grasslands to determine suitable harvesting times and ensure quality fodder for cattle breeders. Read more.
Jussi Juhola from ProAgria, Finnish advisory service: “Did you know that agricultural advisers in Finland together travel 5.5 million km annually?” ProAgria has launched a free, open-source, platform in order to improve efficiency of agricultural advice and transform Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) through digitisation. The platform enables 24/7 advice, improved access to information and peer group benchmarking. Find out more.
EIP – AGRI SERVICE POINT ACTIVITIES
Many farmers already benefit from digital technologies, but barriers still exist. In April, 94 delegates from 25 European countries met in Latvia for an EIP-AGRI workshop where they shared experiences and inspiring cases, discussed needs and identified opportunities of the role of Agricultural Innovation and Knowledge Systems (AKIS) in fostering digitisation. Read the final report.
Don’t forget, you still have until 10 September to apply to the 2 new Focus Groups: “Non-chemical weed management in arable cropping systems” and “Pests and diseases of the olive tree*”
*Please note: After receiving feedback from olive growers, we have modified the dates for the first meeting of the Focus Group Pests and diseases of the olive tree to 15-16 January 2019
This MOOC (massive open online course) will help you build an effective monitoring system for your Smart Specialisation Strategy and help your region meet its long-term goals. It has been organised by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and is open to anyone interested in monitoring knowledge-based regional development and in particular monitoring Smart Specialisation Strategies. Find out more here.
The overall aim of AgriDemo-F2F is to enhance peer-to-peer learning within the commercial farming community. The project is creating a geo-referenced inventory of open commercial farms that engage in demonstration activities in Europe. Case studies have been selected to perform an in-depth comparative analysis to deepen understanding of farm demonstration activities. Find out more.
The PROVIDE H2020 project was set up to develop a conceptual basis, tools and improved policy options to support the ‘smart’ provision of public goods by EU agriculture and forestry. It has produced a knowledge platform which contains public goods mapping and valuation, tools for stakeholder participation in policy support and governance mechanism design. More info.
Researchers in Germany and Hungary have engineered a new type of pellet from cyanobacteria and fermentation residues from biogas facilities. They are a sustainable combined fertiliser and insect repellent suitable for organic farming, particularly brassicas. They are very good for the soil and cause no harm to bees and earthworms. Find out more.
OK-Net EcoFeed, Horizon 2020 project which is helping organic pig and poultry farmers in achieving the goal of 100% use of organic and regional feed, has just launched their website and is now active on Twitter. Find out more about the project here.
The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) has a number of calls for proposals open until 6 September 2018. These include topics such as producing biopesticides and bio-based fertilisers, proteins for food and feed from alternative, sustainable sources and developing bio-based packaging that is biodegradable/ compostable and/or recyclable. More information.
Did you know that the Greek Managing Authority has opened a call for Operational Groups? The call has a budget of 46.5 M€ to support 285 Operational Groups. The call closes on 3 September, more info here and here. Read EIP-AGRI brochure on Operational Groups in Greek.
