agriculture
See the following -
Hacking Agriculture
For farmers in parts of Asia, where open access to knowledge is limited, a new wave of agriculture information and resources is aimed at making their jobs easier and more profitable...
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iCow Launch With Safaricom
As readers of our blog will know, we have been supporting Kenyan agricultural start-up, iCow, for a while. Yesterday, they announced the details of their partnership with leading mobile operator Safaricom. Here is our take on iCow’s journey to date [...]. Read More »
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Libelium Pours Its Smart Tech Into Wine Production
If Libelium co-founder and CEO Alicia Asin has her way, smart systems enabled by her company's sensor networks eventually will swarm the world around us, enabling and automating more sustainable business decisions. Read More »
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Making Progress Towards Open Access For CGIAR
It has long been acknowledged that there is a veritable treasure trove of agricultural research data, information and knowledge within CGIAR that, if more widely available, could increase the pace of positive impact on the agricultural sector. Recognizing this, CGIAR is actively working towards policies, practices and standards to make that a reality. Read More »
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Millions March Against Monsanto Calling For Boycott Of GMOs
On May 24, millions of people from around the world participated in the March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of genetically engineered foods and other harmful agro-chemicals. Marches occurred on six continents, in 52 countries, with events in more than 400 cities, including 47 U.S. states. Read More »
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Mobile Learning: How Smartphones Help Illiterate Farmers In Rural India
Small farmers are some of the most important people in the world – as Hendrik Knoche explains in today’s ‘Digital Diversity’, they provide over half of the world’s food supply. Helping such farmers improve their methods through innovative and efficient agriculture has long been an aim of development projects [...]. Read More »
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Monsanto Supersizes Farmers’ Weed Problem, But Science Can Help
When Monsanto came up with its Roundup Ready system of genetically engineered seeds in the 1990s, designed for immunity to the herbicide glyphosate, the Big Ag giant seemed like a superhero to farmers looking for an effective way to fight weeds. Read More »
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New England Turns To Local Food To Sustain Its Future
The Year: 2060. The location: New England. The menu: At least 50 percent local food. This isn’t the setting for a movie. It’s the vision for the cluster of states known as New England. By 2060, states including Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts could be sourcing half of their food from within the region. Read More »
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No Longer ‘Publishing As Usual’
Despite the spread in use of ICTs in agricultural research (see ICT Update 70) information is still constrained by the way it is published and the degree to which it is open. Piers Bocock of CGIAR shares how his organisation is addressing this. Read More »
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Now Available: 29 Flavors Of Open Source Seeds, Sans Patents
There’s been an argument going on for at least 100 years over seeds. Should they be free? Or should the people who develop them control, and profit from, their use? If they were shared, we’d have a more fluid development of agricultural technology [...] On the other hand, maybe breeders wouldn’t want to engage in the hard work of experimenting if they couldn’t sell their inventions for lots of money. Read More »
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Open Data And Open Science
The G8 International Conference on Open Data in April 2013 aimed to make agricultural research more widely available to improve global food security. Carlos Morais Pires from the European Commission discusses the EC’s effort to increase access to data and reviews the G8’s plans. Read More »
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Open Sourcing Our Food System: Planting Seeds For The Future
Food. It’s a basic human need. But as the world population has moved farther and farther from our agrarian roots, the food industry has shifted away from independent farmers and toward an industrial agricultural system. Increasingly, large agricultural companies are turning to monocultures and genetic engineering for efficiency of production and competitive advantage... Read More »
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Open-Source Seeds Challenge Monsanto, Support International Day Of Farmers' Struggles
Tomorrow, Thursday, April 17, the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) will release over 29 seed varieties into the global commons and humanity's “moral economy.” This new initiative hopes to provide a counterweight to private patenting of seeds, which has undermined farmers’ rights around the world. Read More »
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Opening Access – Views From The South
Open access initiatives help African countries to face development challenges. Read More »
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Openness And Visibility
ICT Update is not just about technology. This issue’s guest editor, Stephen Rudgard from FAO, is a major actor in opening agricultural knowledge online. He has asked a number of experts from different backgrounds to provide their perspective on various aspects of opening content. Read More »
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