Agclimate telecon 2014-03-04

Back to Ag & Climate Workspace
Please note special time 10 am ET (for this telecon only).
Agenda:

• RDA (Research Data Alliance) presentations (Johannes Keizer, UN FAO, et al.)
  • Agricultural Data Interoperability IG
  • Wheat Data Interoperability WG
• Cluster session at ESIP Summer 2014 Meeting, Copper Mtn, CO
  • Session proposal and title
  • Other possible speaker(s): USDA Regional Climate Hub (Northern Plains)
• Review of past and ongoing work on climate effects on agriculture

Attendees:

• RDA: Johannes Keizer (U.N. FAO), Esther Dzale Yenmo and Odile Hologne (French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA))
• ESIP: Arif Albayrak, Brian Wee, Carol Meyer, Chung-lin Shie, Erin Robinson, Josh Lieberman, Nancy Hoebelheinrich, Susan Heinz, Bill Teng

Minutes:

• Johannes presented on Agricultural Data Interoperability IG
  • RDA is supported by European Commission, U.S. (NSF), and Australia.
  • Agricultural Data Interoperability IG should more appropriately be called Agricultural Data IG (i.e., not just interoperability). (From its Web page:) It encompasses all issues related to data important for the development of global agriculture and promotes good practices in data sharing, management, and interoperability.
  • RDA Third Plenary Meeting is coming up in Dublin, March 26-28, 2014.
  • Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN)
• Esther presented on Wheat Data Interoperability WG
  • Why wheat? Because it's one of the main global stable crops, and there's an existing effort, Wheat Initiative, one main objective of which is to contribute to global food security. Wheat Initiative has a Wheat Information System. Wheat Data Interoperability WG is working with the Wheat Initiative.
  • What kinds of data? In Towards the construction of an integrated Wheat Information System report, Fig. 4 shows the average rank of importance of wheat data types in the coming five years.
  • So far, no remote sensing data are involved. Possible in the future. Main issue is how to make such data comparable with non-remote sensing data.
• Bill briefly summarized what Ag & Climate Cluster is trying to do, specifically with USDA LTAR.
• Everyone expressed interest in staying in touch and exploring potential collaborations. Thanks to Johannes and Esther for very interesting and informative presentations!
• Brian mentioned iPlant Collaborative (NSF-funded), which is of interest to FAO and INRA.
  • Brian will initiate connections between all interested parties (FAO, INRA, iPlant, and ESIP). DONE
  • Possibility of iPlant demo in future Ag & Climate telecon.
• Group discussed upcoming Summer meeting
  • Need a session title to propose.

==> ACTION: Bill to send a draft title to group for comments.

• • Possibility of session speaker from USDA Regional Climate Hubs, Northern Plains region? Brian knows the Hub Leader, Justin Derner, who's also involved in LTAR.

==> ACTION: Brian to contact Derner as a possible speaker for Summer meeting.