Ground Humidity Monitoring Sensor to be displayed There is no need to irrigate "on blind"- in Agritech, new system for monitoring the ground, humidity will be displayed. This system was developed specially for NASA for the space ship Phoenix which landed on Mars.
The most advanced sensor, which will be exhibited in Agritech 09' which was developed for NASA, can save a significant amount of water, in agriculture. It was fixed to one of the robotic arms of the space ship to identify water on the Mars.
Dan Meiri, the general manger of Agritech, said that these sensors can measure the humidity percentage precisely covering, relatively big areas. The collected data is automatically transmitted to specific website so that the software can control in real time the timing and the quantity of the irrigation. The sensor will be distributed by AGROLAN specializing in advanced technologies.
Most of the existing sensors can test only small volume of soil, the new sensor can test big volumes which will represent the entire environment of the plant.
Israel helps curb global food crisis by transferring agricultural technologyEDMONTON –
Despite a declinein oil prices and projected increase in agricultural yields,the world food crisis continues,especially in the poorest countries.But sharing knowledge can turn the tide. That was the message relayed by the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem’s Professor Ayal Kimhi, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management, at a University of Alberta (U of A) lecture on last week. The U of A Hillel organized the Israel’s Technology Transfer to Developing Countries lecture. “Even though the food crisis is an ongoing problem, transferring knowledge works and Israel is a leader in this,” said Kimhi.
“We need to be developing and transferring technologies suitable for existing conditions to improve agricultural productivity,
despite problems like knowledge gaps, inadequate infrastructures and insufficient financial resources.”
Israel is doing many agricultural technology transfers in developing countries. Some of the successful Israeli technologies transfer projects Kimhi noted are the low-pressure irrigation systems in South Africa, the aqua-culture enterprises in Uganda, the comprehensive rural development project in Angola and the dairy farms in Eastern Europe. Kimhi explained that in Angola, an Israeli company is building villages, means of production for farmers and a cooperative system. This has been so successful that there has been a big boom in that region, with a huge population growth. “In Israel, we have a foreign ministry and a ministry of agriculture working to specifically find ways for Israeli technology to help other countries,” said Kimhi. “Doing this kind of work helps to broaden people’s perception of Israel, seeing that it’s a superpower in technology, not just a land from the bible or what you see on CNN.” Israeli companies are sharing low-pressure irrigation system with developing countries, because that is what works bestthere, conveyed Kimhi. “It’s cheaper and more viable. There’s no need for the more famous drip irrigation system, which is more sophisticated and expensive.” Kimhi discussed how there is a growing demand for grain, explaining that there are two reasons for this.
First, the consumption habits of people in developing countries (like China, India, and Russia) are changing. More people are eating more meat (and each kilogram of beef requires 6-7 kilograms of grain). Second, there is an increasing demand for biological fuels.
Kimhi said this is being “stimulated by the rise of fossil fuel prices, subsidies for biological fuel production and the expansionof bio-fuel production.” Although the demand for grain is on the rise, the supply is too slow. Kimhi explained that there are many reasons for this. “The long-run causes are urbanization and land conversion, desertification and water shortage, declining agricultural
investments and slowing rates of productivity growth. The shortrun causes are climate change, natural disasters and increasing
production costs. “The anti-inflationary policy of grain-exporting countries (India, China, Russia, Argentina, Egypt, and Mexico), the declining international grain stocks, and the speculative activity in grain futures markets are why prices are high,” added Kimhi.
And with increased food prices come poverty, hunger, malnutrition, food riots and political instability. Still, Kimhi said, “there are
remedies for the food shortage, like increasing farmland use,removing agricultural protections, renewing agricultural investments through research, infrastructure and markets, andaccelerating technology transfers.”
