Undergraduate placement opportunities in Germany

The BES Agricultural Ecology Specialist Group are involved with an international collaboration (funded by BiodivERsA) to do multi-taxa work on effects of farmland heterogeneity. Their German partners (Teja Tscharntke's group in Göttingen) have asked them to circulate the following, which involves fieldwork related to and as part of the international project:

We have the possibility to fund students from Canada, UK (and USA) for doing an internship. The funds come from DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). We are looking for 2 undergraduate students to participate in the FarmLand field work in Göttingen. Our offers can be found in the DAAD database. The title of our offers: "Biodiversity and biological control in agricultural landscapes"” and "Pollinator diversity and ecosystem functioning in agricultural landscapes".

The BiodivERsA project has a website.

‘AD and Algae: Closing the Loop’

InCrops and EnAlgae host 'AD and Algae: Closing the Loop'; a networking meeting to introduce opportunities and challenges for coupling AD with growing microalgae. The event will take place on Wednesday 18 July 14:00 -17:30 at Db Conference Rooms, Kempson Way, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP32 7AR.

Why couple AD with algae?

• AD produces liquid digestate, CO2 and, if coupled to CHP, low grade heat.
• All these are needed to grow algae.
• Growing algae for feed, chemicals and/or energy applications could add value to AD operations.
• Currently demand for algae outstrips supply, and new business opportunities are emerging.

This FREE event is aimed at anyone interested in either growing algae, or in exploring options for adding value to AD.

It will

• give an overview of the synergies that exist between AD operations and growth of algal biomass
• discuss challenges involved with the recovery and utilisation of AD digester products and the potential benefits if applied to microalgae production
• discuss the practical implications of scaling up the integration of algae production into an AD system
• introduce the variety of commercial and legal aspects that need to be considered
• facilitate building links between AD and algae experts
• showcase the work of the newly launched INTERREG NW Europe Strategic Initiative 'EnAlgae', of which InCrops is a partner

Registration - please contact Julia O'Rourke, InCrops Events Co-ordinator, before 10 July 2012, by email adapt.events@uea.ac.uk or call 01603 591765.

More information.

Research Project at BSPB available

Research Project - Building a Portfolio of Material on Plant Breeding Successes for BSPB's Communications Programme

Do you have a knowledge and understanding of crop improvement, an inquiring mind, great communication skills, a desire to make contacts and gain experience in the communication of science and the plant breeding industry and some time to spare in the next few months? If so, BSPB would like to hear from you.

BSPB is the representative association for the commercial plant breeding industry in the UK. Our 59 members are breeders and breeders’ agents for varieties of agricultural crops, vegetable seed for the professional market and amenity grass. Our main functions as a Society are licensing and royalty collection on certified and farm saved seed, the organisation of variety trials, representing our members on regulatory, technical and IP matters and communicating the role and importance of commercial plant breeding. We have recently revised our Communications strategy to address a broad audience, targeting particularly MPs and MEPs, other policy makers, regulators, R & D funders and royalty payers, including farmers who pay royalties on farm saved seed.

We want to develop a comprehensive portfolio of stories, articles, data, images and video clips about plant breeding developments including specific achievements and breakthroughs in a broad range of crops, information about the benefits of plant breeding developments to users, examples of success from collaborative R & D and examples of effective translation of R & D into practice. This material will form a resource for developing printed material, presentations and our new web site.

We wish to appoint someone, possibly a student, for 2 months to source and collect this material through a programme of visits to plant breeding companies, research organisations and others. We are looking for an individual who has technical knowledge of plant breeding and crop improvement, excellent communication skills, self-motivation and organisational ability who has their own car and is able to travel within the UK to carry out this project.

If you are interested contact Penny Maplestone at the BSPB (Tel 01353 653201)

www.bspb.co.uk

Food System Planning Theory and Practice call for papers

Next call for papers:

Food System Planning Theory and Practice (deadline: April 20)

Bolstered by growing societal concerns about the equity and environmental sustainability of the global food system, planners increasingly are becoming engaged in local efforts to analyze and address food system challenges and opportunities.

Food system planning is increasingly practiced not just by planning professionals, but also by architects, landscape architects, and staff at NGOs and public agencies. In this special topic focus, we encourage practicing planners and others engaged in food system planning — as well as planning scholars and students — to submit applied research-based papers. As there is little attention paid to their work in the literature, rural planners are especially encouraged to submit papers.

Examples of topics include:

* food deserts, swamps, and oases
* siting of community and public gardens, and farmers' and mobile markets
* innovations in emergency food assistance
* retail access
* regional planning and economic development related to farm and agribusiness retention and expansion
* mapping of food distribution systems
* farmland protection
* metropolitan agriculture
* food policy councils
* integrating food policy into state and federal agencies

See more details at JAFSCD's calls for papers.

Call for papers

See http://www.agdevjournal.com/current-special-topic-call.html for the details below.


CALL FOR PAPERS

The Essential Principles of Small- and Mid-Scale Food Value Chain Development

Manuscripts due February 15, 2011

For details about JAFSCD and author guidelines, visit www.AgDevJournal.com/submissions.

JAFSCD invites researchers, ag/food system development professionals, and others to submit applied research papers, critical reflection essays, commentaries, and other manuscripts that provide critical insights into small- and mid-scale food value chain development.

Food value chains (FVCs) are a hot topic among agriculture and food systems development professionals. In FVCs, farmers and ranchers are treated as strategic partners, not as interchangeable — and exploitable — input suppliers. Values-based food supply chains (value chains) are strategic alliances between farms, ranches, and other supply-chain partners who distribute rewards equitably across the supply chain. They can include farm-to-institutions (schools, hospitals, prisons), multiproducer processors and wholesalers, multifarm CSAs, food hubs, food webs and networks, and the like. All partners in these business alliances recognize that creating maximum value for the product depends on significant interdependence, collaboration, and mutual support.[1]

Research suggests that successful mid-scale FVCs are built on three foundations:

* Appropriate volumes of high-quality, differentiated, market-engaging food products, coupled with value-adding stories of people, land, and practices;
* Strategic partnerships based on trusting, transparent, and win/win business relationships; and
* Effective, efficient supply-chain management and logistics, including product marketing, aggregation, processing, distribution, and record-keeping.

Papers can explore specific components within a chain (a farmer co-op or association), interactions of two or more links in a chain (farmers, wholesalers, processors, retailers, and eaters), or an entire chain. Examples include:

* Case studies of successful or failed FVC programs
* Research and education strategies that help build resilient FVCs
* How are FVCs playing a role in rural development?
* The role of FVCs in increasingly multifunctional rural landscapes
* Systematic analyses of key differences between FVCs and traditional food supply chains
* Local and global FVCs: influence of globalization on FVCs; should these be accepted or mediated?
* Overview analysis of the values chain sector (comparisons or outcomes across many cases)
* Implications of new food safety legislation on values chains
* Storage and transportation logistics
* Branding and geographical identity
* Performance and impact analysis
* Scaling up
* Building trust and transparency
* Business planning and/or record-keeping

The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development is a NEW online-only international, peer-reviewed journal focused on applied research and best practices in the development of thriving farming communities and sustainable food systems. Peer reviewers include development practitioners, organization and agency staff, faculty, graduate students, consultants, and farmers from around the world with expertise in a wide range of agriculture and food-systems issues as they relate to community, ecological sustainability, and economic development. JAFSCD is online at www.AgDevJournal.com.

[1] Adapted with permission from Stevenson, G. W. and Pirog, R. (2008). Values-based supply chains: Strategies for agrifood enterprises of the middle. In T. Lyson, G. W. Stevenson, and R. Welsh (Eds.), Food and the Mid-Level Farm: Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

OPEN CALL

The Journal welcomes papers at any time on any subject related to the development aspects of agriculture and food systems.

Content can focus specifically on conservation and farmland protection, value-adding, cooperative marketing, value chains, distribution, farm labor, market research, consumer decision-making drivers, and other topics. Authors are encouraged to submit applied research papers, commentary, and thought-provoking articles that inform the emerging field of agriculture and food systems development. Faculty and students, Extension and other educators, planners, consultants, staff with farm agencies and farm and community organizations, and farmers are invited to submit material.

For both calls, manuscripts should focus on the practical application of these innovations: the organization and mechanics of a program or strategy; engagement of stakeholders; challenges and unique solutions; impact analysis; and lessons learned. The Journal encourages "accessible scholarship" -- minimizing jargon, writing in the active voice, and addressing the interests of both practitioners and academics. These papers should inspire and inform new and existing community development efforts to establish and sustain farms. Papers that feature survey results with descriptive statistics, or case studies featuring best practices (or even post-mortem analyses), are highly encouraged.

The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development
is published by New Leaf Publishing and Consulting (www.NewLeafNet.com).

Sci/Tech Bar in Cambridge

The Cambridgeshire branch of the British Science Association plans to organise a Sci/Tech Bar in Cambridge.

SciBars typically provide a forum for scientists and non-scientists to get together in an informal setting (a bar) to discuss a scientific topic. Typically, an active researcher/scientist introduces the session with a short background talk (< 30 minutes) on their work and this is followed by a general discussion around the subject.

We have come up with a new angle for a Sci/Tech Bar and the aim would be to convey the following messages to the public:

1. The importance of long term funding of basic science

2. The steps and timeframe required to develop the science/technology into a product already on the market or close to market

3. The difference in timescales from initial scientific discovery to products in different sectors

4. The interdisciplinary nature of product development (and therefore dependence on advances in different scientific disciplines)

5. The application of sciences into different end sector products (a classic example is the NASA technology and memory foam mattresses)

The proposed format would have a researcher/scientist give a short timeline of the key discoveries in the field that have lead to the point the science/technology could be developed into a commercial product (15 minutes). This would then be followed by a person from the company who highlights the development into a product on or near market (15 minutes). In some instances, one person could present both aspects.

Cambridge is the ideal place for such a format, with one of the world's leading research universities combined with a high level of Business Enterprise Research and Development, not only in start-ups but also in established multinational corporations.

We are now looking for companies who are willing to volunteer for a Sci/Tech bar which will start first quarter 2011. We anticipate that this would provide an ideal opportunity for local High Tech companies to showcase their technology to the wider community. If you or your company are interested, or want to know more about the Sci/Tech bar, please get in contact with Dr Katia Smith-Litière before 20 December at info@britishscienceassociation-cambridgeshire.org.uk.