Issues around farmers’ rights to data, both in terms of access to data and ownership of data, are crucial to one of the key areas of activity of GFAR: the opening of access to information systems for sharing, transforming and using agricultural knowledge, especially in light of GFAR’s overall approach to putting the smallholder farmer at the centre of innovation and seeking change in their lives.
GFAR has designed and convened a
TRAINING COURSE AND SYMPOSIUM
ON FARMERS' RIGHTS TO DATA
to be held in Johannesburg on 20-24 November 2017.
The event is co-funded by GODAN and CTA
and is organized by ITOCA.
- Read more about the training course here. Registration for the training is now closed.
- Read more about the international symposium here. Registration for the training is now closed.
Our keynote speakers and panel chairs are:
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Ajit Maru
Ajit Maru, Ph.D., grew up in Kenya, studied veterinary sciences in India and has served the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, National Dairy Development Board of India, International Service for National Agricultural Research, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology and the Global Forum on Agricultural Research/FAO in his professional career spanning almost 40 years. He now follows his life long interest in understanding and improving the livelihoods of small holder farmers. At the moment he is working on developing a single window platform to support small holder farmers of Gujarat, India, in their farming and participation in markets. |
Jeremy De Beer
Jeremy De Beer is a Full Professor of law at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, where he creates and shapes ideas—about technology innovation, intellectual property, and global trade and development. As an award-winning professor recognized for exceptional contributions to research and law teaching, his current work helps solve practical challenges related to innovation in the digital economy, life science industries, and clean technology sector. |
Dan Berne
Dan Berne is an independent consultant working at the nexus of water, food and energy. He leads the strategic planning work in the industrial agricultural irrigation market for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), a non-profit organization focused on energy efficiency. Working with the non-profit group AgGateway, Dan leads the effort to develop a set of data standards and formats to convert data for use in precision irrigation and other water management programs. He is an expert in standards development, business processes, market development and customer experience strategies. |
The symposium will feature presentations by:
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Juanita Chaves from the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR), who will present on issues of farmers' rights
Nicolene Fourie from the Earth Observation Science & Information Technology of CSIR (South Africa), who will present on legal and ethical aspects of farmers' access to data
Stephen Kalyesubula from iLabs@Mak Project of Makerere University (Uganda), who will present on key data for farm management
Kakha Nadiradze from the Association for Farmers Rights Defense (AFRD) of Georgia, who will present on interfaces between farmers' rights and access to big data for better farming
- Nico Kroese from SAWS will present the Rain 4 Africa project. SAWS is a partner of ARC and eight Dutch based partners in this project.
- more speakers to come...
Facilitator:
Valeria Pesce from GFAR.
Our trainers are:
- Dan Berne from Logom Ag Initiative (United States)
Training coordinator
Dan Berne is an independent consultant working at the nexus of water, food and energy. He leads the strategic planning work in the industrial agricultural irrigation market for the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), a non-profit organization focused on energy efficiency. Working with the non-profit group AgGateway, Dan leads the effort to develop a set of data standards and formats to convert data for use in precision irrigation and other water management programs. He is an expert in standards development, business processes, market development and customer experience strategies.
- Stephen Kalyesubula from iLabs@Mak Project of Makerere University (Uganda)Stephen is a graduate researcher at iLabs@Mak project-Makerere University-Kampala-Uganda and his research deals in developing of automated embedded systems in agriculture and health to promote sustainable development in Uganda. His key technological interests include; Data science, Artificial intelligence, Robotics and Internet of things. He is also a director for Youths in Technology and Development Uganda whose main mission is creating tech communities of practice where appropriate use of technology promotes sustainable development in Education, Agriculture and Health. His key responsibilities include; Promoting Agri-technology, Open data Team leader, Software Developer and a Poultry Farmer.
- Nicolene Fourie from the Earth Observation Science & Information Technology of CSIR (South Africa)Nicolene is currently employed as a Principal Scientist: Geo-Informatics with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in the Meraka Institute.
Her research portfolio include the deepening of the CSIR capability in Information science for spatial information governance and management models in support of Advanced Spatial Data Infrastructure, geospatial data processing and geospatial data custodianship. She is responsible for the formulation, development and implementation of the R&D strategies for information science for advanced spatial infrastructure. In addition she is dedicating significant time to investigate the economic expression of spatial information governance and management activities along the development value chain.
- Anneliza Collett from the Land Use and Soil Management Directorate of the DAFF (South Africa)
Ms. Collett is a Production Scientist within the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in the Directorate: Land Use and Soil Management. She is responsible for the development and management of spatial information pertaining to the potential, suitability, use and state of the natural agricultural resource. Part of her responsibilities includes technical scientific advice and support to land use managers and the contribution towards spatial planning tools and relevant legislation. She is also involved in the compilation of norms and standards for the protection and management of agricultural land and the review of agricultural potential studies.
Ms. Collett has a MSc degree where her thesis focussed on the demarcation and protection of agricultural land within the South African context, with special focus on the Gauteng province.
Read more and register (registration is required):