Being Data-Driven: A New Approach to Decision Making

With many areas of our day-to-day lives becoming digital, from how we communicate to the exposure of previously trapped knowledge across geographic and social boundaries, it is not a surprise that the agricultural sector is also shifting to digital platforms. As such, the adoption of good digital practices at a global scale is important for…
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Crop-devastating pests in Rwanda to be targeted with space-age technology from PRISE programme

Pests, which threaten to destroy key cash and food security crops including maize, tomato and beans, are to be prioritized as part of an integrated pest management strategy using state-of-the-art space-age technology. Scores of smallholder farmers in Rwanda are the latest to benefit from the CABI-led consortium, funded by the UK Space Agency and the Global Challenges Research…
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Farmers in Malawi to benefit from space-age technology in fight against devastating crop pests

Farmers in Malawi are the latest to benefit from a CABI-led consortium, funded by the UK Space Agency, which is providing a Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE) to fight pest outbreaks that could devastate crops and livelihoods across the country. The service, which uses state-of-the-art technology to help inform farmers in sub-Saharan Africa – including Zambia, Ghana and…
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Data from plant clinics is contributing to Trinidad and Tobago's agricultural database

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Home gardening enthusiasts and farmers from as far as Rio Claro seized the opportunity to have their plant sicknesses diagnosed at a plant clinic hosted by Trinidad and Tobago’s Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (MoALF) at its Farmers’ Training Centre in Centeno. After a in-depth one-on-one discussion with Ministry representatives from the Extension, Training and Information Services Division…
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Looking back on 2013: Plantwise brainstorm

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Last year, 2013, was a productive year for Plantwise. There were over 120,000 visits to the online knowledge bank, with over 250,000 page views. This is great news because there were over 15,000 views per month, with people exploring distribution maps, browsing the image-led diagnostic tool, and looking at factsheets on treatment of pests and…
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National Geographic Hackathon taps into CABI & Plantwise data

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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0ImHk2YwZU&w=560&h=315] Check out this video to hear how CABI contributed to National Geographic’s Future of Food Hackathon in Washington DC last weekend. CABI’s Dr Martin Parr and Dr Timothy Holmes of the Plantwise knowledge bank describe the type of open access data from CABI which was offered to participants of the hackathon, and how these…
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So how can we deal with all this plant clinic data?

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There are many ways that data from plant clinics can inform agricultural activities. Clinic data can be used to identify the distribution of major crops and diseases, and help to flag up new and emerging pests and diseases. These data can also contribute to the monitoring of the quality of advice given to farmers at…
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