Joining Forces to Reduce Greenhouse Emissions
The COST CA16106 conference at MIGAL, for Precise Agriculture and reduction of greenhouse gases
Prof. Uri Marchaim, Head of the Precision Agriculture Department at MIGAL
as a representative of the state of israel, migal is a partner in the european network cost ca16106, which deals with the reduction of greenhouse gases, especially ammonia, in animal housing. during the cost conference in skopje the meeting in the galilee was approved.
the event in the galilee received partial funding from the european union, the israeli ministry of science and technology, the upper galilee regional council and tel hai college.
the cost workshop took place during 17th-21st february 2019. forty-two cost representatives from 22 countries participated (mainly from europe: denmark, holland, italy, czech republic, slovenia, slovakia, ireland, turkey, sweden, germany, norway, croatia, bulgaria, greece, macedonia, spain, poland, estonia, portugal, israel, and australia and canada).
the workshop addressed issues of policy, science, control and implementation in relation to mitigating ammonia emission regulations in agriculture in a broad sense: policy on systems to control ammonia and greenhouse gas release, reduction of ammonia release in various regions of the world, measurement methods and control strategies, and treatment of livestock in dairies and pastures. in addition, the workshops tackled the issue of precision agriculture in animals, including the use of neck collars on cattle to track their behavior, and remote sensing methods, as well as a demonstration of drones and sensors equipment at migal.
during the cost workshop, which was attended by researchers from israel and abroad, there were discussions in working groups (round tables), which led to high level of contacts between researchers from israel and researchers from abroad, and we expect joint projects in the near future.
as part of the cost workshop, a national conference in the field of precision livestock farming was held for an entire day, with the participation of about additional 65 representatives from israel. the workshop participants were greeted by the mayor of the upper galilee regional (county) council, the
president of tel hai college and representatives of the ministry of science and technology, the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of environmental protection.
the guests, who spent four days in the galilee, rejoiced at what they saw and heard. they admired the cranes in the agamon lake, the professional tour to dairies and poultry-houses, and many of them said they would return to israel. this is expressed in many emails with compliments.
it should be noted that the weather stood by us wonderfully, and it was only when we were in the conference hall that it rained!
