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Registration is now open! IGAD Coffee Break Webinar on 20 October 2021 from 13:00 to 13:30 CEST

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The next webinar part of the Research Data Alliance Interest Group for Agricultural Data (IGAD)’s new Coffee Break initiative will take place on 20 October from 13:00 to 13:30 CEST. The webinar, titled Growing Digital Agriculture from the Grassroots: designing just and sustainable agricultural data applications will feature Sarah-Louise Ruder, Dr. Hannah Wittman, and Kevin Cussen, from University of British Columbia (UBC) Farm.

During this webinar, Sarah-Louise Ruder, Dr. Hannah Wittman, and Kevin Cussen will present LiteFarm, a living case study for a tool that leverages digital technology for social and ecological justice. LiteFarm is a free, open-access, and open-source web-based application developed through farmer-led consultation by the (UBC) Farm, as well as through community-based research with farmers across North and South America. 

As a community-driven, free and open-source application reporting on social, financial, and ecological indicators, LiteFarm is unlike other digital farming tools. It equips farmers with the data and tools to make informed decisions about the health of their farm, their livelihood, their community, and the planet. Though still in early development, hundreds of farmers on six continents have adopted the platform to run their farms.

Even further, the presenters will facilitate a conversation on data governance, justice, and transitions to more just and sustainable food systems with questions including: 

  • In the age of big data and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what governance and economic models support food & data sovereignty? 
  • What are data commons? Who gets to define and enact data commons? Who is involved? Who can share what and with whom? 
  • What governance and economic models could secure the longevity of non-profit innovations like LiteFarm, without charging for access or monetizing farmer data without their informed consent?

Registration is now open. Interested participants can register for the webinar here.

Presenter
Sarah-Louise Ruder

 

Speaker

Sarah-Louise Ruder is a PhD student at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability. She lives and works on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Her interdisciplinary research explores transitions to more sustainable, food secure, and equitable food systems and the politics of novel agri-food technologies. 

 

 

 

Presenter
Dr. Hannah Wittman

 

Speaker

Dr. Hannah Wittman is a Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability. Her research examines the ways that the rights to produce and consume food are contested and transformed through struggles for agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and agrarian citizenship. Her projects include community-based research on farmland access, transition to organic agriculture, and seed sovereignty in British Columbia, agroecological transition and the role of institutional procurement in the transition to food sovereignty in Ecuador and Brazil, and the role that urban agriculture and farm-to-school nutrition initiatives play in food literacy education. 

 

Presenter
Kevin Cussen

 

Speaker

Kevin Cussen joined the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) at UBC Farm in early 2020 as the LiteFarm product lead. He now leads the effort to put LiteFarm in the hands of 10,000 sustainable farmers worldwide by 2023. Before joining the CSFS, Kevin occupied numerous technology leadership roles in the private and public sectors. Kevin holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas and an MBA with a focus on Global Business from the University of Washington.

 

 

 

More about the IGAD Coffee Break

The new IGAD Coffee Break webinar series, which features eight different webinars and presenters running from 16 June to 27 October 2021. The innovative initiative will help to create an ongoing dialogue and encourage the exchange of experiences and ideas on agricultural research and innovation within the IGAD community and beyond. The webinar titled ‘Analysis of time series of Sentinel 1 and Sentinel 2 data – the new quality of information for Agriculture’ on 27 October 2021 will close out the series. To watch past Coffee Break webinars in full visit the RDA/IGAD YouTube channel here.