Contact: Mr Don Lehane
Electronic Information and Electronic Publishing in Agri-Food Sector
Convenient access to information is a key factor in the development of all sectors of the Irish market including the agri-food sector. Indeed a case could be made that a research and development backbone is of more importance in the agriculture and food area due to the relatively low capital expenditure on R&D in that sector to date. Technology developments such as the World Wide Web, Internet, Intranets, CD-ROM and improved telecommunications infrastructure have now provided mechanisms whereby large volumes of up to date information can be conveniently accessed. We propose that:
A national information server should be established for the agricultural and food sector.
1. This would contain a range of Irish and internationally published information in areas such as:
a.Food science technology, ingredients technology, plant & animal breeding, horticulture, veterinary science, food & human nutrition, food microbiology, international sales & marketing data, Irish & EU legislation, food additives, composition and labelling legislation, pesticides, conference proceedings, food safety, forestry, environmental conservation, field crop production, health & safety etc.
b.Web/Internet access would be the primary method of accessing the information but it would also be possible to supply information on CD-ROM, DVD etc. for institutions or individuals who would not have Internet connectivity.
c.The above information is sourced from international journals, research reports, conference proceedings, books, published theses, Government legislation, statistical publications and market reports. A database such as CAB Abstracts contains over 3 million records containing agricultural research information from over 130 countries translated into English.
2. We would also propose that specific Irish agricultural and food related information should be published in electronic form and made available to Irish and international audiences via the national information server and/or other electronic forms such as CD-ROM. They would serve as both research and sales/marketing tools and specific products could be developed for areas such as food research, food safety, company and product information, Irish food legislation, Government reports etc. Food products and marketing information could form part of electronic commerce (e-commerce) applications in the years ahead.
The agricultural and food sector of Lendac’s LRSNet information server has recently been established as a resource for the Irish agricultural and food community and could be viewed as a model of the type of information server discussed above. For further details on above can be obtained at the following web address http://lrs.lendac.ie