Dina DJF

Head: Iver Thysen, Department of Agricultural Systems, DIAS
Dina Board member: Søren A. Mikkelsen, Danish Institute of Agricultural Science, DIAS
IT-Coordinators: Allan Leck Jensen, Department of Agricultural Systems; Erik Jørgensen, Biometry Research Unit; Mogens Sandø Lund, Deptartment of Breeding and Genetics

Dina DJF is a node in Dina which covers the Dina activities at Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, DIAS (Danish: Dansk JordbrugsForskning, DJF). The centre of the activities and the secretariat is located at the Department of Agricultural Systems (JBS).

One major objective of JBS is to support the agricultural research, in particular the research undertaken by DIAS, with expertise on the use and application of biostatistics and informatics. The objectives of Dina comply in a natural way with JBS's objectives within the fields of informatics in agriculture.

The primary cooperative partners of the JBS on methodological and theoretical issues in biostatistics and informatics are Aalborg University, Aarhus University and KVL. This cooperation is particularly important for the education of PhD students at Dina Foulum but also for other DIAS students who are not directly involved in the Dina activities. The DJF activities within biostatistics and informatics have been expanding since the early nineties, a process in which Dina has played an important role.

Scientific profile and research projects

'Model-Based Decision Support Systems in Agriculture' is a main research area at Dina DJF. A key issue is the development of appropriate stochastic models underlying the decision support systems, aiming to use suitable statistical methods for estimating and evaluating model structures and parameters from experimental or observational data, and for combining estimated model structures and parameters with expert knowledge. Different model types and statistical methods are used, but the probabilistic methodologies, applied in cooperation with Dina Aalborg, are of particular interest.

Dina DJF is also involved in the 'Spatial Statistics in Agriculture' activities in Dina, with a special concern of related activities in DIAS, for example within remote sensing and precision farming.

'Internet-based Advisory Systems in Agriculture' is another main research area. The information and decision support system Pl@nteInfo has since 1996 supplied Danish advisers and farmers with current information on a. o. weather, crop protection, and irrigation. Major concern is given to the development of interactive web pages and structures for online involvement of local advisers in providing information for farmers.

In the future, Dina DJF will continue to emphasize topics related to the implementation of decision support systems for the end-users, in particular via the Internet. This includes cooperation with the agricultural advisory system concerning the implementation of prototypes developed in Dina Foulum. The transfer of research results to the advisory system will be promoted by supporting and advising researchers in DIAS concerning modelling and programming methods.

The EU project EUNITA (1995-1997) and the foundation of EFITA have made Dina well-known outside Denmark.

Dina ruler

Author: webmaster@dina.kvl.dk. Updated: June 2001