back to article Food security group, Linux Foundation working on crop data standard

Food security group CGIAR is working with the Linux Foundation to standardize data sharing about agricultural fields on a global scale. The partnership aims to unify data standards and operating procedures to support the sharing and use of field boundary data, which they suggest could deliver benefits for the 500 million …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe it's just me..

    .. but I have to fight with my mild dyslexia not to read that as CIGAR.

    That would only represent tobacco crops, though :).

    1. William Towle
      Holmes

      Re: Maybe it's just me..

      > .. but I have to fight with my mild dyslexia not to read that as CIGAR.

      So did I, but it turns out that sometimes a CGIAR is just a CGIAR.

  2. ecofeco Silver badge

    Very cool

    This is a good idea!

    1. pavel.petrman

      Re: Very cool

      John Deere already had this idea about two decades ago and is now considered the world's foremost holder of global soil and crop data.

      Talk about data harvesting.

      1. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

        Re: Very cool

        John Deere isn't doing it for global food security though, they're doing it to chisel more profits from a critical product that cannot be done without.

  3. Denarius Silver badge

    may be cynical

    But, this also looks like a misguided attempt that will document where and whom to target when doing mass land grabs specialising valuable commodities. Local rice and cassava growers not so much, but small holder coffee, cocoa should be wary. Governments and their bureaucrats can know too much. As for standardising APIs and units of measurement, good idea, but isn't that already done. Its called the metric system.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Biggest benefit...

    ...to food security would be if we could find a way to fix greed, both human and corporate. There is plenty of food to go around, the problem is the "going around" part. So while better data is going to help, it will only matter if it is applied to the right problem, i.e. getting food to everybody who needs it as a matter of human rights, rather than maximizing the profits of large multinational companies.

    We can look for profit elsewhere; at this point in our civilization we should be treating food, shelter, and clean water as common entitlements

    1. hayzoos

      Re: Biggest benefit...

      So true. Human productivity far exceeds needs worldwide. Nobody in this world needs to be homeless, or hungry, or without safe water.

      Greed is only aceptable in very small measure to motivate productivity. Beyond that it is bad, very bad at the levels present currently. Greed has been at bad levels since before recorded history. Remember, greed is one of the sevem deadly sins.

    2. M.V. Lipvig Silver badge

      Re: Biggest benefit...

      I gave you a thumbs up for the basic sentiment but no, we shouldn't. People should be required to put in effort to secure their basic needs. Anyrhing else is just forcing one person to provide for another. That is theft at best and slavery at worst.

      I see no issue with creating a way for people to pay their own way though. This was one of the few things our President Roosevelt did right. He didn't just give people handouts, he made them work for their handouts. That work is what transformed America into a powerhouse. Want free bread and water, you can starve as far as I'm concerned but if you want to take a job, say, building a new road, no problem. The taxpayer pays the person to build the road, the poor person gets to put in an honest day's work for an honest day's pay which he can use to buy his basic needs, and road will benefit the taxpayer for years to come. Everyone wins. Just hand them a sack of cash and they become parasites with no self-pride, the taxpayer is robbed of seeing any benefit from the money stolen from his paycheck, everyone loses.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like