The network

'Network' is a keyword to the way Dina promotes its general objectives of making contact between disciplines and institutions in agricultural research, IT and informatics.
The basic network activities within the organisation itself are supervised and coordinated by the Network Committee which consists of 12-15 senior scientists from the member institutions.
Information about Dina and its various activities is provided mainly by Dina's Internet homepage. Supervised by Dina's leadership, the homepage is maintained on a day-to-day basis.
The network committee organizes yearly general workshops or thematic days, with the purpose of providing a meeting point across the disciplines and institutions.
It was an EU initiative from Dina which led to the creation of EFITA, European Network for Information Technology in Agriculture and Environment, in 1996. Dina arranged the first EFITA conference at KVL in 1997 and still plays an active role in the EFITA activities as well as in those of DSIJ, the Danish Society for Informatics in Agriculture.

Priority Research Areas and IT Coordinators

Dina could not be expected to deal with all the sub-disciplines and research areas that are relevant to its general objectives. To focus its activities, a number of priority research areas have been chosen - the choices to be seen as a dynamic process. For each priority area one or several IT-coordinators have been appointed, to act as mediators. The specific tasks of the IT-coordinators include: To write and maintain a home page for the priority area in question; to arrange yearly professional workshops in the area; to assist in coordinating Dina applications to large research programmes; and to participate in the activities of Dina's Research School whenever appropriate.
Among the areas where Dina has, so far, not been active (but may be so in the future) can be mentioned: Econometrics, epidemiology, systems analysis, and sub-disciplines in food science such as chemometrics and food production documentation.
Below are some details on the five research areas that have status as Dina priority areas as of February 2000.

Priority research area: Spatial statistics in agriculture

IT Coordinators: Morten Larsen, Dina KVL, and Rasmus Waagepetersen, Dina DJF. (The web page gives a description of the research area within Dina; provides links to people working in the area as well as links for download of publications; and contains various news and announcements.)
Present activities mostly fall in five sub-areas. Stochastic geometry deals with random geometric objects and is related to stereology which has been used e.g. to count and measure cells in onions; to quantify spraing in potatoes; and to describe the structure in grass swards. - Point processes are models for the spatial distribution of the points in point patterns. Such data occur frequently in spatial statistics and in agriculture. Examples of application include: Positioning of trees in a forest; and describing the development of weed plants. - Image analysis extracts information from images, for example to distinguish between weeds, crop and soil in a field. - Geostatistics mainly deals with spatial prediction. Examples: Estimating, on basis of measured clay content in a number of locations, the clay content at unobserved locations; describing how weed count data depend on organic matter, clay, silt, etc.- MCMC (Markov chain Monte Carlo) is a general computational technique which is useful when statistical models become analytically intractable.
The IT coordinators maintain the webpage 'Spatial Statistics in Agriculture'. They organised two workshops, 'Geostatistics in the Agricultural Sciences' (Sep. 18 1998) and 'Image Analysis and Spatial Statistics in Forestry' (Nov. 2 1999, a Nordic activity partly funded by NorFA). Further R. Waagepetersen organized a session at the IBS Nordic Regional Conference, June 1999. Both IT coordinators lectured in Dina Research School at the workshop in April 1998 and the summer school in August 1998, and they produced an introductory lecture note on MCMC for the workshop while Jesper Møller produced a note on MCMC for the summer school.

Priority research area: Information Technology and Agricultural Engineering

IT Coordinator (until 1998): Hans Rischel, Dina DTU
The basic idea for creating this area was that the development of IT intensive equipment for the primary agricultural sector is hardly possible unless engineering experts are involved. In order to approach the main goal DTU and DJF-Bygholm initiated work on a preliminary project proposal CompuWeed addressing development of solutions for non-chemical weed control.
To throw light on CompuWeed, and the expertise within information technology and agricultural engineering available from the four DTU Departments, the IT Coordinator organised a seminar for Dina at DTU on March 11, 1998. Results from the seminar were used to continue the work on a research proposal. In 1999 a development plan, "CompuWeed 2", has been presented; it involves DJF-Bygholm and -Flakkebjerg and a number of the DTU experts.

Priority research area: Internet-based Advisory Systems in Agriculture

IT Coordinator: Henrik Kjær Nielsen, Dina Skejby.
(The web page provides a general introduction to the priority area; refers to Internet related Dina publications and people; and gives - in Danish language - a more thorough but easily read description of the subject area.)
The Internet is rapidly gaining momentum, both in terms of use and of the number of applications based on Internet technology. In agriculture and forestry there is a large potential for applying Internet-based applications to answer questions and to help solve everyday problems regarding production and management.
The establishment of this Dina priority area aims at strengthening the cooperation between nodes in Dina that are actively involved in research and development with respect to the Internet. The intention is to support the transfer of technology and know-how between parties within Dina or with close relations to Dina.
On March 10 1999, a workshop was held at the Danish Agricultural Advisory Centre, Skejby where topics such as XML-technology, Internet as a medium for communication, and Testing your application were touched upon, and various Internet applications were presented. In connection with the workshop the Dina Thematic Day 99, Danish Agriculture in the Communication and Information Society, took place on March 11. For more information on the specific projects, see the section "Research and development" in this report, and also the case box on Pl@nteInfo.

Priority research area: Model-Based Decision Support Systems in Agriculture

IT-coordinators: Erik Jørgensen, Dina DJF and Allan Leck Jensen, Dina DJF (Website)
Computer-based decision support systems (DSSs) have a well-established tradition within agriculture. The DSSs range from simple accounting-based systems to systems based on detailed deterministic or stochastic models. Using different methods to model the same domain will produce different results, so if one wishes to compare the strengths and shortcomings of different DSSs, the underlying models of the DSSs must be well documented.
The purpose of this priority area is to focus on the use of models in agriculture; to follow the development of new modelling methods; to promote good modelling principles; and to inspire and coordinate joint applications for funding. Underlying assumptions and model aspects of DSSs in agriculture are: Observations and measurements; Recognition of uncertainty in the system; Management of uncertainty; Decision Support; Model Evaluation; From prototype to end-user.
In relation to the priority area, a Dina Workshop was held in Foulum on Oct. 22-23 1998, with 54 participants. The workshop had four main sessions: Modelling of growth processes; Bioinformatics; Decision support; and Graphical models and model selection
A Dina Workshop, Probabilistic Modelling of Potato Late Blight, is scheduled for the spring of 2000. With such a narrow subject, it is intended that the workshop go into detail with the specific problems concerning the ongoing development of the DSS.
For information on specific projects, see below in "Research and development".

Priority research area: Bioinformatics and Quantitative Genetics

IT Coordinators: Gunter Backes, Dina Risø and Mogens Sandø Lund, Dina DJF
Initiated in the fall of 1999, this priority area aims at promoting the application of bioinformatics and quantitative genetics in agricultural research - by participating in the drafting of new projects concerning respective topics, by offering educational opportunities, and by building up an interface for the contact to and between experts in these research fields.
Bioinformatics applies computer algorithms to sort through and to analyse biological data. It includes genomics and proteomics, that is: methods to analyse information from DNA and from protein, respectively. Because of the explosive growth in biological data there is a need for more and more advanced search and comparison algorithms, but this growth has also made an extended functional analysis possible. - Quantitative genetics takes the trait expression as starting point and aims at identifying genetic variation in the trait of interest. One important topic in this field is the mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL), to identify chromosomal regions with genes that affect quantitative traits. To this purpose, genetic markers with known positions are identified and associated with phenotypic records.
There is a large gap between bioinformatics and quantitative genetics, yet there are also signs that the two fields are moving towards each other: In bioinformatics, the change from pure data collection to functional analysis - in quantitative genetics, the evolution of QTL analysis from roughly defined traits to more sophisticated characters, revealed more precisely and under well-defined conditions. Therefore it was decided not to divide the area into 'bioinformatics' and 'quantitative genetics', but rather into animal related topics (M.S. Lund, DJF - QTL mapping and marker assisted selection in cattle and pigs) and plant related topics (G. Backes, Risø - QTL analysis, localisation of resistances and marker construction in barley and wheat).
The first output from this priority area was a contribution to a project application, "Mini-center for Statistical Bioinformatics".

The Dina nodes

Dina's activities at the member institutions are integrated in the local departments as part of their regular activities. However all essential obligations to the Dina network should be clearly expressed in the budgets of Dina and of the institution.
Below we briefly update on the seven Dina nodes, a term that refers to Dina's activities at each single member institution. The text is based on views of the past and the future, as seen - subjectively and from varying angles - by local scientists at the nodes.

Dina DJF

Chief responsible: Iver Thysen, Deputy Head of Dina. Dina Foulum, as was the name of Dina DJF until 1997, was from the beginning a main node in Dina, located at Research Center Foulum as a joint project of the Danish Institute of Plant and Soil Science and the Danish Institute of Animal Science which in 1997 joined to form the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences, DIAS, in Danish: DJF. Initially, Dina Foulum was staffed with 5 PhD students, 1 Masters student, 1 senior researcher (from 1993: 2), 1 computer technician and 1 secretary.
In 1992 a Department for Informatics and Biometry was established at the research center, and Dina Foulum became a part of the new department, constituting its informatics section but also playing a crucial role in the development of the biometry section and for its reputation among Danish statisticians. In 1997 the two sections became research groups in a new Department for Agricultural Systems.
While Dina Foulum was quite well-defined, Dina DJF is less clearly demarcated and more integrated in other departments; many activities are co-financed by other sources than Dina, and Dina people work in separate research groups at DJF. Main research activities at Dina DJF are: 1. Internet-based information / decision support, manifesting itself in Pl@nteInfo; 2. Decision support systems based on Bayesian methods; 3. Spatial statistics. The two latter are described above under the relevant 'priority research area' labels while Pl@nteInfo, the most broadly-aiming of Dina's activities - and stunningly successful as such -, is elaborated in a case box.
Dina has had a major importance for the application of informatics at DJF. Dina Aalborg is a main partner, and there has been a constant flow of knowledge from AAU to Foulum, notably on Bayesian networks and applied statistics. Cooperation on PhD education and projects has been extensive and several AAU candidates are now employed as researchers at DJF.
The rapid development of the biometry group at DJF, increasing from 2 to10 scientists during 1992-99, would not have been possible without Dina. The extraordinary funding through Dina of informatics projects and the presence of qualified researchers were a necessary basis for the relatively early uptake of the emerging Internet technologies resulting in Pl@nteInfo. - Further activities of Dina DJF include IT controlled equipment.
To conclude, the main benefit of Dina for DJF is that the institute has obtained research capabilities on an international level within the fields of biometry and informatics. Future plans include utilizing these capabilities in a broad range of activities within the scope of the research at DJF. A specific aim is to develop the area of decision support under uncertainty.

Dina KVL

Chief responsibles: M. Flensted-Jensen, Head of Dina, and A.R. Kristensen, Head of Dina Research School.
Dina KVL played a leading role in promoting computer science and IT methods in Danish agricultural science in the early 1990's, and in establishing IT based communication systems within the Dina network (Unix/Internet, VideoLink).
The main objective for Dina KVL is to make KVL the focal point for Dina in expanding the research relations in informatics/IT between the universities and agricultural research. The hope for the future is to support the role of informatics/IT also in relation to education, particularly at PhD level as it is already done, but at the masters level too, in disciplines such as bioinformatics, genetics, economics, agricultural engineering, and mathematical modelling.
The Dina activities at KVL, many of which concern collaborative work described in the projects section and in case boxes, are concentrated at three departments.
The Department of Mathematics and Physics houses since 1996 the management and secretariat of Dina; provides an IT coordinator (M. Larsen) and a research school expert (P. Sestoft); and contributes to various projects, the most important being: Forest inventory by image analysis of aereal photographs and possibly from satellites (M.Rudemo, M. Larsen, J. Lund, M.J. Tarp-Johansen; collaboration with Dina FSL), Pl@nteInfo (P. Sestoft, M. Larsen; collaboration with Dina DJF and Dina Skejby), and the education project Biomodelling (M. Flensted-Jensen and other teachers) which may later be followed up by other undergraduate education project proposals.
At The Department of Agricultural Science /Laboratory for Agrohydrology and Bioclimatology, two projects in 1997-99 have financed efforts concerning the reprogramming of the model Daisy (S. Hansen and P. Abrahamsen). See the case description.
The Department of Animal Science and Animal Health houses Dina Research School, the head of the school, A. Ringgaard Kristensen, who has been relieved from part of his ordinary duties by an assistant professor funded by Dina. The department also collaborates with Dina DJF on IT related research projects in animal husbandry.
Dina KVL has taken an active interest in the establishment of the IT University of Copenhagen which was initiated in 1999 by the government. P. Sestoft, who is an associate professor at KVL and one of the experts of the Dina Research School, teaches at present half-time at the new IT University. It seems natural that Dina contributes to developing and coordinating IT education in applications related to agriculture.
Dina KVL has been involved in the coordination of large project proposals and in applying for funding from national research initiatives such as the IT Programme, the SUE programme and the Biotechnology Programme.

Dina Aalborg

Chief responsible: Steffen L. Lauritzen
Dina has been of great value to some of the research environments at AAU, in later years mostly in statistics. The significance has been both direct since Dina has provided funding for research appointments, and indirect by creating cooperation and personal contacts. Dina Aalborg provided expertise to agricultural applications, in particular in probabilistic decision support systems. Research cooperation, in the true sense of the word, between experts from AAU and other Dina nodes has taken place, but to a limited extent only. An important outcome has been that several experts trained at AAU are now holding permanent positions at DJF or KVL (while a few have moved the other way, from KVL to Aalborg), and also the supervision by AAU experts of PhD students at DJF. Dina has contributed markedly to keeping up an active and variated PhD environment at AAU and has in addition inspired several interesting master thesis projects.
In the future Dina Aalborg expects to develop the cooperation in Dina in new ways, viz. by way of the newly established, Aalborg based 'Center of Agricultural Engineering and IT'. Besides Dina Aalborg strongly supports the continuation of the Dina Research School and intends to contribute to the activities of the research school.

Dina DTU

Chief Responsible: Kaj Madsen.
In the beginning of the 1990's DTU researchers like A.P. Ravn and J. Steensgaard-Madsen were instrumental in basing the Dina activities on sound computer science principles. J. Steensgaard-Madsen worked at Dina KVL for about 3 years and contributed valuably to the development of data processing as a discipline at the university. There was a collaboration with Dina KVL on the SFD project, and other projects at DTU were financed by Dina in 1995-96.
In later years the activity has been concerned with the research school (Prof. P.C. Hansen) and with the attempt to organise a research effort in IT oriented, non-chemical weed control. A development plan, "CompuWeed 2", has been presented; it involves a pilot project for developing an unmanned vehicle for mechanical weed removal. Researchers at DJF-Flakkebjerg will cooperate with a number of DTU experts covering the following areas: image processing; optimization; automation and control engineering; construction and product development. The DTU experts can have decisive importance in the future realisation of projects like CompuWeed 2 which will be of value not only scientifically but also in education and industrial product development of machines and equipment.
DTU shall in the future be involved in Dina with the following four departments: Dept. of Information Technology (IT), Dept. of Control and Engineering Design (IKS), Dept. of Mathematical Modelling (IMM) and Dept. of Automation (IAU). The main goal was and still is to participate in new research projects within Information Technology and Agricultural Engineering and contribute to the Dina Research School.

Dina FSL

Chief responsible: J.P. Skovsgaard.
The Dina node at the Danish Forest and Landscape Research Institute focuses on digital image analysis for forest inventory purposes. Research, carried out in close cooperation with mathematicians and statisticians at Dina KVL, has been concerned with stem mapping and mensuration of tree and stand dimensions, and with variables based on ordinary pan-chromatic aerial photographs for pure even-aged forest stands. Similar projects take place at the post-doctoral level for mixed multi-storeyed stands. - The joint effort, a smooth and well-targeted cooperation between the two Dina nodes, has resulted in an internationally high position in digital image analysis for forest inventory. In the future FSL and KVL intend to maintain and enhance efforts in digital image analysis for forestry and landscape use.
The Dina membership has been an advantage for FSL in other matters as well, such as the continuing development of an IT-based information and extension service, regarding PhD courses; and besides for ensuring a generally high standard in mathematical and statistical methods for scientific analyses. This cooperation too should be enhanced in the future.
Currently, Dina FSL is reinforcing research in Forest Operations, in particular by establishing a research professor chair. Activities in this area will benefit greatly from an intensified cooperation within Dina, for example on the development and use of IT-based high precision technology in tending and harvesting operations in forestry.

Dina Risø

Chief Responsible: Hanne Østergaard
Established in 1998, this node covers the Dina activities at the Risø National Laboratory, involving mainly the Plant Biology and Biogeochemistry Department which is engaged in research to establish the scientific basis for new methods in industrial and agricultural production, notably methods that exert less stress and strain on the environment. The different programmes of the department reflect the various approaches to achieve this aim: Biogeochemistry; Plant genetics and epidemiology; Plant ecosystems and nutrient cycling; Plant products and recycling of biomass; Plant-microbe symbioses; and DLF-Risø Biotechnology.
The main objective of Dina Risø is to enhance the use of advanced computer based mathematical and statistical techniques within the Risø research areas. In co-operation with the other Dina nodes, the improvement of knowledge of the present staff as well as the education of young scientists shall be carried out.
PhD students and young scientists at Risø have already profited from workshops and courses arranged by Dina Research School. In the year 2000 the Dina relevant research projects will focus on the plant related parts of the priority research area Bioinformatics and Quantitative Genetics (see above), in particular on methodological analyses of QTL (quantitative trait loci) in relation to marker assisted breeding of crop plants; IT in relation to sensor data from precision farming; and mathematical and statistical models for population dynamics in space and time. But also collaboration on bioinformatics is foreseen.

Dina Skejby

Chief responsible: Henrik Kjær Nielsen.
The Dina node at the Danish Agricultural Advisory Center was established in Jan. 1996, with the overall objective to encourage the use of informatics in primary agriculture, agricultural extension service and the agro-industries. Following the establishment of Dina Skejby, focus was directed towards two main areas: Information infrastructure and decision support systems.
Within information infrastructure, work has had an impact on the heavily growing interest in applying Internet technology in the agricultural extension service. Dina Skejby is also a key contributor to the ongoing development of Internet-based services from the Danish Agricultural Advisory Center.
Although Dina Skejby (as opposed to other nodes) is not directly involved in research activities and PhD training, the work conducted at Skejby still benefits from the collaboration with the other nodes, primarily with Dina DJF and Dina Aalborg.
Future work of Dina Skejby will focus on preparing and evaluating new technology to be applied in Internet-based advisory services. More specifically, the possibilities for exchanging, integrating and presenting information and components from several contributors over the Internet will be examined, because such possibilities form the basis of future systems to distribute, to modify and to illustrate knowledge in useful ways.