April 8, 2011 - World Association of Soil and Water Conservation

Important criteria for hosting the 6 th World Congress of Conservation Agriculture.• Resources:o Human: scientific, practitioner and institutional backing for proposal.o Financial: extent of known and anticipated support .o Endorsement by appropriate national and governmental bodies• Location:o Proximity to significant groups of CA scientists.o Proximity to local examples of CA practice and development.o Relative to previous WCCA's (developed/developing country alternation)o Accessability from most regionso Opportunity to foster greater CA adoption.• Logistics:o Cost and convenience of transport, accommodation, communications etc.o Availability of Conference facilitieso Calibre of proposed organizing committees• Themes and organization:o Relevance of themes and content to a majority of CA practitioners and scientistso Nature of proposed organizationo Potential alliances with other professional organizations, e.g., FSD or LandcareIf you are interested in organizing the 6 th WCCA please contact: John Dixon at Dixon@aciar.gov.auSeptember 26-October 2, 2011ISTRO Working Group B – Subsoil Compaction Training course Soil Deformation:Modelling, Measurements and Visualization September 26 – October 2, 2011To be held at Aarhus University, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, research Centre, Foulum, Tjele, DenmarkCourse content: The course will present classical and new approaches for measurement, modelling, andvisualization of soil deformation due to mechanical stress application. The concepts and theory classically usedin agricultural soil mechanics and adopted from geomechanics (analytical solutions for stress propagation in soil,soil compressive strength, Finite Element Model (FEM)) have limitations that will be illustrated with hands-onmodelling and measurements in the lab and in the field. As a new modelling approach for soil deformation,Discrete Element Models (DEM) will be used to understand particle-particle contact problems, stress propagationand displacement behaviour of granular media. Both approaches (i.e. DEM and FEM) will be compared toexplore the mechanical behaviour of agricultural soils at the macroscale (DEM) and at the microscale (FEM). Asan alternative to the classical laboratory methods for soil stress-strain characterisation, the potential of nondestructivetechniques to characterise soil strength in situ (seismic methods) will be presented.The course will last seven days. Each day will begin with a lecture session. The second half of the day willinvolve hands-on modelling and measurement activities. On the 7th day we call on the Ph.D. students toparticipate in a young scientist forum, where the aim is exchange of knowledge, experience, and ideas. Therewill also be a possibility of individual consultancy concerning experimental problems.Material to be covered includesGeneral Aspects of the Mechanical Behaviour of soils (stress theory, strain theory, stress-strain relations.Traditional Soil Mechanics Modelling (Elastic stress-strain relationships - analytical solutions, Elasto-plasticstress-strain relationships - FEM.Traditional Soil Mechanics Measurement Methods including compressive behaviour, shear strength, tensilestrength and penetrometer resistanceNew Approaches to Infer Soil Mechanical Models (non-destructive field methods to measure soil strength,particle arrangements measurements using three-dimensional imaging techniques)New Approaches to Model Soil Mechanical Behaviour (Distinct Element Modelling)Further information and inscription http://stair.agrsci.dk and follow the link to PhD courses. (From ISTRO INFOMarch 2011)October 3-7, 2011The Sixth SUITMA International Conference, October 3-7, 201160