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FROM THEORETICAL-ORIENTED TO PRACTICAL EDUCATION IN AGRARIAN STUDIES (TOPAS)

EC-Erasmus + project no. 585603-EPP-1-2017-1-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

Draft, March 17, 2019

Proceedings of the TOPAS workshop on farm data collection Feb.14 - 25, 2019 at

Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL), Darmstadt, Germany, and

University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT)

Rapporteurs: Kateryna Tuzhyk (on KTBL), Heinz-Peter Wolff (on HSWT)

Table of Contents

1 Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL) ................................................. 2

2 University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT) ...................................................... 6

3 List of participants: ............................................................................................................................. 11

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1 Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL)

Programme:

Time Topic

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019

1 10:00 Arrival at KTBL

2 10:15-10:45 Welcome and introduction of participants and TOPAS (for KTBL colleagues), introduction of schedule

3 10:45-11:30 Presentation: Introduction of KTBL

4 11:30-12.00 Presentation: Introduction of GODAN project

5 12:00-13:00 Lunch break

6 13:00-13:45 Presentation: Where do KTBL data come from?

7 13:45-14:30 Presentation of the results from own data collection, discussion of challenges

8 14:30-14:45 Coffee break

9 14:45-15:30 Group discussion: How should data collection be organized within TOPAS?

10 15:30-16:30 Presentation of the results from group discussions and conclusion of the day

Friday, Feb. 15, 2019

11 09:00-10:00 Exercise: Machinery costs at KTBL - how to use MaKost

12 10:00-10:15 Questions and Discussion

13 10:15-10:30 Coffee break

14 10:30-11:15 Presentation: Repair costs at KTBL

15 11:15-11:45 Questions and Discussion

16 12:00-12:45 Lunch break

17 12:45-14:15 Poster presentation: how do you calculate machinery costs in your countries?

18 14:15-14:30 Coffee break

19 14:30-15:30 Group discussion: Machinery costs in TOPAS - how should we move forward?

20 15:30-15:45 Conclusion of the workshop

21 16:00-16:15 Organizational issues

22 16:15 End of workshop

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Day 1, Thursday, 14th of February 2019

10:00 Arrival at KTBL

10:15 - 10:45 Introduction of KTBL and its structure by Dr. U. Klöble (90 employees at KTBL. They

have projects that are related to practical needs. Approximately 400 members from

external partners (farmers, lawyers, academic staff and other specialist)).

Complete presentation: KTBL_general.pdf, section "Training on farm data" on the

Moodle platform

11:30 - 12:00 Introduction of GODAN Project by Foteini Zampati (Global Open Data for Agriculture

and Nutrition has 815 partners around the world. Was presented on G8 in 2012.

There were discussed fallowing issues: The data collection methods; IP rights of Data;

Ownership of the data)

Complete presentation: KTBL_legal_issues.pdf, section "Training on farm data" on

the Moodle platform

13:45 – 14:30 Presentation of the results from own data collection; Discussion of challenges (the

participants from each university were presenting the information of machinery cost

calculation - see attached excel file_ Machinery Cost. Major universities couldn't

answer following questions because of lack of data on the farm: How often is the

replacement of this spare part necessary? How much do these spare parts cost?

What kind of further maintenance is necessary? What parts or products are needed

for maintenance? How much do the necessary products for maintenance cost? How

often is that done? How much time is needed for one maintenance?

Complete presentation: KTBL_data_sources_structures.pdf, section "Training on farm

data" on the Moodle platform

14:45 – 15:30 Group discussion: How should data collection being organized within TOPAS:

The pictures below present the summarizing of the challenges of Data Collection within the TOPAS

project and how to deal with these challenges:

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In sum, there are clattered answers from three different groups of workshop:

Day 2, Friday, 15th of February 2019

9:00 – 10:00 Exercise: Machinery cost at KTBL – how to use MaKost by Katharina Krön (the

participants were familiarized with machinery calculation on KTBL online base. There

will be Russian version of data on KTBL homepage and it will become possible to use

in teaching process and disseminate the link through the farmers in foreign countries.

During the workshop how to use Makost have come up with idea to update to post

soviet union countries (e.g. Ukraine)).

10:30 – 11:15 Repair costs at KTBL by Jacob Steitz (presented the results of data collection and

estimation of the variable costs of machinery. KTBL is practical oriented. And they test

typical machinery to get the data for cost calculation.)

Complete presentation: KTBL_repair_costs.pdf, section "Training on farm data" on

the Moodle platform

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12:45 – 14:15 Poster presentation: How do you calculate machinery costs in your countries? (Poster

presentation shows the differences advantages and disadvantages between the

different methods of the partner countries:

Uzbekistan – there are two types of agriculture support from the government. All production of

cotton and wheat is ordered, supported and controlled by the government. All other agricultural

production in Uzbekistan is controlled by the farmers. Costs for registration and customs clearance

are included in the machinery cost.

Armenia – the feature of agriculture is scarcity of land. Farms still use old machinery and equipment

from 1987 – 1998. This problem does not allow for an adequate and reliable calculation.

Ukraine – the required legislative documents for machinery calculation are complicated and far from

practical. These documents provide the guide for bookkeeping of machinery costs, but doesn’t allow

to identify fixed and variable machinery costs in an easy way.

14:30 – 15:30 Group discussion: Machinery costs in TOPAS – how should we move forward

(Questions discussed:

Which advantages and disadvantages do you see when comparing the different methods?

Should we standardize that way of calculation of machinery costs within our project? What are the

pros and cons here?

The participants were divided by two groups, which discussed the problems mentioned above in the

fishbowl format. The major advantage is the fundamental approach, i.e. one methodology for all

countries. One of the most important disadvantages is ‘’two lives’’ of farmers that means there are

two process of accounting and accordingly the machinery costs calculations because of the legislative

regulation in each country. Different type of farms through the different countries. However, each

team agreed to the needs for standardizing the way of machinery cost calculation within the project.

15:30 – 15:45 Prof. Ralf Schlauderer (legislative is very important. We should be aware about how

to deal with anonymity of data. Repair costs is a difficult issue. We do not have a

really good approach to achieve that. Each university should think about how to deal

with repair costs. It might be PhD topic. We should cooperate, and discuss and

support each other.

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2 University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT)

Programme:

Time Topic

Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019

1 08.45-18.00 Transfer to HSWT Triesdorf via Würzburg, city tour in Würzburg

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019

2 08.45-18.00 Introductory tour on regional landscapes and related farming systems, city tour Rothenburg

Monday, Feb. 18, 2019

3 09:00-12:00 Welcome at HSWT, preparatory steps of farm data collections

4 13:00-17:00 Preparation of on-the-spot farm data collection

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019

5 09:00-12:00 Exemplary on-the spot-farm data collection at farm Schindler, Bavaria

6 13:00-17:00 MOOC preparation with Uzbek partners, translation and preparation of collected data for calculations on winter wheat production by Ukrainian and Armenian partners

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019

7 09:00-12:00 Production economics, example calculations on winter wheat

8 13:00-17:00 MOOC preparation with Armenian partners, translation and preparation of collected data for calculations on silage maize production by Uzbek and Ukrainian partners

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019

9 09:00-12:00 Production economics, example calculations on silage maize

10 13:00-17:00 MOOC preparation with Ukrainian partners, translation and preparation of collected data for calculations on dairy cow production by Uzbek and Armenian partners

Friday, Feb. 22, 2019

11 09:00-12:00 Production economics, example calculations on dairy cows

12 13:00-17:00 Improvement of MOOC with Uzbek partners, translation of examples from production economics for MOOCs in local language by Ukrainian and Armenian partners

Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019

13 09:00-18:00 Cultural program, city tour Nuremberg

(continued)

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(continued)

Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019

14 09:00-12:00 Data management, technical issues: Data base structures and storage

15 13:00-17:00 Data management: Data base documentation, communication plans, local responsibilities

Monday, Feb. 25, 2019

16 09:00-12:00 Data handling: Missing values and outliers

17 13:00-17:00 Wrap up: Final translations MOOC, questions on data management

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019

Departure of participants

The following description of the courses provide the table of contents of the individual modules and

indicate the location of the files that contain the complete presentations and data in the web sources

of TOPAS:

Monday, Feb. 18: Preparatory steps of farm data collections:

Data storage

Toolbox for calculations

Toolbox for data collection

Planning of data collection procedures

Psychology and reliability in data collection processes

The narrative: quantitative and qualitative information

Reverse process: Creation of databases

Complete presentation: PrepDataCollection.pptx, section "Training on farm data" on the Moodle

platform, also available on the TOPAS web-page at: https://erasmus-

topas.eu/images/files/FarmDataAnalysis.pptx and https://erasmus-

topas.eu/images/files/PrepDataCollection.pdf

Monday, Feb. 18: Preparation of on-the-spot farm data collection, topics:

Role of interviews with farmers

Competence of farmer and sources of information in the specific case

Questionnaires for structured interviews

interview guidelines with regard to data demand of partial calculations

Complete presentation: FarmDataAnalysis.pptx, section "Training on farm data" on the Moodle

platform, also available on the TOPAS web-page at: https://erasmus-

topas.eu/images/files/FarmDataAnalysis.pptx

Tuesday, Feb. 19: Exemplary farm data collection (morning), MOOC recording and farm data analysis

(afternoon), topics:

visit at farm enterprise Schindler, data collection on winter wheat, silo maize and dairy cows

by participants

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recording of MOOC element by Uzbek partners

analysis of obtained farm data by Armenian and Ukrainian participants

MOOC element available at HSWT

Wednesday, Feb. 20: Training in financial calculations (morning), MOOC recording and farm data

analysis (afternoon), topics:

partial cost calculations (gross margin), example winter wheat

recording of MOOC element by Armenian partners

analysis of obtained farm data by Uzbek and Ukrainian participants

Complete presentation: HSWT_market_crops.xlsx; section "Training on farm data" on the

Moodle platform, MOOC element available at HSWT

Thursday, Feb. 21: Training in financial calculations (morning), MOOC recording and farm data

analysis (afternoon), topics:

calculation of machinery costs, partial cost calculations (gross margin) on silo maize

recording of MOOC element by Ukrainian partners

analysis of obtained farm data by Uzbek and Ukrainian participants

Complete presentation: HSWT_machinery_cost-Calculation.xlsx; HSWT_farm-machinery.xls;

HSWT_silage-maize.xlsx; HSWT_forage_crops.xls, section "Training on farm data" on the Moodle

platform, MOOC element available at HSWT

Friday, Feb. 22: Training in financial calculations (morning), MOOC recording and farm data analysis

(afternoon), topics:

partial cost calculations (gross margin) on diary cows

editing and improvement of MOOC record by Uzbek, Ukrainian and Armenian partners

Complete presentation: HSWT_dairy_cow.xls; HSWT_dairy_cow_2.xlsx, section "Training on

farm data" on the Moodle platform, MOOC elements available at HSWT

Saturday, Feb. 23: Cultural programme, guided tour in Nuremberg

Sunday, Feb. 24: Data management, topics:

Data base structures and storage

Data base documentation, communication plans, local responsibilities

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The team from Yerevan State University will prepare a guideline/handbook on options,

advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to central data storage and handling on

the level of the partner HEIs.

The partner HEIs will assess capacities and competences for the potential development of the

"students' app" at their faculties. The alternative would be the use of standard spreadsheets,

provided that the availability of the adequate software on local standard smartphones may be

assumed.

Proposed structure of local responsibilities at partner HEIs:

The proposed structure serves as the baseline for final decisions by the TOPAS Steering

Committee during the next meeting (Armenian National Agricultural University, end of April

2019).

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Complete presentation: DBManagement.ppt, section "Training on farm data" on the Moodle

platform, also available on the TOPAS web-page at: https://erasmus-

topas.eu/images/files/DB_Management.pdf

Monday, Feb. 25: Data handling, topics:

Missing values and outliers

Recommendations for further readings:

Data sampling plans:

Susan Lohr (2010) Sampling Design and Analysis, 2nd edition, Brooks/Cole Publishing,

Pacific Grove

William G. Cochran (1977) Sampling Techniques, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Sons, NY

Database development:

Oracle guidelines (https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/ADFNS/adfns_part_fund.htm)

Open University handbook

(https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?printable=1&id=2786)

Data problems:

Little R.; Rubin D. (1987) Statistical analysis with missing data. John Wiley & Sons, NY

Tukey J.W. (1977) Exploratory Data Analysis, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company,

Reading

Complete presentation: DBManagement.ppt, section "Training on farm data" on the Moodle

platform, also available on the TOPAS web-page at: https://erasmus-

topas.eu/images/files/DB_Management.pdf

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3 List of participants:

Affiliation and names Attendance KTBL

Attendance HSWT

Andijan Agricultural Institute (AAI, Uzbekistan)

Murotov Qudrat x x

Tuychiyev Abduraxmon x x

Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU, Armenia)

Narine Gasparyan (specialist of international master programme “Agricultural management”, lecturer in bi-lingual study courses on sustainable energy economics)

x x

Arman Tonikyan (PhD lecturer at the chair of Finances and Accounting, Faculty of Economics and Agrobusiness)

x x

Samarkand Veterinary medicine Institute (SamVMI, Uzbekistan)

Mardonow Mamed (Lecturer of department of Agroeconomics and Accounting)

x x

Yuldashev Sherzod (Lecturer of department of Agroeconomics and Accounting)

x x

Sumy National Agrarian University (SNAU, Ukraine)

Associate Prof. Dr. Oleh Pasko (Vice-Dean for research, Faculty of economics and management, associate professor of Audit Department)

x x

Associate Prof., Dr. Inna Koblianska (Associate professor of Department of Economic)

x x

National University of Life and Environmental Sciences (NULES, Ukraine)

Dr. Kateryna Tuzhyk (Vice-Dean of International Activities of Faculty of Information Technologies, associate professor of cybernetic economic, Senior specialist of Training Department)

x x

Assos. Professor, Dr. Vitalii Radko (associate professor of Department of Entrepreneurship and Agrobusiness Organization)

x x

Yerevan State University (YSU, Armenia)

Prof. Dr. Aram Karapetyan (Department of Mathematical modeling in Economics)

x x

Dr. Nairuhi Jrbashyan (Associate Professor of Department of Mathematical modeling in Economics)

x x

University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (HSWT, Germany)

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Ralf Konrad Schlauderer (Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, project coordination)

x x

Dr. Heinz-Peter Wolff (scientific staff, project coordination) x

Dr. Aram Aristakesyan (scientific staff, section International Master in Agribusiness)

X

Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL, Darmstadt, Germany)

Dr. sc. agr. Ulrike Klöble (Deputy Chief Executive, Team Leader Economics and Organic Farming)

x

Katharina Krön (Team Economics & Organic Farming) x

Oksana Bukhovets (Team Economics & Organic Farming) x

Foteini Zampati x

Jacob Steitz x

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