Swiss Federal Research Station for Agroecology and Agriculture Zürich-Reckenholz (FAL)

FAL develops environmentally sound cultivation and production techniques which maintain soil fertility, cause minimal air and water pollution and allow high biodiversity as well as a varied landscape. Its research helps Swiss Agriculture to produce foodstuffs as naturally as possible at reasonable costs and to offer high quality, healthy products to the consumer.

Evaluation of Experiments
Seed Control/ Virus Test
Plant Protection/ Quality
Information System (e.g. Meteo Database)
Soil Assessment
Data Analysis

Planning, Analysis and Documentation of Experimental Designs

The applications support the generation of long-term, multi-site field and laboratory experiments and the collection of data in relationally organised large databases. Besides the on-line data entry and validation, mobile data acquisition of field observations is performed with handheld computers, that are also supported by WIDAS software.

The applications make extensive use of the full integration of advanced statistical analysis and reporting tools. The common WIDAS-based information backbone lets FAL and RAC, the sister research station, share the experimental results of many years at over 150 sites in Switzerland.

Plant Protection and Plant Quality Systems

WIDAS is well suited to the management of a broad variety of data structures in this domain and provides a very efficient, integrated data collection, validation, evaluation and reporting system.

Hands-on Data Analysis by Scientists and Technicians

WIDAS proves daily how easily and effectively scientific personel can handle experimental databases, perform sophisticated statistical analyses (OLAP) and use integrated information visualisation and reporting tools on their own.

Seed Control System

This WIDAS-based application provides information for the certification of potato seeds in Switzerland. It also collects data directly from laboratory devices (ELISA system).

Information Systems (Meteo Database etc.)

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Large-scale multidimensional databases make information available through user-friendly on-line query interfaces. WIDAS performs high-speed retrievals of large data volumes for live database analysis. Integrated aggregation, analysis and visualisation tools facilitate the production of clear reports. Example: The meteo database contains the hourly values and daily means of some 35 criterion variables measured at 460 weather stations since 1981.

Soil Assessment and Documentation System

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This is a comprehensive database of soil composition and soil nutrient data for the entire Swiss territory. Functions include laboratory management, data acquisition, validation and reporting (including profile graphs and soil maps). The data are the basis for an important advisory service provided by the FAL.