We are the institution of a mission quite unique in the country and neighbouring states – we are fully engaged in the comprehensive transfer of industrial knowledge and information of various sectors including agriculture, food production, nutrition, consumer protection, forestry and environment. Even though the history of the Institute dates back to 1926, but for its present form the day of 1^st January 1993 is important as it is the date of an Agriculture and the Research institute of Food Industry. The reason was the need to create a modern centre of information. The Institute comprise also the third largest sector-related library in the world containing about 1.2 million volumes on its deposits – only the libraries of Beltsville (USA) and Moscow (Russia) are larger.

Participation  in European cooperation activity: Education section is engaged as a partner in the REMA project under program Socrates/Grundtvig2 in the years 2003/2004. Co-ordination Centre for Consultation section is engaged as a partner in the pilot project with French coordinator under program Leonardo da Vinci. 

Activities and offering services

The activities of the Institute can be divided into two basic groups. The first group consist of information funds, the other comprises communication services.

q       The group of information funds acquires, processes and makes available both foreign and domestic specialised literature including other forms of sector-related documentary and data information. It offers the comprehensive package of library services, i.e. the presence and absence loans of books, periodical and video-cassettes. It enables professional public to access its on-line catalogue of books, periodicals and the bibliography of Czech agriculture and food industry. It makes databases such as CAB, FSTA, AGRIS, etc. available for use, as well other sources of information accessible on Internet. It provides information services using both Czech and foreign databases of agriculture and food science. It provides for the full coverage of the Internet ÚZPI- Agronavigator portal.

q      In connection with the operation of the group of information funds its additional activities are worth a note, focused on the wide transfer of information of agriculture, food production and processing as well as consumer-related information, which, in practice, entails purposeful editorial and publishing activities. For instance, we issue ten printed scientific journal; for three of them, i.e. ”Animal Science”, “Plant, Soil and Environment” and Veterinární medicína” their impact factor (paper quotation frequency) is monitored, as a measure of journal respectability within the world of science.

The other group, the group of communication services, co-ordinate the services of ÚZPI information systems and its communication-related activities and creates an environment for the synergistic and multiplication effects of information/communication campaigns.

q      It provides for the operation of the Co-ordination Centre for Consultation that, among other things, prepares concept proposals for sector consulting programmes, co-ordinates the activities of particular consulting and advisory units, comprising the background of about five hundred experts at agriculture and food industry from the entire country. One of the most useful information tools is INFOPULT, the information round-the-clock service operating as a helpdesk for any interested customers of both professional and laic public free of charge.

q      The communication services include the comprehensive package for implementing various educational/training projects within the meaning of the sector guideline on education, which comprises, among other things, the implementation of the measures of 3.1 SAPARD.

q      At present, the Institute performs also the functions of the Information Centre of Food Safety (ICBP), whose role is now, after the accession of the CR to the EU, very important. The IVPB co-operates closely with the particular units of the Inter-departmental Co-ordination group for Food safety  - i.e. with various specialised facilities, scientific committees, state administration information systems and civil customers’ organisations. The concept of such info-centre (which, by the way, finds no counterpart in other European countries) has an unique feature, i.e. that ÚZPI, as a governmental entity, provides the comprehensive informational background for non-governmental organisations entity, provides the comprehensive informational background for non-governmental organisations involved and co-operating in the sphere of food safety.

q      Within the wide spectrum of communication services various irregular activities, such as seminars, professional meetings and action, the issuance of specialised publications, organisation of exhibitions, multimedia products and technical conference service. To illustrate the wide involvement of the Institute, a few figures may be mentioned. In the last year ÚZPI organised, e.g., more than 100 professional seminars and action. It issued 18 non-periodical publications on various subjects of agriculture, environmental policy and food production/processing and two video-cassettes. The Institute provided technical conference services for events and prepared completely four major countrywide sectors exhibitions.    

q      Education section is one the important parts of communication services. We do project preparation and implementation of specialised courses for the employees of Ministry of Agriculture, employees of sector research, educational system, food industry and for young farmers. The design, co-ordination, implementation and monitoring of re-qualification courses organised in cooperation with the vocational school of secondary level of the sector, the Ministry of labour and Social Welfare and the relevant Labour Office.

Objectives

Our objective is to become a natural integrator of all services within the sector, including the services of library, web sites, education, communication, consulting and the transfer of scientific and research results into practice.

We are able to provide such services in full, “below the single roof”, as we can employ the unique base comprising our own, continuously updated information funds.