Hasil untuk "Agricultural industries"

Fernanda Alberto, M. S. Guerreiro

Agricultural Ecosystems Facts and Trends Foreword The rapid increase in food prices in many countries has led to substantial media attention on agriculture. We hope that providing this Facts & Trends publication will help uncover some key trade-offs that mean extremely challenging decisions for governments, farmers, consumers and industry. This publication does not attempt to cover everything there is to know about agricultural ecosystems. Rather, it tries to present well-documented facts and fi gures to better understand the challenges facing the sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems. We have used existing data from the World Resources Institute (WRI), the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and many other sources. We present it here in a simplifi ed and condensed format to stimulate forward thinking and ongoing dialogue between business, civil society, government and other stakeholders.

Porooshat Dadgostar

Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has developed as one of the major urgent threats to public health causing serious issues to successful prevention and treatment of persistent diseases. In spite of different actions taken in recent decades to tackle this issue, the trends of global AMR demonstrate no signs of slowing down. Misusing and overusing different antibacterial agents in the health care setting as well as in the agricultural industry are considered the major reasons behind the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. In addition, the spontaneous evolution, mutation of bacteria, and passing the resistant genes through horizontal gene transfer are significant contributors to antimicrobial resistance. Many studies have demonstrated the disastrous financial consequences of AMR including extremely high healthcare costs due to an increase in hospital admissions and drug usage. The literature review, which included articles published after the year 2012, was performed using Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar with the utilization of keyword searches. Results indicated that the multifactorial threat of antimicrobial resistance has resulted in different complex issues affecting countries across the globe. These impacts found in the sources are categorized into three different levels: patient, healthcare, and economic. Although gaps in knowledge about AMR and areas for improvement are obvious, there is not any clearly understood progress to put an end to the persistent trends of antimicrobial resistance.

R. Prasad, A. Bhattacharyya, Q. D. Nguyen

Nanotechnology monitors a leading agricultural controlling process, especially by its miniature dimension. Additionally, many potential benefits such as enhancement of food quality and safety, reduction of agricultural inputs, enrichment of absorbing nanoscale nutrients from the soil, etc. allow the application of nanotechnology to be resonant encumbrance. Agriculture, food, and natural resources are a part of those challenges like sustainability, susceptibility, human health, and healthy life. The ambition of nanomaterials in agriculture is to reduce the amount of spread chemicals, minimize nutrient losses in fertilization and increased yield through pest and nutrient management. Nanotechnology has the prospective to improve the agriculture and food industry with novel nanotools for the controlling of rapid disease diagnostic, enhancing the capacity of plants to absorb nutrients among others. The significant interests of using nanotechnology in agriculture includes specific applications like nanofertilizers and nanopesticides to trail products and nutrients levels to increase the productivity without decontamination of soils, waters, and protection against several insect pest and microbial diseases. Nanotechnology may act as sensors for monitoring soil quality of agricultural field and thus it maintain the health of agricultural plants. This review covers the current challenges of sustainability, food security and climate change that are exploring by the researchers in the area of nanotechnology in the improvement of agriculture.

M. Ayaz, Mohammad Ammad-Uddin, Zubair Sharif et al.

Despite the perception people may have regarding the agricultural process, the reality is that today’s agriculture industry is data-centered, precise, and smarter than ever. The rapid emergence of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) based technologies redesigned almost every industry including “smart agriculture” which moved the industry from statistical to quantitative approaches. Such revolutionary changes are shaking the existing agriculture methods and creating new opportunities along a range of challenges. This article highlights the potential of wireless sensors and IoT in agriculture, as well as the challenges expected to be faced when integrating this technology with the traditional farming practices. IoT devices and communication techniques associated with wireless sensors encountered in agriculture applications are analyzed in detail. What sensors are available for specific agriculture application, like soil preparation, crop status, irrigation, insect and pest detection are listed. How this technology helping the growers throughout the crop stages, from sowing until harvesting, packing and transportation is explained. Furthermore, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for crop surveillance and other favorable applications such as optimizing crop yield is considered in this article. State-of-the-art IoT-based architectures and platforms used in agriculture are also highlighted wherever suitable. Finally, based on this thorough review, we identify current and future trends of IoT in agriculture and highlight potential research challenges.

M. Blouin, M. Hodson, E. A. Delgado et al.

Antonis Tzounis, N. Katsoulas, T. Bartzanas et al.

N. Scarlat, J. Dallemand, F. Monforti-Ferrario et al.

Abstract The European Commission has set a long-term goal to develop a competitive, resource efficient and low carbon economy by 2050. Bioeconomy is expected to play an important role in the low carbon economy. This paper provides a review of the policy framework for developing a bioeconomy in the European Union covering energy and climate, agriculture and forestry, industry and research. The Europe has a number of well-established traditional bio-based industries, ranging from agriculture, food, feed, fibre and forest-based industries. This paper proposes an analysis of the current status of bioeconomy in the European Union and worldwide until 2020 and beyond. We estimate the current bio economy market at about € 2.4 billion, including agriculture, food and beverage, agro-industrial products, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, wood-based industry, biochemical, enzymes, biopharmaceutical, biofuels and bioenergy, using about 2 billion tonnes and employing 22 million persons. New sectors are emerging, such as biomaterials and green chemistry. The transition toward a bioeconomy will rely on the advancement in technology of a range of processes, on the achievement of a breakthrough in terms of technical performances and cost effectiveness and will depend on the availability of sustainable biomass.

L. Kim

M. K. Bhat

I. Banat, R. Makkar, S. Cameotra

Ye Liu, Xiaoyuan Ma, Lei Shu et al.

The three previous industrial revolutions profoundly transformed agriculture industry from indigenous farming to mechanized farming and recent precision agriculture. Industrial farming paradigm greatly improves productivity, but a number of challenges have gradually emerged, which have exacerbated in recent years. Industry 4.0 is expected to reshape the agriculture industry once again and promote the fourth agricultural revolution. In this article, first, we review the current status of industrial agriculture along with lessons learned from industrialized agricultural production patterns, industrialized agricultural production processes, and the industrialized agri-food supply chain. Furthermore, five emerging technologies, namely the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and blockchain, toward Agriculture 4.0 are discussed. Specifically, we focus on the key applications of these emerging technologies in the agricultural sector and corresponding research challenges. This article aims to open up new research opportunities for readers, particularly industrial practitioners.

Y. Timilsena, T. Akanbi, N. Khalid et al.

Complex coacervation is a highly promising microencapsulation technique that is extensively employed in pharmaceutical, food, agriculture and textile industries. The process involves the interaction of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes in aqueous form. High payload and high encapsulation efficiency (up to 99%), relatively lower cost of processing, ability to use food-grade shell materials and synthesis at ambient temperature makes coacervation an appropriate choice in food and agrochemical industries. Various works have been documented using different polymer systems and core-shell combinations. This review paper intends to summarize some of the recent advances in complex coacervation for use in the food and agriculture areas. Current status and future trends of plant proteins utilization for complex coacervation have been reviewed. It is expected that this review will be a useful resource for material scientists, food technologists and food engineers.

Nandkishore Thombare, U. Jha, S. Mishra et al.

Maanak Gupta, Mahmoud Abdelsalam, S. Khorsandroo et al.

Internet of Things (IoT) and smart computing technologies have revolutionized every sphere of 21st century humans. IoT technologies and the data driven services they offer were beyond imagination just a decade ago. Now, they surround us and influence a variety of domains such as automobile, smart home, healthcare, etc. In particular, the Agriculture and Farming industries have also embraced this technological intervention. Smart devices are widely used by a range of people from farmers to entrepreneurs. These technologies are used in a variety of ways, from finding real-time status of crops and soil moisture content to deploying drones to assist with tasks such as applying pesticide spray. However, the use of IoT and smart communication technologies introduce a vast exposure to cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities in smart farming environments. Such cyber attacks have the potential to disrupt the economies of countries that are widely dependent on agriculture. In this paper, we present a holistic study on security and privacy in a smart farming ecosystem. The paper outlines a multi layered architecture relevant to the precision agriculture domain and discusses the security and privacy issues in this dynamic and distributed cyber physical environment. Further more, the paper elaborates on potential cyber attack scenarios and highlights open research challenges and future directions.

Pawankumar Rai, Srishti Mehrotra, S. Priya et al.

The progression of plastic pollution is a global concern. "Reuse, reduce and recycle" offers a solution to the burdening issue, although not enough to curb the rampant use of plastics. Biodegradable plastics are gaining acceptability in agriculture and food packaging industries; nevertheless, they occupy a rather small section of the plastic market. This review summarizes recent advances in the development of biodegradable plastics and their safe degradation potentials. Here, biodegradable plastics have been categorized and technology and developments in the field of biopolymers, their applicability, degradation and role in sustainable development has been reviewed. Also, the use of natural polymers with improved mechanical and physical properties that brings them at par with their counterparts has been discussed. Biodegradable polymers add value to the industries that would help in achieving sustainable development and consequently reinforce green economy, reducing the burden of greenhouse gases in the environment and valorisation of waste biomass.

Robin Raveau, J. Fontaine, A. Lounès-Hadj Sahraoui

Naturally produced by aromatic plants, essential oils (EO) contain a wide range of volatile molecules, including mostly secondary metabolites, which possess several biological activities. Essential oils properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities are known for a long time and hence widely used in traditional medicines, cosmetics and food industries. However, despite their effects against many phytopathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria as well as weeds, their use in agriculture remains surprisingly scarce. The purpose of the present review is to gather and discuss up-to-date biological activities of EO against weeds, plant pathogenic fungi, oomycetes and bacteria, reported in the scientific literature. Innovative methods, potentially valuable to improve the efficiency and reliability of EO, have been investigated. In particular, their use towards a more sustainable agriculture has been discussed, aiming at encouraging the use of alternative products to substitute synthetic pesticides to control weeds and plant diseases, without significantly affecting crop yields. An overview of the market and the recent advances on the regulation of these products as well as future challenges to promote their development and wider use in disease management programs is described. Because of several recent reviews on EO insecticidal properties, this topic is not covered in the present review.

A. B. Omran, A. B. Mohammed, S. M. Sapuan et al.

The high demand for plastic and polymeric materials which keeps rising every year makes them important industries, for which sustainability is a crucial aspect to be taken into account. Therefore, it becomes a requirement to makes it a clean and eco-friendly industry. Cellulose creates an excellent opportunity to minimize the effect of non-degradable materials by using it as a filler for either a synthesis matrix or a natural starch matrix. It is the primary substance in the walls of plant cells, helping plants to remain stiff and upright, and can be found in plant sources, agriculture waste, animals, and bacterial pellicle. In this review, we discussed the recent research development and studies in the field of biocomposites that focused on the techniques of extracting micro- and nanocellulose, treatment and modification of cellulose, classification, and applications of cellulose. In addition, this review paper looked inward on how the reinforcement of micro- and nanocellulose can yield a material with improved performance. This article featured the performances, limitations, and possible areas of improvement to fit into the broader range of engineering applications.

Akash Maurya, J. Prasad, Somenath Das et al.

Food industries are facing a great challenge due to contamination of food products with different microbes such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, parasites, etc. These microbes deteriorate food items by producing different toxins during pre- and postharvest processing. Mycotoxins are one of the most potent and well-studied toxic food contaminants of fungal origin, causing a severe health hazard to humans. The application of synthetic chemicals as food preservatives poses a real scourge in the present scenario due to their bio-incompatibility, non-biodegradability, and environmental non-sustainability. Therefore, plant-based antimicrobials, including essential oils, have developed cumulative interest as a potential alternative to synthetic preservatives because of their ecofriendly nature and generally recognized as safe status. However, the practical utilization of essential oils as an efficient antimicrobial in the food industry is challenging due to their volatile nature, less solubility, and high instability. The recent application of different delivery strategies viz. nanoencapsulation, active packaging, and polymer-based coating effectively addressed these challenges and improved the bioefficacy and controlled release of essential oils. This article provides an overview of essential oils for the preservation of stored foods against bacteria, fungi, and mycotoxins, along with the specialized mechanism of action and technological advancement by using different delivery systems for their effective application in food and agricultural industries smart green preservative.

C. Thirtle, Lin Lin, J. Piesse

Ge Li, Weibo Nie, Yuchen Li

A thorough understanding of soil wetting patterns during infiltration is essential for designing surface drip irrigation systems and placing soil moisture sensors. This study systematically evaluated variations in centroid depth (zc), horizontal (σx) and vertical (σz) standard deviations across nine soil textures, three discharge rates (1, 2, and 3 L·h−1), and three initial soil water contents (30 %, 50 %, 70 % of maximum available water) using Hydrus-2D/3D numerical simulations combined with spatial moment analysis. Based on these results, a machine learning model combining particle swarm optimization (PSO), support vector machine (SVM), and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) was developed and compared with multiple linear regression (MLR), SVM, and PSO-SVM models. Soil texture and initial water content had greater influence on zc, σx, and σz than discharge rates. The PSO-SVM-AdaBoost model achieved the highest accuracy, with Bias, Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and the Coefficient of Determination (R2) for the test set of −0.129 cm, 1.139 cm, and 0.989 for zc; −0.034 cm, 0.366 cm, and 0.996 for σx; and −0.169 cm, 1.426 cm, and 0.984 for σz. Furthermore, to address concerns regarding the “black-box” nature of the model, the explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) framework SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) was applied, revealing that cumulative infiltration flux (Q3D) contributed most significantly to zc, σx, and σz, while discharge rates contributed the least. The PSO-SVM-AdaBoost model and its interpretability framework proposed in this study provide technical support for the design of surface drip irrigation systems and the optimal placement of soil moisture sensors.