Choice of Optimal Planting and Marketing Decisions for Fresh Vegetable Producers: A Mathematical Programming Approach

This study combines whole farm economic analysis with biophysical simulation techniques in order to achieve a twofold objective. First, the study seeks to develop a multiple enterprise vegetable farm model with a production and marketing decision interface and, second, to determine optimal production practices for Kentucky vegetable growers. Three vegetable crops are examined: tomatoes, bell peppers and sweet corn. The findings indicate that the risk associated with vegetable production can be significantly mitigated with diversification of production mix and with a greater number of transplanting dates. However, this reduction in risk comes at a high cost in terms of expected net returns.vegetable production, mean-variance, biophysical simulation, farm management, Farm Management, C61, C63, D81,

SMART AGRICULTURE: SUITABLE CROPS FOR AUTONOMOUS SELECTIVE HARVESTING

Agriculture is one of the most important economic sectors and essential for our daily life. Especially in relation to selectively harvested crops, agriculture is majorly affected by increasing wage demands and workforce shortages. While other industries tackle this issue with increasing automation, the task of harvesting fruit and vegetables is still largely fulfilled manually. Following an overview of selective harvesting robot architecture, this paper addresses the question of which crops are ideally suited for AI-assisted selective harvesting. For this purpose, the state of development of robots for specific crops is evaluated based on performance measurements, and crop characteristics are determined through interviews with domain experts. We found that cauliflower and broccoli have limited suitability, sweet peppers, apple and cucumber have good suitability, and kiwi, strawberry and tomato are most suitable

An economic feasibility study for a fresh vegetable packing facility

The Packing Simulation (PACKSIM) model was used in an analysis to determine the effects that variations in product prices, crop yields, operating level, interest rate, financing and packing charges would have on the operation of a fresh vegetable packing facility. The initial analysis consisted of 15 vegetables (spring and fall broccoli, canta-loupe, cucumber, okra, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, fall greens, sweet corn, squash, pole beans and spring and fall cabbage). The initial assumptions were that product prices were based on a five-year average of Atlanta wholesale prices, crop yields were based on the 1988 vegetable budget, operating level was set at 70 percent of rated capacity, packing charges were obtained from several sources and 90 percent of the total capital was financed at 10 percent interest. In the analysis, product prices were varied 25 percent above and below the Atlanta wholesale prices, crop yields were reduced 10 and 20 percent below budget levels, operating level was set at 50 and 90 percent of rated capacity, packing charges were adjusted to 10 cents per unit above packing cost, interest rates were changed to 8 and 12 per cent and the total amount financed was changed to 80 percent. Analysis of the facility packing 15 vegetables revealed that several vegetables had packing cost greater than their packing charge. Coordinating the harvest, delivery and packing of 15 vegetables would be difficult. The analysis was also conducted on several combinations of vegetables taken from the original 15. These models included a six- vegetable facility (Irish potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet corn and spring and fall cabbage), a five-vegetable facility (Irish potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers and spring and fall cabbage), a five-vegetable facility with a hydrocooler (tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet corn and spring and fall cabbage) and a four-vegetable facility (tomatoes, bell peppers and spring and fall cabbage). Due to the design of the program, changes in product prices exhibited no effect on the break-even analysis of the facility in these models. This study also revealed that decreases in yield by 10 and 20 percent required that acreage be increased about 10 percent and 25 percent, respectively, for all the facilities analyzed. Change in yield had no effect on packing cost per crate, average variable cost, average fixed cost and total fixed cost. A decrease in packing level to 50 percent of rated capacity required acreage to increase to a range of 37 to 49 percent to maintain the break-even level of operation. An increase to 90 percent of rated capacity required acreage to decrease to a range of 12 to 17 percent to maintain the break-even level of operation. Average variable cost per unit of output decreased 12 to 19 percent at the 50 percent packout level and increased 6 to 10 percent at the 90 percent packout level. Average fixed cost declined 29 to 32 percent at the 50 percent packout level and increased 14 to 19 percent at the 90 percent packout level. Total fixed cost was not effected by changes in packing level. Total variable cost increased 43 to 62 percent at the 50 percent packout level and decreased 13 to 21 percent at the 90 percent packout level. Acreage was required to decline in a range of 13 to 19 percent when packing charges per unit of output were adjusted to 10 cents above packing cost. Packing cost per crate increased 5 to 10 percent, average fixed cost increased 19 to 25 percent, total variable cost declined 17 to 18 percent and total crates sold declined 17 to 18 percent. Average variable cost and total fixed cost were not effected by the change in packing cost. Changes in interest rates exhibited no effect on packing cost per crate, average variable cost and average fixed cost. In order to maintain the break-even level of packinghouse volume, acreage was reduced in a range of 6 to 10 percent at 8 percent interest rate and increased in a range of 5 to 11 percent at 12 percent interest rate. Total fixed cost, total variable cost and total crates sold decreased in a range of 7 to 8 percent at 8 percent interest rate and increased in a range of 7 to 8 percent at 12 percent interest rate. Financing at the 80 percent level required the break-even acreage to decline in a range of 3 to 9 percent. This change in financing level exhibited no effect on packing cost per crate, average variable cost and average fixed cost; however, total fixed cost declined 4 percent, total variable cost declined 4 to 5 percent and total crates sold declined 4 to 5 percent

Towards Autonomous Selective Harvesting: A Review of Robot Perception, Robot Design, Motion Planning and Control

This paper provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art in selective harvesting robots (SHRs) and their potential for addressing the challenges of global food production. SHRs have the potential to increase productivity, reduce labour costs, and minimise food waste by selectively harvesting only ripe fruits and vegetables. The paper discusses the main components of SHRs, including perception, grasping, cutting, motion planning, and control. It also highlights the challenges in developing SHR technologies, particularly in the areas of robot design, motion planning and control. The paper also discusses the potential benefits of integrating AI and soft robots and data-driven methods to enhance the performance and robustness of SHR systems. Finally, the paper identifies several open research questions in the field and highlights the need for further research and development efforts to advance SHR technologies to meet the challenges of global food production. Overall, this paper provides a starting point for researchers and practitioners interested in developing SHRs and highlights the need for more research in this field.Comment: Preprint: to be appeared in Journal of Field Robotic

Development of a Field Robot Platform for Mechanical Weed Control in Greenhouse Cultivation of Cucumber

A prototype robot that moves on a monorail along the greenhouse for weed elimination between cucumber plants was designed and developed. The robot benefits from three arrays of ultrasonic sensors for weed detection and a PIC18 F4550-E/P microcontroller board for processing. The feedback from the sensors activates a robotic arm, which moves inside the rows of the cucumber plants for cutting the weeds using rotating blades. Several experiments were carried out inside a greenhouse to find the best combination of arm motor (AM) speed, blade rotation (BR) speed, and blade design. We assigned three BR speeds of 3500, 2500, and 1500 rpm, and two AM speed of 10 and 30 rpm to three blade designs of S-shape, triangular shape, and circular shape. Results indicated that different types of blades, different BR speed, and different AM speed had significant effects (P < 0.05) on the percentage of weeds cut (PWC); however, no significant interaction effects were observed. The comparison between the interaction effect of the factors (three blade designs, three BR speeds, and two AM speeds) showed that maximum mean PWC was equal to 78.2% with standard deviation of 3.9% and was achieved with the S-shape blade when the BR speed was 3500 rpm, and the AM speed was 10 rpm. Using this setting, the maximum PWC that the robot achieved in a random experiment was 95%. The lowest mean PWC was observed with the triangular-shaped blade (mean of 50.39% and SD = 1.86), which resulted from BR speed of 1500 rpm and AM speed of 30 rpm. This study can contribute to the commercialization of a reliable and affordable robot for automated weed control in greenhouse cultivation of cucumber

Industry-peppers harvest mechanization.

Production of peppers for deshidration (paprika) and for extraction of natural colorants is of great importance in some Mediterranean irrigation areas. In the area of Badajoz (Spain) traditional production, handling and postharvest systems are no longer feasible, although a very good quality and potential market exist for this product. All aspects of mechanized production and handling have been addressed: direct seeding and transplanting, cultivation systems and mechanical harvesting are searched to be adopted in a new production system. A study of size, shape and fruiting pattern of the new varieties was performed. A feasibility study of mechanized harvesting was also made. Results of field testing of different types of harvesters and performance of existing picking heads are presented, some of which yield a feasible solution for the growers of industry peppers in the area. The design, construction and field testing results of a new picking head based on the double-helix principle is presented