Future Internet for Safe and Healthy Food from Farm to Fork

At the present time, we are facing an emerging problem which will become even more urgent and critical in the coming decades: the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates an increase of the world population from the current 6 billion people to 9-11 billion people by 2050 leading to a doubling of world-wide food demand. It is generally believed that that smart, data-rich ICT-services and applications, in combination with advanced hardware, can provide the much needed breakthroughs to producing enough good quality food in a safe and environmental-sound way. Therefore, the EU’s Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (FI-PPP) program (www.fi-ppp.eu) aims to make service infrastructures and business processes more intelligent, more efficient and more sustainable through tighter integration with Future Internet (FI) technologies

European Information System for Organic Markets (EISFOM QLK5-2002-02400): WP 2: “Data collection and processing systems (DCPS) for the conventional markets” and WP 3: “Data collection and processing systems for organic markets” = Deliverable D2

European markets for organic products are developing fast. In Europe, as other parts of the world, more and more farm land is being converted to organic production. In order to adjust production and consumption levels, detailed market information is needed, especially where decisions with a long-term impact need to be taken, for example on converting specific land or livestock enterprises requiring high levels of investment in glasshouses, housing, processing facilities etc. Since public subsidies (regional / national / European) are heavily involved in these investments, valid, accurate and up-to-date information is essential not only for farmers and growers, but also for policy-makers, consultants, processing industry etc. EU-research projects such as OFCAP (FAIR3-CT96-1794) and OMIaRD (QLK5-2000-01124) have shown that regional or national data gathering takes place in many countries, but often only very basic data are reported, such as certified organic holdings, land areas and livestock numbers. Important market data, e.g. the amount of production, consumption, international trade or producer and consumer prices, do not exist in most European countries. In some European countries there are only rough estimates of the levels of production and consumption. There is no standardization and data are seldom comparable. Furthermore, detailed information on specific commodities is missing. Hence, investment decisions are taken under conditions of great uncertainty. Likewise, if politicians want to support organic agriculture, they do not know whether it would be better to support production or consumption or to address problems in the marketing channel. The EU concerted action EISfOM (QLK5-2002-02400) (European Information System for Organic Markets) is attempting to take the first steps in solving these problems. The aim of this concerted action is to build up a framework for reporting valid and reliable data for relevant production and market sectors of the European organic sector in order to meet the needs of policy-makers, farmers, processors, wholesalers and other actors involved in organic markets. In order to reach this aim, this action was split into several workpackages. This report describes the approach and results of workpackages 2 and 3. In this first chapter the objective and general approach of these work packages are described. Chapters 2 and 3 provide an overview of international statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain at the public and the private level. Chapter 4 describes national statistics and data collection systems within the food supply chain. In Chapter 5, an analysis and appraisal is made of the results with regard to organic data collection and processing systems (DCPSs) and their integration into existing common DCPSs. Chapter 6 draws several general conclusions. Two substantial annexes complete the report, one with the country reports on the situation of data collection and processing in all investigated countries and the other with the first and the second stage questionnaires covering the different data collection levels

Business Process Modelling in Demand‐Driven Agri‐Food Supply Chains

Agri ‐food companies increasingly participate in demand‐driven supply chains that are able to adapt flexibly to changes in the marketplace. The objective of this presentation is to discuss a process modelling framework, which enhances the interoperability and agility of information systems as required in such dynamic supply chains. The designed framework consists of two parts: an object system definition and a modelling toolbox. The object system definition provides a conceptual definition of business process in demand‐driven supply chains from a systems perspective. It includes an application of the Viable Systems Model of Stafford Beer to supply chains, and classifications of business processes, control systems and coordination mechanisms. The modelling toolbox builds on the terminology and process definitions of SCOR and identifies three types of process models: i) Product Flow Models: visualize the allocation of basic transformations to supply chain actors and the related product flows from input material into end products (including different traceability units based on the GS1 Global Traceability Standard); ii) Thread Diagrams: visualize how order driven and forecast driven processes are decoupled in specific supply chain configurations (positions Customer Order Decoupling Points), and how interdependences between processes are coordinated; iii) Business Process Diagrams: depict the sequence and interaction of control and coordination activities (as identified in Thread Diagrams) in BPMN notation. The framework is applied to several agrifood sectors, in particular potted plants and fruit supply chains. The main benefits are: i) It helps to map supply chain processes, including its control and coordination, in a timely, punctual and coherent way; ii) It supports a seamless translation of high level supply chain designs to detailed information engineering models; iii) It enables rapid instantiation of various supply chain configurations (instead of dictating a single blueprint); iv) It combines sector specific knowledge with reuse of knowledge provided by generic cross industry standards (SCOR, GS1)

Scenarios for European agricultural policymaking in the era of digitalisation

CONTEXT Digitalisation affects the agri-food sector and its governance. However, what digitalisation of the sector will imply for future agricultural policymaking remains unclear. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate explorative scenarios of digitalisation in the agri-food sector of Europe that are explicitly relevant to agricultural policy. The study aims to provide guidance for strategic development of agricultural policy to address the potentials, uncertainties and unknowns arising with digitalisation of the sector. METHODS We combine a Delphi study and a participatory scenario workshop to develop and evaluate plausible explorative scenarios of digitalisation of Europe's agri-food sector. For all scenarios we identify gaps in achieving a range of important European agricultural policy goals, drawing on the Delphi study and desk-based analysis. Subsequently we deduce strategies to address these agricultural policy gaps. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Four scenarios of digitalisation of the agri-food sector were developed for Europe in 2030. They comprise of 1) digitalisation of the sector following current directions at current rates as a baseline scenario, 2) strong digitalisation of a regulatory government, 3) use of autonomous farming technology and 4) digitalised food business. These explorative scenarios entail various gaps in achieving European agricultural policy goals. Our findings suggest that the baseline scenario needs strategies to ramp up technological and institutional infrastructure for digitalisation. The other scenarios need strategies to prevent risks, e.g., of technological failures or undesired social impacts. They also need strategies to cater for special cases and diversity, e.g., of ecosystems and farming practices. Across the scenarios, it seems useful to increase digital competencies of the stakeholders. SIGNIFICANCE The study is the first that derives implications for policy strategies from explorative scenarios of future digitalisation of agricultural systems that target gaps in achieving agricultural policy goals. The combination of developing and analysing scenarios generated findings that are of significance to policymaking stakeholders and researchers alike, who all need to address the uncertainties arising with future digitalisation of the agri-food sector

Scenarios for European agricultural policymaking in the era of digitalisation

peer-reviewedCONTEXTDigitalisation affects the agri-food sector and its governance. However, what digitalisation of the sector will imply for future agricultural policymaking remains unclear. OBJECTIVEThe objective of the study is to develop and evaluate explorative scenarios of digitalisation in the agri-food sector of Europe that are explicitly relevant to agricultural policy. The study aims to provide guidance for strategic development of agricultural policy to address the potentials, uncertainties and unknowns arising with digitalisation of the sector. METHODSWe combine a Delphi study and a participatory scenario workshop to develop and evaluate plausible explorative scenarios of digitalisation of Europe's agri-food sector. For all scenarios we identify gaps in achieving a range of important European agricultural policy goals, drawing on the Delphi study and desk-based analysis. Subsequently we deduce strategies to address these agricultural policy gaps. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONSFour scenarios of digitalisation of the agri-food sector were developed for Europe in 2030. They comprise of 1) digitalisation of the sector following current directions at current rates as a baseline scenario, 2) strong digitalisation of a regulatory government, 3) use of autonomous farming technology and 4) digitalised food business. These explorative scenarios entail various gaps in achieving European agricultural policy goals. Our findings suggest that the baseline scenario needs strategies to ramp up technological and institutional infrastructure for digitalisation. The other scenarios need strategies to prevent risks, e.g., of technological failures or undesired social impacts. They also need strategies to cater for special cases and diversity, e.g., of ecosystems and farming practices. Across the scenarios, it seems useful to increase digital competencies of the stakeholders. SIGNIFICANCEThe study is the first that derives implications for policy strategies from explorative scenarios of future digitalisation of agricultural systems that target gaps in achieving agricultural policy goals. The combination of developing and analysing scenarios generated findings that are of significance to policymaking stakeholders and researchers alike, who all need to address the uncertainties arising with future digitalisation of the agri-food sector

Future Internet for Safe and Healthy Food from Farm to Fork

in the coming decades: the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates an increase of the world population from the current 6 billion people to 9-11 billion people by 2050 leading to a doubling of world-wide food demand (FAO 2009). In the meantime, we have already exceeded the carrying capacity of planet Earth with the current methods of agricultural production. Further globalization, climate change, growing welfare in emerging economies, a shift from a fuel-based towards a bio-based economy in the industrialized countries and competing claims on land, fresh water and labor will complicate the challenge to feed the world within the carrying capacity of planet Earth without further pollution or overexploitation. In industrialized countries, it is expected that novel technologies will decrease the gap between actual and attainable yields based on agro-ecological endowments under rain-fed high-input farming which will lead to an increase in food supply, locally up to a potential of 60% (Bruinsma 2003). Beside food security and sustainability, food safety has increasingly become a very important issue driven by scandals such as polluted baby milk powder in China or contamination of horse meat in Europe. These might be isolated incidents, but they have a huge impact on the overall perception of the integrity of food production. In relation to these issues, transparency in food networ

Sustainable agriculture by the Internet of Things – A practitioner's approach to monitor sustainability progress

Sustainability is a major challenge in agri-food systems. Digital technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT) hold substantial promises for attaining the sustainability goals of the economy, environment and society at large. However, in practice it is difficult to evaluate to which extent these technologies contribute to sustainable development raising doubts about their impact. This paper demonstrates a stepwise approach that allows for measuring and monitoring IoT contribution to sustainability in a real-life context. The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) underpin the principles of the approach by a typology and by framing the sustainability impact in terms of business opportunities. The approach has been developed and evaluated by 33 use cases in the EU-funded IoF2020 project. The research illustrates how the measurement and monitoring tool is applied in 5 of these use cases from different agricultural subsectors showing how the approach is applied and validated. The results indicate an overall positive impact of IoT on improving sustainability, although these results are also partly determined by other influential external factors that cannot be easily discerned in a practical situation. The main contribution of this approach is the set of instruments for practitioners to measure and monitor the impact of fast-changing technologies such as IoT to sustainability in a real-life context. This set of instruments can also be used by other stakeholders in large IoT projects where strategic sustainability objectives should be supported by IoT solutions. The stepwise approach is easy to communicate and supports stakeholders such as farmers in decision-making, but also policy makers and investors in funding projects

5G in agri-food - A review on current status, opportunities and challenges

Autonomous tractors, spraying drones, robotics and fully autonomous farms are possible outcomes of the digital transformation trend in agriculture and food systems which is fostered by continuous technological advancement and the increasing connectivity capacity. These futuristic scenarios will be unlocked by 5G connectivity, the next step after 4G, because it enables high data transfer volumes and low latency which can lead to many beneficial outcomes for technology applications in agri-food, such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Blockchain. Considerable progress is seen in the 5G ecosystem around the world, from South Korea to Australia and Europe. This review presents the opportunities and challenges of 5G in agri-food. The six most compelling use cases of 5G in agri-food at this moment from different parts of the world are in Brazil, the Netherlands, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The future of 5G in agri-food will depend on a number of enabling factors including interoperability, data governance and security, new business models, policy changes, and innovative ecosystems. The baseline scenario of connectivity and infrastructure for a region or country is determined by the dimensions of 5G aggregation-, cyber physical management- and decision-making levels, which guide future 5G applications in agri-food. Agriculture technology collaboration across the private and public sector and ecosystem development are the first steps for all countries to make progress towards large scale uptake of 5G in agri-food

Information Exchange in Supply Chains : The Case of Agritech

We propose to analyze the supply chain not (just) as interconnected firms where products move from primary production, through processing, down to final consumer (user), but rather as collaborating firms that exchange information in order for each to function. This opens the analysis of supply chains up for institutional economic analysis and also allows one to acknowledge that information can be used strategically. Yet, information exchange can also be hampered because of a supply chain’s structure—we focus on this. The difficulty of exchanging information is particularly important when an industry and its supply chain newly emerges or is disrupted. In such circumstances the way in which information is presented and used is not institutionalized yet in a way that works for the parties involved. We show the relevance of this approach to understanding supply chains by referencing the agrifood supply chain as it is on the cusp of being disrupted by the extensive use of Information Technology

The aXTool : a supportive tool in data exchange harmonization work for interoperablity of information systems in agriculture

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