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" I heard it
through the
AgLine"
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September 15, 2009
·
UK scientists
developing harvesting robot
·
California ag
exporters ordered to fight fair
·
ARS studies
sustainable spud production
·
Biobased
additives could replace petroleum
·
Vietnam
produce reaches trade surplus
UK scientists developing harvesting
robot
(Wire Services) – Researchers at the National Physical
Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington have developed imaging
technology to be used in an intelligent harvesting machine that could minimise wastage and solve an impending labour
shortage for UK
farmers.
Annual waste for certain crops can be up to 60% - which can
mean up to £100,000 of lost revenue for an average farm every year, according
to farmers who were consulted during research. Falling number of migrant labourers means that healthy crops
cannot be gathered and so farms are losing crops due to harvesting at the wrong
time.
NPL 's scientists are working with
KMS projects and Vegetable Harvesting Systems (VHS) to turn the technology into
an intelligent harvesting machine, which can look beneath the leafy layers of a
crop, identify the differing materials, and enable precise size identification.
This can be used to develop a fully automated harvesting robot, which would be
able to fill the gap left by the labour shortage.
The most appropriate technologies to use are radio
frequencies, microwaves, terahertz and the far-infra red. These four parts of
the electromagnetic spectrum all have potential to safely penetrate the crop
layers and identify the size of the harvestable material for a relatively low
cost. NPL has developed a methodology for crop identification and selection
focusing on cauliflower crops, one of the hardest crops to measure due to the
large amount of leafage that covers the vegetable.
The researchers at NPL began by modifying microwave
measurement systems to measure a cauliflowers structure. A series of
measurements made on real crops in the laboratory and field enabled a
statistical range of measurements for precise size identification. This data is
then designed into an algorithm to enable a simple size indication from a raw
measurement with uncertainties. The final technology will be developed for a
first generation harvester and tested in a real farming environment.
A successful demonstration of the imaging technology was given
recently at the Fanuc Robotics site in Coventry,
showing its huge potential for the harvesting of cauliflowers, lettuces and
other similar crops. This has attracted further commercial support from G's,
one of the largest lettuces grower in the UK, to
take the project forward and develop the complete product, which could be
available as early as next year.
Project Lead, Dr Richard Dudley, at NPL said:
"The farming industry does not have access to equipment
or the skills required to operate in these parts of the electromagnetic
spectrum, few places do. That is why KMS Projects and VHS came to NPL to utilise the world class expertise and equipment that we
have on site to try and address this problem. Our aim is to develop a unique
new automated harvesting machine that will dramatically improve productivity in
the UK
and global farming industry and ultimately benefit consumers through cheaper
food in the supermarkets."
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California ag
exporters ordered to fight fair
(Merced
Sun-Star) – The Agriculture Department wants farmers to fight fair as they
compete for foreign customers.
A trade promotion program popular among California
farm groups will not subsidize overseas ads that contain "derogatory
reference or negative comparison to other U.S. agricultural
commodities," rules proposed last week state. Simply put, snark is out.
"We would never do that," said Jean Valentine, who
handles overseas marketing for the Dinuba-based California Cling Peach Board.
"I'm sure they're just covering all their bases, which they should be
doing."
Farm organization representatives were hard-pressed to
recall any negative overseas ads previously financed by the $200 million-a-year
Market Access Program. The negative-ad prohibition, though, is only one of
myriad rule changes designed to bring into the 21st century a program
established in the mid-1980s.
Web sites and text messages, for instance, could be funded
by the Agriculture Department under the new rules that in many cases simply
clarify what had previously been left unsaid.
"We've (already) used the Web site quite a lot in the
Canadian market," Valentine said.
The Market Access Program was created, under a different
name, by California lawmakers, and California agricultural
organizations remain the biggest beneficiaries. At least 17 different
California-based companies and trade groups received program funding last
September.
The grants ranged from $237,725 for the cling peach board
and $3.5 million for the California Table Grape Commission to $4.2 million for
Sunkist.
The money is matched by private funding and pays for
overseas product promotion efforts. These can cover everything from a
wine-tasting and a cooking demonstration to radio and television ads. In part,
the new rules take account of the new technologies now being used in marketing.
Podcasting, for instance, was barely even a word when the
Agriculture Department last revised its Market Access Program rules in 1998.
Now, federal officials want to add the Internet-based broadcasting to the list
of activities for which farm groups can receive public funding.
Wireless e-mail devices and personal digital assistants that
have surged in popularity over the past decade, such as the now omnipresent BlackBerry, have likewise been added to the list of
reimbursable purchases.
Farm groups seeking Market Access Program funds will have to
present more detailed information in how they plan to select and promote brand
name products. In the past, questions have arisen over the use of taxpayer
subsidies in support of brands like E&J Gallo wines, Dole fresh fruit and
M&M candies. In recent years, the program has been tightening access for
brand-name promotions.
The proposed new rules are open for public comment through
Nov. 9.
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ARS studies sustainable spud
production
(USDA-ARS) – Americans consume about 130 pounds of fresh and
processed potatoes per capita annually, and in 2008 U.S. farmers harvested some 41.3
billion pounds of spuds on more than one million acres. So making even small
changes in how potatoes are grown could yield big benefits for the environment.
Scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the
principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, are making potato production as sustainable and environmentally
friendly as possible. So far, plants in the mustard (Brassica)
family, which have natural pest suppression properties, have been key partners
in this effort.
At the ARS New England Plant, Soil and Water Laboratory in Orono, Maine, scientists have conducted long-term
research with canola and other Brassica crops in
rotation with potatoes since 1997. They’ve found that with the right crop
rotation, potato farmers can naturally suppress diseases, enhance soil nutrient
content, boost crop productivity, and lower the use of fertilizers, all of
which lower the risks of economic losses.
Using rotation crops has reduced some soil-borne diseases
from 20 to 50 percent. Canola crops are particularly promising because they
produce potent sulfur compounds that can knock down powdery scab and Rhizoctonia fungus.
On the other side of the country, scientists at the ARS
Vegetable and Forage Crops Production Research Unit in Prosser, Wash.,
have found that one to two tons of crushed mustard seed meal applied per acre
without herbicides significantly reduced early weeds in potato fields. Mustard
seed meal is left over after vegetable oil has been extracted.
Potato producers in the Pacific
Northwest already use white and brown mustards as cover crops in
rotation with potatoes to reduce wind erosion and help control plant pathogens.
The Prosser researchers also determined that mustard cover crops can contribute
more than 30 pounds of nitrogen to each acre of crop soil, which could save
farmers $14 to $30 per acre, depending on the cost of nitrogen fertilizers.
ARS research to reduce the need for pesticides used in
potato production is part of a larger mission to support and enhance more
sustainable agricultural production of food, feed, fiber and fuel throughout
the United States.
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Biobased additives could replace
petroleum
(USDA-ARS) – Today, most of those lubricants for engines and
other mechanical uses are made of so-called "base oil" that's blended
with additives to boost performance.
The U.S.
demand for additives, already at nearly 2 billion pounds a year, is expected to
increase 2 percent annually for the next five years.
That projection might attract new interest in a process,
developed several years ago by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) chemist Sevim Z. Erhan and her
colleagues, for making additives from plants instead of petroleum. These biobased additives would be suitable for use in formulating
greases; engine oils; and hydraulic, transmission and drilling fluids,
according to Erhan.
The additives could be made from the predominant fat
molecules -- triglycerides -- in natural oils of familiar crops like soybean,
corn or canola, or from lesser-known plants like camelina,
crambe or pennycress.
Besides providing a potentially profitable market for
growers in the Midwest and elsewhere, the
fully biodegradable, new-age additives offer other benefits and, to date, no
downside. Since they're fully biodegradable, proper disposal is fast, easy and
inexpensive. They can be used with either biobased or
conventional lubricants. The additives meet all the standard criteria for a top-notch,
antifriction, antiwear additive-namely, impressive
viscosity and liquidity, high flashpoint, and stability despite temperature
extremes.
In small-scale laboratory tests to
evaluate wear and friction, the plant-oil additives performed as well as or
better than commercial petroleum-based additives.
Erhan and colleagues did the work
while Erhan worked at the agency's National Center
for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria,
Ill. She's now director of the ARS Eastern Regional Research
Center in Wyndmoor, Pa.
Erhan and co-investigators Brajendra K. Sharma of Pennsylvania State
University-University Park and Atanu Adhvaryu, formerly with the university, received a U.S.
patent in 2007 for the eco-friendly process used for making the additives.
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Vietnam produce reaches trade
surplus
(NhanDan.com)
– Vietnam exported US$278
million worth of fruits and vegetables – including the first-ever shipment of
red-flesh dragon fruits to the US
– and imported US$166 million in the first eight months of the year, according
to the General Statistic Office.
But despite the fruit and vegetable trade surplus, exports
have still not met the country’s great potential as 90% of fruits still depend
on the domestic markets.
To increase Vietnamese exports, localities should set up
large fruit cultivated areas, each specilising in a
kind of fruit to fulfill large export contracts, said Nguyen Minh Chau, head of the Southern Fruit Research Institute.
Co-operation among fruit growers, nurseries and enterprises
is needed to be strengthened to create high-quality fruits, Chau
said.
He also suggested other measures to improve export
effectiveness, including identifying the origins of fruits, establishing
packing houses that meet global standards and growing fruit under the European
Retail Producers Good Agricultural Practices.
The country now has 775,000 ha of fruits with annual output
of 7 million tonnes, with bananas leading, followed
by oranges, longans, pineapples, mangoes, litchis and
dragon fruits, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Vietnamese fruits and vegetables are now sold to 50 markets
worldwide, including large markets like China,
the US and Japan .
The Vietnam Vegetable and Fruit Association predicts that
the country’s vegetable and fruit export turnover in 2009 may reach US$450
million, about US$50 million more than last year.
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End Transmission