" I heard it through the AgLine"

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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