Search Results (29)

The growing demand for sustainable food production has driven significant advancements in modern agriculture, including increasing interest in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), a high-tech solution designed to provide fresh, local, and organic products. Although the integration of various technologies in agriculture continues to expand, many opportunities remain to improve environmental performance and operational efficiency. Recent advancements in Remote Sensing (RS) and Machine Learning (ML) offer promising tools for enhancing resource efficiency, improving sustainability, and optimizing processes across various agricultural settings. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of the application of Remote Sensing and Machine Learning in agriculture, highlighting publication trends, influential research contributions, and emerging themes in this interdisciplinary field. While the majority of the analyzed literature addresses general agricultural modernization, the growing relevance of RS and ML in artificial climate facilities and controlled environments has been evident in more recent research. Furthermore, we explore how RS and ML technologies contribute to real-time monitoring, precision agriculture, and decision-making in agriculture. Full article

Archeological evidence shows that dairy farming dates to the early Neolithic era in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Over time, it has evolved from domestication to intensive dairy farms with large, high-tech processing units. Dairy farming has contributed to economic growth, food production, employment, and processing industries. Nonetheless, it has been identified as a major contributor to climate change. This study explores the literature on dairy farming and sustainable development goals (SDGs) to identify current scholarly developments since the formulation and adoption of the SDGs in 2015 and themes for future research. This paper argues that sustainability shortfalls in dairy farming are primarily driven by human processes associated with commercialization and industrialization rather than the animals themselves, although biological emissions remain an inherent factor. Data were analyzed using R package, Excel, NVIVO, and VoS Viewer. A review of the literature showed that dairy farming and its contribution to sustainability has gained more scientific interest since 2015. Moreover, livestock management, feed production and management, stakeholder management, logistics and supply chain management, and waste management are the sources of environmental adversities associated with dairy farming. Notably, these are human processes developed from the commercialization of dairy farming and involve multiple stakeholders across the supply chain. While solutions are embedded within these processes, innovation emerges as a key driver of sustainability and a source of opportunities to strengthen sustainability in the dairy farming sector and achieve SDGs. Sustainability strategies, such as sustainable intensification, multifunctional agriculture, and agro-ecology should be implemented to improve sustainability in the dairy sector. Full article

In the post-COVID-19 era, there has been an increasing interest in re-evaluating citizens’ living conditions within dense and grey urban areas. The provision of green spaces has always been identified as an important aspect of alleviating contemporary everyday life stress and preventing or limiting mental health-related issues. It is also an important strategy to mitigate urban heat islands and foster adaptation strategies to climate change. Among the numerous experiments of ‘green action’ available to urban planners, urban farming strategies have been widely used in Europe to provide green spaces and ecosystem services, exploring the topics related to self-production of food, biodiversity, and zero-km cultivation. Therefore, finding new spaces for agriculture in urban environments has driven scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs to develop new soilless technologies (such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics) to maximize yields in urban areas, creating new agricultural and architectural models such as the vertical farms (VF) and the building-integrated greenhouses (BIGH). In this regard, the objective of this paper is to recontextualize the integrated greenhouse element for high-tech food production as new iconic architectural models derived from the experience of the Victorian Winter Gardens and the first tropical greenhouses. Revisiting these perspectives, this paper offers opportunities to redefine the greenhouse as a multifunctional asset that aligns with both environmental goals and architectural standards. Full article

Ever-growing cities constantly increase the distance between suburban regions and semi-urban areas on the perimeter of the cities, where traditional crop production can take place with relatively fewer restrictions. The implementation of ultra-short supply chains implies moving the means of crop production as close to inhabitants as possible. Two main directions can be identified as effective for increasing the food resilience of densely populated suburban areas; these are soil-based traditional urban agriculture and high-tech plant factories. Both approaches to crop production offer a certain level of integration with the built environment; however, these alternatives differ in terms of their contributions to environment modulation, agrobiodiversity, social well-being, and food resilience. Vertical farms can produce a high amount of nutritionally rich crops for direct use, although the involvement of inhabitants is minimal; therefore, they can be considered a service function without social advantages. Open-field plant production can contribute to the well-being of locals, but the yields are considered rather supplementary. The combination of both production approaches to strengthen common advantages is less likely; automated production technologies require a low number of highly qualified personnel; therefore, community plant factories cannot be considered possible contributors to urban social well-being in the future. Full article

Over the past few decades, a large variety of urban farms and projects have developed in the Global North. Urban agriculture addresses numerous challenges such as producing sustainable fresh food, educating people, and creating new jobs and skills. Urban agriculture is diverse in terms of location (rooftop, basement, underground, parking), activities (food production and/or services), and techniques (from low-tech to high-tech). These projects are created by entrepreneurs because they live in the city, want to change their environment, and promote sustainable practices. Faced with economic and environmental crises, public authorities at different levels and with various orientations reorganize the food system towards local production and consumption; they encourage the development of urban agriculture through a diverse range of policies. These public projects must be economically viable but can be created as socially oriented services based on food production and not only as sites of food production. Our empirical research based on the case studies of two original public urban farms, the Potager du Roi de Versailles and the Cité Maraichère de Romainville, uses the concept of the triple layered business model and highlights their sustainable strategy. Our evaluation of their economic, social, and environmental impacts tends to demonstrate not only their dependence on multiple interlinked public policies but also the justification of significant and recurring public funds for the general interest. Full article

Byproducts and wastes from the food processing industry represent an important group of wastes generated annually in large quantities. It is important to note that the amount of this waste will increase with industrialization, and effective solutions must be found urgently. Many wastes that cause environmental pollution are evaluated by their low-tech conversion into products with little economic value, such as animal feed and fertilizer. Therefore, the evaluation of food processing waste using effective recycling techniques has become an interesting subject with increasing population, ongoing biotechnological studies, and advances in technology. The conversion of food waste into biotechnological products via fermentation is a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and economical method in line with the principles of green chemistry. This approach promotes the reuse of food waste by supporting the principles of a circular economy and offers sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels and synthetic chemicals. This contributes to reducing the carbon footprint, preserving soil and water quality, and providing economic sustainability through the production of high-value products. In this study, the properties of olive mill wastewater, an important and valuable waste in the olive oil industry, its environmental aspects, and its use in biotechnological applications that integrate green chemistry are evaluated. Full article

It is evident that, due to population growth, future urbanization and urban growth are inevitable. It is estimated that the food supply demand of future urban centers will grow, which will place an additional burden on the agriculture sector to produce more food. It is projected that securing the food supply chain for future urban centers will be a challenge. Urban agriculture can be regarded as a remedy for possible future challenges that the global food system will face. It might be able to reduce the future burden on the agriculture sector. This research proposes that urban rooftop agriculture, as a subset of urban agriculture, can produce local fresh food in dense urban environments. The principal aim of this research is to suggest a series of design recommendations for architects interested in designing residential buildings capable of rooftop food production. This research attempts to highlight the specific design recommendations and the principal limitations regarding designing residential rooftop farms. To extract the data for developing the proposed design recommendations and limitations, a review of the literature within the fields of urban agriculture, building-integrated agriculture, and horticulture was conducted. Based on the literature review results, this research suggests that the following three types of farming methods can be developed on residential rooftops: (1) open-air rooftop food production, (2) “low-tech” rooftop greenhouses, and (3) “high-tech” rooftop greenhouses. In addition, factors that can be considered principal limitations are suggested. In sum, this research proposes that current and future residential buildings can be designed so that their rooftops are utilized as farms. In this way, such buildings can contribute to delivering local fresh food to current and future metropolitan dwellers. Full article

Aerosol insecticides are widely used in stored product insect management programs in food facilities. Previous research has shown spatial variation in aerosol efficacy within facilities, but information on how spatial patterns of aerosol droplet concentration, size distribution, dispersal, and deposition contribute to this variation in efficacy is limited. This study involved two aerosol application systems: a high-pressure cylinder containing TurboCide Py-75^® with pyriproxyfen IGR (ChemTech Ltd., Des Moines, IA, USA) and a hand-held fogger containing Pyrocide 100^® (MGK, Minneapolis, MN, USA) with Diacon II which contains methoprene IGR (Wellmark, Schaumburg, IL, USA). These systems were used at single or multiple application locations. The spray trials were conducted in a small-scale flour mill, Hall Ross Flour Mill (Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA). The droplet size distributions were monitored at multiple positions within the room using nine aerodynamic particle sizing (APS, TSI Incorp, Shoreview, MN, USA) instruments. The APS data collected over the treatment period were summarized into a mass concentration index (MCI), which ranged from 155 to 2549 mg/m³ for Turbocide and 235–5658 mg/m³ for Pyrocide. A second parameter called the Deposition Index (Dep.Idx) was derived to estimate potential insecticide depositions on the floor and has units of g/m². The Dep.Idx was below 5.3 g/m² for most Turbocide applications, while the Dep.Idx was below 8.4 g/m² for most Pyrocide applications. The MCI and Dep.Idx values varied with APS position and spray application location, with proximity to the aerosol application location and degree of obstruction between the release point and APS position contributing to this variation. We assessed the relationship between aerosol droplet parameters and insect efficacy using Tribolium confusum Jacqueline DuVal, the confused flour beetle. The adults were treated directly, while the larvae were treated two weeks later during the residual test (previously published). For Turbocide, efficacy against adults increased with MCI and Dep.Idx values, but for residual efficacy of the IGR, efficacy was high at all aerosol droplet values, so no relationship was apparent. In contrast, the relationship between Pyrocide deposition and adult insect efficacy was highly variable. But with larval insect efficacy, residual larvae control was directly related to increases in Pyrocide MCI and Dep.Idx. Contour plots of Dep.Idx values were developed, which could be used to predict areas of the mill that are not receiving an adequate application rate, and this could be used to develop more effective application strategies for aerosol insecticides in food facilities. Full article

One of the most important tasks in food safety is to properly manage the investigation of mycotoxin contamination in agricultural products and foods made from them, as well as to prevent its occurrence. Monitoring requires a wide range of analytical methods, from expensive analytical procedures with high-tech instrumentation to significantly cheaper biosensor developments or even single-use assays suitable for on-site monitoring. This review provides a summary of the development directions over approximately a decade and a half, grouped according to the biologically sensitive components used. We provide an overview of the use of antibodies, molecularly imprinted polymers, and aptamers, as well as the diversity of biosensors and their applications within the food industry. We also mention the possibility of determining multiple toxins side by side, which would significantly reduce the time required for the analyses. Full article

The Ukrainian Industry 4.0 strategy envisages the positioning of Ukraine as a high-tech, post-industrial country, integrated into global technological chains of value creation and producing unique engineering services and high-quality products. In particular, for the needs of the territorial communities of Ukraine in the conditions of war, the uninterrupted operation of agro-food supply chains and ensuring the ecological safety of these territories has become especially important. This paper explores the possibilities of creating a unified digital information space in a modern cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to improve the management of all subjects in the territorial community and facilitate the transition to the Industry 4.0 technology landscape. Full article

Recent studies indicate that food demand will increase by 35–56% over the period 2010–2050 due to population increase, economic development, and urbanization. Greenhouse systems allow for the sustainable intensification of food production with demonstrated high crop production per cultivation area. Breakthroughs in resource-efficient fresh food production merging horticultural and AI expertise take place with the international competition “Autonomous Greenhouse Challenge”. This paper describes and analyzes the results of the third edition of this competition. The competition’s goal is the realization of the highest net profit in fully autonomous lettuce production. Two cultivation cycles were conducted in six high-tech greenhouse compartments with operational greenhouse decision-making realized at a distance and individually by algorithms of international participating teams. Algorithms were developed based on time series sensor data of the greenhouse climate and crop images. High crop yield and quality, short growing cycles, and low use of resources such as energy for heating, electricity for artificial light, and CO₂ were decisive in realizing the competition’s goal. The results highlight the importance of plant spacing and the moment of harvest decisions in promoting high crop growth rates while optimizing greenhouse occupation and resource use. In this paper, images taken with depth cameras (RealSense) for each greenhouse were used by computer vision algorithms (Deepabv3+ implemented in detectron2 v0.6) in deciding optimum plant spacing and the moment of harvest. The resulting plant height and coverage could be accurately estimated with an R² of 0.976, and a mIoU of 98.2, respectively. These two traits were used to develop a light loss and harvest indicator to support remote decision-making. The light loss indicator could be used as a decision tool for timely spacing. Several traits were combined for the harvest indicator, ultimately resulting in a fresh weight estimation with a mean absolute error of 22 g. The proposed non-invasively estimated indicators presented in this article are promising traits to be used towards full autonomation of a dynamic commercial lettuce growing environment. Computer vision algorithms act as a catalyst in remote and non-invasive sensing of crop parameters, decisive for automated, objective, standardized, and data-driven decision making. However, spectral indexes describing lettuces growth and larger datasets than the currently accessible are crucial to address existing shortcomings between academic and industrial production systems that have been encountered in this work. Full article

The ongoing criticism of conventional agricultural activities being unsustainable in the face of climate change and global population growth has been one of the key drivers for technological innovation in this space. Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), especially in the high-tech form of vertical farming, as a new agri-food technology, has been positioned as a sustainable solution to the dilemma of feeding the world and preserving the planet. Acknowledging sustainability as a multi-dimensional concept encompassing environmental, economic, social, and cultural aspects, this review briefly outlines the evolving meaning of sustainability, and how CEA has been framed as sustainable in the literature. Specifically, the review examines studies that have investigated consumer perceptions and acceptance of CEA and discussed how sustainability features of CEA were presented to consumers in a diverse way across these studies. The review highlights that the social and cultural dimensions of sustainability were largely neglected not only in research that focused on the development of CEA, but also in the exploration of consumers’ perceptions of CEA. A more holistic examination of the sustainability of CEA and a comprehensive understanding from consumers is important for transitioning towards more sustainable production systems enabled by new technologies such as CEA. Full article

The low production costs and useful properties of synthetic polymers have led to their ubiquitous use, from food packaging and household products to high-tech applications in medicine and electronics. Incomplete recycling of plastic materials results in an accumulation of plastic waste, which slowly degrades to produce tiny plastic particles, commonly known as “microplastics” (MPs). MPs can enter water bodies, but only recently the problem of MP pollution of sea and fresh waters has become clearly evident and received considerable attention. This paper critically reviews the accumulated data about the distribution of MPs in the freshwater ecosystems of Russia. The available data on MP abundance in the lakes and river systems of the Russian Federation are analyzed (including the large Lakes Baikal, Ladoga, Onego, Imandra and Teletskoe, and the Volga, Northern Dvina, Ob, and Yenisei Rivers within their tributaries) and compared with the data on freshwater MP contents in other countries. In Russia, the main sources of MP pollution for rivers and lakes are domestic wastewater, containing microfibers of synthetic textiles, fishing tackle, and plastic waste left on shores. Among the MPs detected in the surface waters and bottom sediments, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles predominate. The most common types of MPs in the surface freshwaters are fibers and fragments, with fibers prevailing in the bottom sediments. The reported average MP concentrations in the waters range from 0.007 items/m³ at the mouth of the Northern Dvina River to 11,000 items/m³ in the Altai lakes. However, the estimates obtained in different studies must be compared with great precaution because of significant differences in the methods used for MP quantification. The approaches to further improve the relevance of research into MP pollution of fresh waters are suggested. Full article

Protected cropping produces more food per land area than field-grown crops. Protected cropping includes low-tech polytunnels utilizing protective coverings, medium-tech facilities with some environmental control, and high-tech facilities such as fully automated glasshouses and indoor vertical farms. High crop productivity and quality are maintained by using environmental control systems and advanced precision phenotyping sensor technologies that were first developed for broadacre agricultural and can now be utilized for protected-cropping applications. This paper reviews the state of the global protected-cropping industry and current precision phenotyping methodology and technology that is used or can be used to advance crop productivity and quality in a protected growth environment. This review assesses various sensor technologies that can monitor and maintain microclimate parameters, as well as be used to assess plant productivity and produce quality. The adoption of precision phenotyping technologies is required for sustaining future food security and enhancing nutritional quality. Full article

Protected cropping offers a way to bolster food production in the face of climate change and deliver healthy food sustainably with fewer resources. However, to make this way of farming economically viable, we need to consider the status of protected cropping in the context of available technologies and corresponding target horticultural crops. This review outlines existing opportunities and challenges that must be addressed by ongoing research and innovation in this exciting but complex field in Australia. Indoor farm facilities are broadly categorised into the following three levels of technological advancement: low-, medium- and high-tech with corresponding challenges that require innovative solutions. Furthermore, limitations on indoor plant growth and protected cropping systems (e.g., high energy costs) have restricted the use of indoor agriculture to relatively few, high value crops. Hence, we need to develop new crop cultivars suitable for indoor agriculture that may differ from those required for open field production. In addition, protected cropping requires high start-up costs, expensive skilled labour, high energy consumption, and significant pest and disease management and quality control. Overall, protected cropping offers promising solutions for food security, while reducing the carbon footprint of food production. However, for indoor cropping production to have a substantial positive impact on global food security and nutritional security, the economical production of diverse crops will be essential. Full article