Eckart Kramer

Risk management in the supply chain

Publisher Summary The rising demand for fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetables benefits from the ongoing trend for globally sourcing supply chains. This chapter presents a summary of the recent trends in the increasingly complex development of supply chains, development of globalization, holistic process optimization approaches, and strategic cooperation. It discusses the accelerated progress of information and communication technologies in this context as a backbone; that is, for the decoupling of information and product flows throughout the chain, enabling traceability and availability of quality-and process-related information at any step in the supply chain. It also explains the demands of quality and risk management. The evolution of good manufacturing practice should form the predominant part of the self-control system of farmers and operators. The chapter presents a summary of risks for fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetables, as well as an introduction to adequate risk analysis, which aims to avoid misinterpretation of hazard analyses. It explains the critical points in the supply chain of fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetables. A number of relevant pieces of EU legislation have been pronounced recently, concerning good manufacturing practice, additives and pesticides, hazard analysis, traceability, and labeling. The chapter takes into account special provisions regarding organic production, genetically modified organisms, and allergenic substances. It presents a comparison of legal requirements to selected checkpoints of relevant quality programs and this overview aims to support the management of the fruit and vegetable industries in their responsibility for establishing and maintaining a number of documented procedures and records. The chapter, in addition, identifies potential difficulties for smaller growers and operators, provides an outlook on future trends, directed toward the development of the supply chain infrastructure as well as the emerging risks at processing and management level, and of risks relating to hurdle technology concepts.

Soil pH mapping with an on-the-go sensor.

Soil pH is a key parameter for crop productivity, therefore, its spatial variation should be adequately addressed to improve precision management decisions. Recently, the Veris pH Manager™, a sensor for high-resolution mapping of soil pH at the field scale, has been made commercially available in the US. While driving over the field, soil pH is measured on-the-go directly within the soil by ion selective antimony electrodes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Veris pH Manager™ under farming conditions in Germany. Sensor readings were compared with data obtained by standard protocols of soil pH assessment. Experiments took place under different scenarios: (a) controlled tests in the lab, (b) semicontrolled test on transects in a stop-and-go mode, and (c) tests under practical conditions in the field with the sensor working in its typical on-the-go mode. Accuracy issues, problems, options, and potential benefits of the Veris pH Manager™ were addressed. The tests demonstrated a high degree of linearity between standard laboratory values and sensor readings. Under practical conditions in the field (scenario c), the measure of fit (r2) for the regression between the on-the-go measurements and the reference data was 0.71, 0.63, and 0.84, respectively. Field-specific calibration was necessary to reduce systematic errors. Accuracy of the on-the-go maps was considerably higher compared with the pH maps obtained by following the standard protocols, and the error in calculating lime requirements was reduced by about one half. However, the system showed some weaknesses due to blockage by residual straw and weed roots. If these problems were solved, the on-the-go sensor investigated here could be an efficient alternative to standard sampling protocols as a basis for liming in Germany.

Proximal Soil Sensing – A Contribution for Species Habitat Distribution Modelling of Earthworms in Agricultural Soils?

Background Earthworms are important for maintaining soil ecosystem functioning and serve as indicators of soil fertility. However, detection of earthworms is time-consuming, which hinders the assessment of earthworm abundances with high sampling density over entire fields. Recent developments of mobile terrestrial sensor platforms for proximal soil sensing (PSS) provided new tools for collecting dense spatial information of soils using various sensing principles. Yet, the potential of PSS for assessing earthworm habitats is largely unexplored. This study investigates whether PSS data contribute to the spatial prediction of earthworm abundances in species distribution models of agricultural soils. Methodology/Principal Findings Proximal soil sensing data, e.g., soil electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and near infrared absorbance (NIR), were collected in real-time in a field with two management strategies (reduced tillage / conventional tillage) and sandy to loam soils. PSS was related to observations from a long-term (11 years) earthworm observation study conducted at 42 plots. Earthworms were sampled from 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.2 m³ soil blocks and identified to species level. Sensor data were highly correlated with earthworm abundances observed in reduced tillage but less correlated with earthworm abundances observed in conventional tillage. This may indicate that management influences the sensor-earthworm relationship. Generalized additive models and state-space models showed that modelling based on data fusion from EC, pH, and NIR sensors produced better results than modelling without sensor data or data from just a single sensor. Regarding the individual earthworm species, particular sensor combinations were more appropriate than others due to the different habitat requirements of the earthworms. Earthworm species with soil-specific habitat preferences were spatially predicted with higher accuracy by PSS than more ubiquitous species. Conclusions/Significance Our findings suggest that PSS contributes to the spatial modelling of earthworm abundances at field scale and that it will support species distribution modelling in the attempt to understand the soil-earthworm relationships in agroecosystems.

Zertifizierung und Unternehmensverantwortung in der Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft

Es wird untersucht, in welchem Umfang Zertifizierungsstandards als Werkzeuge zur Wahrung der Unternehmensverantwortung in der Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft nutzbar sind. Hierzu werden die Bereiche der Unternehmensverantwortung umrissen. Es wird begrundet, dass diese Verantwortung mit der Beachtung nachhaltiger Prinzipien verbunden ist. Es werden Hemmnisse und Abhangigkeiten bei der Wahrnehmung von Unternehmensverantwortung aufgezeigt. Deshalb muss zuverlassiges Handeln gesellschaftlicher Akteure in der Unternehmenszertifizierung berucksichtigt werden. Gleichzeitig gewinnt eine umfassende Berichterstattung zur Unternehmensverantwortung zunehmend an Bedeutung. Aus einer vergleichenden Gegenuberstellung der Unternehmensverantwortung mit Zertifizierungsstandards wird gefolgert, dass Standards eine wertvolle Hilfestellung bieten. Eine Orientierung an Standards schafft Voraussetzungen fur den Marktzugang an sich. Unternehmerische Handlungsspielraume bleiben erhalten und konnen ausgeweitet werden. Es ergeben sich Potenziale zur Erschliesung neuer Kooperationsmoglichkeiten. Anforderungen an die zukunftige Entwicklung von Zertifizierungssystemen hinsichtlich ihrer Ausrichtung, der Einbeziehung der Bewertung von Stakeholdern und der Vereinfachung des Berichtswesens werden benannt.

Anforderungen zukünftiger Einsatzszenarien an autonome Feldroboter

Nowadays large, high-capacity machines are available for field work in agriculture. Experiences with site-specific management show that the distribution accuracy of plant protectives is often not satisfactory. Field robots are a very promising approach for more precision in agriculture and for relieving farmers of record keeping and verification responsibilities. Field robots must carry out their tasks economically and reliably and must be user-friendly. General requirements for operating autonomous field robots are presented and a concrete operation scenario for weed mapping is illustrated more closely as an example.

Einfluss der Transportlogistik auf die Qualität von Tierfutter

High feed production standards demand advanced quality assurance throughout the global supply chain. A feed-mix producer detected occasional deviations from quality requirements in the soya extraction pellets delivered. Identifying the potential for optimi