Does Green Food Certification promote agri-food export quality?Evidence from China

The construction of a food certification system plays a vital role in upgrading export quality, which previous studies have largely overlooked. We match China's industry-level data of Green Food Certification with its HS6-digit export data of agri-food products to quantify the impact of Green Food Certification on export quality. We identify the significant and positive effect of Green Food Certification on export quality. The 2SLS estimation based on instrumental variables and a range of robustness checks confirm the validity and robustness of the benchmark conclusions. Further analysis discloses that Green Food Certification improves export quality by raising agricultural production efficiency and brand premiums. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of Green Food Certification varies across regions, notably improving the quality of agri-food products exported to developed regions and regions with high levels of import supervision. Furthermore, among various product types, Green Food Certification significantly improves the export quality of primary products and products vulnerable to non-tariff measures. The above findings could guide the future development of agri-food quality certification systems, potentially leading to a transformation and promotion of the agri-food trade.

Impacts of agri-food e-commerce on traditional wholesale industry:Evidence from China

Rapidly expanding studies investigate the effects of e-commerce on company operations in the retail market.However,the interaction between agri-food e-commerce(AEC)and the traditional agri-food wholesale industry(AWI)has not received enough attention in the existing literature.Based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020 in China,this paper examines the effect of AEC on AWI,comprising three dimensions:digitalization(DIGITAL),agrifood e-commerce infrastructure and supporting services(AECI),and agri-food e-commerce economy(AECE).First,AWI and AEC are measured using an entropy-based combination of indicators.The results indicate that for China as a whole,AWI has remained practically unchanged,whereas AEC exhibits a significant rising trend.Second,the findings of the fixed-effect regression reveal that DIGITAL and AECE tend to raise AWI,whereas AECI negatively affects AWI.Third,threshold regression results indicate that AECI tends to diminish AWI with three-stage inhibitory intensity,which manifests as a first increase and then a drop in the inhibition degree.These results suggest that with the introduction of e-commerce for agricultural product circulation,digital development will have catfish effects that tend to stimulate the vitality of the conventional wholesale industry and promote technical progress.Furthermore,the traditional wholesale industry benefits financially from e-commerce even while it diverts part of the traditional wholesale circulation for agricultural products.

Repositioning fertilizer manufacturing subsidies for improving food security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in China

China removed fertilizer manufacturing subsidies from 2015 to 2018 to bolster market-oriented reforms and foster environmentally sustainable practices.However,the impact of this policy reform on food security and the environment remains inadequately evaluated.Moreover,although green and low-carbon technologies offer environmental advantages,their widespread adoption is hindered by prohibitively high costs.This study analyzes the impact of removing fertilizer manufacturing subsidies and explores the potential feasibility of redirecting fertilizer manufacturing subsidies to invest in the diffusion of these technologies.Utilizing the China Agricultural University Agri-food Systems model,we analyzed the potential for achieving mutually beneficial outcomes regarding food security and environmental sustainability.The findings indicate that removing fertilizer manufacturing subsidies has reduced greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions from agricultural activities by 3.88 million metric tons,with minimal impact on food production.Redirecting fertilizer manufacturing subsidies to invest in green and low-carbon technologies,including slow and controlled-release fertilizer,organic-inorganic compound fertilizers,and machine deep placement of fertilizer,emerges as a strategy to concurrently curtail GHG emissions,ensure food security,and secure robust economic returns.Finally,we propose a comprehensive set of government interventions,including subsidies,field guidance,and improved extension systems,to promote the widespread adoption of these technologies.

Life cycle assessment as a prospective tool for sustainable agriculture and food planning at a local level

Owing to the far-reaching environmental consequences of agriculture and food systems,such as their contribution to climate change,there is an urgent need to reduce their impact.International and national governments set sustainability targets and implement corresponding measures.Nevertheless,critics of the globalized system claim that a territorial administrative scale is better suited to address sustainability issues.Yet,at the subnational level,local authorities rarely apply a systemic environmental assessment to enhance their action plans.This paper employs a territorial life cycle assessment methodology to improve local environmental agri-food planning.The objective is to identify significant direct and indirect environmental hotspots,their origins,and formulate effective mitigation strategies.The methodology is applied to the administrative department of Finistere,a strategic agricultural region in North-Western France.Multiple environmental criteria including climate change,fossil resource scarcity,toxicity,and land use are modeled.The findings reveal that the primary environmental hotspots of the studied local food system arise from indirect sources,such as livestock feed or diesel consumption.Livestock reduction and organic farming conversion emerge as the most environmentally efficient strategies,resulting in a 25%decrease in the climate change indicator.However,the overall modeled impact reduction is insufficient following national objectives and remains limited for the land use indicator.These results highlight the innovative application of life cycle assessment led at a local level,offering insights for the further advancement of systematic and prospective local agri-food assessment.Additionally,they provide guidance for local authorities to enhance the sustainability of planning strategies.

Agri-food Supply Chain Management: Literature Review

The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of prior literature relating to agri-food supply chain management. An in-depth analysis has been carried out to identify the influential information from the literature. This paper has identified gaps to be explored about agricultural supply chain management (SCM) practices which may be used by researchers to enrich theory construction and practitioners may concentrate on establishing the extent and frontiers of agri-food SCM. This research work is the first attempt to make a critical literature review of available literature on agri-food SCM practices for developing countries like India. The research articles and other materials related to the agri-food supply chain management were collected from online data bases like Scopus, EBSCO and Google Scholar for the period of 10 years (2006-2016). The study performs content analysis and is followed by descriptive analysis. In the next phase, the literature in the field of agri-food supply chain management is classified into four broad categories viz. general literature review of agri-food supply chain, policies affecting the segments of agri-food supply chain, individual segments of agri-food SCM (structure of supply chain segments and conduct of supply chain segments) and performance of supply chain segments. These four categories are comprehensively reviewed and elaborated the research gap in the literature based on agri-food supply chain management. Finally, potato supply chain of India is considered as a case example for comprehensive analysis and elaborated in detail.

Empirical study on evaluation of regional agri-food logistics capability in e-commerce environment based on factor analysis A case study of Hebei province

With SPSS16.0 software, this paper chooses the statistical data of 11 cities in Hebei province to empirically study the agri-food logistics capability based on the method of factor analysis, and finally obtains the ranking of the 11 cities. It shows that, factor-cluster analysis is an effective method to analyze the logistics capability of agri-food. It can simplify the original complicated problem and lead to an objective, reliable and convincing conclusion.

Factor and Cluster Analysis on the Competitiveness of Agri-food Processing Industry in China

This paper establishes 13 evaluation indicators for the competitiveness of agri-food processing industry,uses factor analysis to evaluate the competitiveness of agri-food processing industry in 31 provinces(cities,autonomous regions)of China,and does cluster analysis to divide these regions into several categories according to the difference in competitiveness,in order to understand the level of competitiveness of agri-food processing industry in China.

Recovery of Unsold Food from Three Agri-Food Industries (SOCOCE, COQUIVOIRE and SCB) for the Feeding of the Abidjan Zoo Animals

The waste of foodstuffs is increasing in the agri-food industries. This is reflected in the increasing volume of their waste. Food is thrown away on criteria that have nosthing to do with its nutritional quality. In most cases, the criteria are shape, color and stains. In order to reduce this waste, a way of valorization was investigated. This paper focuses on waste reduction through feeding the Abidjan zoo animals with the unsold products of three agro-industries. The unsold products collected by the zoo were characterized over an 8-year period (2011 to 2019). Deaths and births were recorded. The food needs met by the unsold products harvested were evaluated and the economic gains estimated. The results showed that the food recovered by the Abidjan Zoo at SOCOCE contained 34.94% fruit, 38.58% vegetable and 23.47% meat products. At SCB and Coquivoire the donations are estimated at 2 tons of bananas and 1.5 tons of chickens (smoked and cold chicken) respectively. These donations allowed the Zoo to save 25.94% of its budget allocated to animal feed. The diversity of the food collected has a positive impact on the quality of life of the animals at the Zoo. This is reflected in an increase in the number of births from 0 to 12 per year and a decrease in mortality of 90%.

Towards smart farming solutions in the U.S.and South Korea:A comparison of the current status

Smart farming solutions combine information,data software tools,and technology with the intent to improve agricultural production.While smart farming concepts are well described in the literature,the potential societal impacts of smart farming are less conspicuous.To demonstrate how smart farming solutions could influence future agricultural production,agri-business and rural communities and their constituents,this article compares smart farming approaches and reasons behind the pursuit of smart farming solutions by the U.S.and South Korea.The article compares agricultural assets and productivity among the two countries as well as the technical and societal challenges impacting agricultural production as a basis to understanding the motivations behind and pathways for developing smart farming solutions.In doing so,the article compares some of the technological and social advantages and disadvantages of smart farming,dependending on the choice and implementation of smart farming solutions.The South Korean government has implemented a national policy to establish smart farming communities;a concept that addresses the entire agri-food supply chain.In the U.S.,a national plan to develop smart farming technologies does not exist.However,discrete smart farming solutions driven mainly by competition in the private sector have resulted in high-tech solutions that are advancing smart farming concepts.The differences in approaches and reporting of successes and failures between the two countries could facilitate the rate of evolution of successful smart farming solutions,and moreover,could provide pathways to facilitate sustainable development goals in developing countries where smart farming activities are currently underway.

Consideration of Size and Dimension in the Evaluation of Transfers during Convective Drying of Sweet Potato

This work is interested in solving the complex problem of understanding mass transfers in biological media. The contribution of the initial sample size is taken into account. Transfers are established more efficiently in small samples. Thus, from the first 50 minutes, the cubic sample at 1 cm stop is already at 50% while the sample at 4 cm edge is at about 90% of its initial water content. Likewise the shape is combined with the size. But it is revealed that if we fix similar characteristic dimensions, we can bypass the notion of initial shape. Thus the cubic samples 4 cm of edges. 4 cm diameter of spherical shape, 4 cm × 4 cm height-diameter cylindrical one, all dry identically.

Taking into Account the Complex Nature and the Intrinsic Parameters of Agro-Food

In this paper, we perform experiments on the drying of widely consumed food products in Africa. Tomatoes and peppers are considered as products with a complex structure. Zucchini, cucumber, eggplant and cabbages are the other products used in these drying experiments, having different intrinsic parameters. Most food products have three components, namely skin, flesh containing seeds and the central spongy structure, that do not have the same behavior during their convective drying. Skin is the component that significantly reduces drying while the flesh is easy to dry. By drying the samples considering their intrinsic parameters, one quickly realizes the complex nature of mass and heat transfers during the drying of biological products.

Green HACCP:Food Safety and Environment

Green HACCP(hazard analysis and critical control point)is a new control method developed by combining food safety controls and good practices for environmental protection,in order to have a safe production that respects the environment.Indeed,some of production practices,such as the use of large amount of water,cleaning/disinfection products and other practices used to have safe foodstuffs,could affect the environment and the profitability in several agri-food process.The goal of Green HACCP is to apply a sustainable rationalization of the good hygienic and environmental practices.

Application of ontologies to traceability in the dairy supply chain

Systems for tracking products through supply chains range from paper-based records maintained by producers, processors, and suppliers to sophisticated ICT-based solutions. In addition to supporting product traceability, ICTs may also support data capture, recording, storage, and sharing of traceability attributes on processing, genetics, inputs, disease/pest tracking and measurement of environmental variables. A key success factor for a traceability system is the capability to integrate and share information along the supply chain. ICT represents a tool to overcome integration problems, data fusion and information dissemination. In this paper we illustrate the application of ontology as a tool to model business processes and rules within an agri- food chain. The business case is represented by the Bovlac project: a scientific and technologic platform to trace fresh cheese production.

Inclusive Development in Latin America and Smallholders＇ Interactive Learning Spaces

Inclusive development appears as a challenge in Latin America countries after the rupture of the social inclusion as a trickle-down effect of the economic growth. Searching development with inclusion, several public policies were implemented in Latin American during the last 10 years focusing on the agri-food production. In order to assess the progress to reach such objectives, two cases are studied. Smallholder milk producers at the Loma Blanca community （Mexico） and smallholders olive producers at Aimogasta （Argentina） were considered. Interactive learning spaces were clearly identified as consequence of the linking among product, producers, and territory. The empirical evidence leaves to see a reflexive attachment between actor and activity in the both studied cases. Differences between dynamics in ILS （Interactive Learning Spaces） of each one of the studied cases were found. Nevertheless, opportunity windows are still opened in order to achieve successful interventions. Why does the small producer continue existing as such？ Why do the small producers remain in small scale rather than creating scale or exiting from the market？ These, and others, are trigger questions through which government and non-government organization can drive their action in the field.

PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN AGRI-FOOD SYSTEM INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Research is essential for improvement of agricultural productivity,resource use and resilience,and for food systems transformation more broadly.This article analyzes the drivers of past agricultural productivity growth in low-and middle-income countries(LMICs)and argues that productivity is not growing fast enough to meet the needs of a global population of 10 billion by 2050.A sustainable transformation of agri-food systems in LMICs will need greater and faster technical change.Higher investment in agri-food R&D is therefore needed to accelerate productivity growth and address the social,economic,nutritional and environmental challenges facing LMICs.Greater and bettertargeted investment in sustainable technologies and climate change mitigation and adaptation will be particularly important to reducing the climate change impacts on agriculture and food security in the coming decades.However,LMICs with small research systems and limited innovation capacity lack the scale and resources to effectively tackle the challenges ahead.Better coordination and a clear articulation of roles and responsibilities among national,subregional,regional and global R&D actors(both from the public and private sectors)are essential to ensuring that scarce financial,human,and infrastructure resources are optimized,duplications minimized,and synergies and complementarities enhanced.

Quality control of a four-echelon agri-food supply chain with multiple strategies

Current research into the supply chain coordination problem of product quality focuses mainly on the two-echelon supply chain,and most coordination models neglect the demand relationship between quantity and quality.Even in a direct sale pattern,an agrifood supply chain involves at least four actors,and the contract between different actors may be different.Here,we present a four-echelon agri-food supply chain that consists of one agricultural producer,one processing enterprise,one distributor,and many consumers.We also analyze the quality decision of each actor based on Stackelberg game theory and develop a combined multiple strategy(profit sharing,quality commitment,and risk sharing)for coordinating quality control in the agri-food supply chain.The results show that these strategies affect quality control at the level of the processing enterprise;however,only the profit-sharing strategy and a quality commitment to consumers affect the product quality from agricultural producers.Product quality is not associated with the profit-sharing contract between the processing enterprise and the distributor.Thus,the quality commitment to consumers is the only way for a processing enterprise to control the food market price.Furthermore,enforcing and enhancing this quality commitment to consumers by the processing enterprise will improve the quality of primary agricultural products and food.

Research status and applications of nature-inspired algorithms for agri-food production

Nature-inspired algorithms have been developed with biological mimicking.Machine learning algorithms from artificial neurons and artificial neural networks have been developed to mimic the human brain with synthetic neurons.This research can be traced back to the 1940s and has been expanded to agri-food problem solving in the last three decades.Now,the research and applications have entered the stage of deep learning with more layers and neurons that have complex connections to extract deep features of the target.In this paper,the developments of artificial neural networks and deep learning algorithms are presented and discussed in conjunction with their biological connections for agri-food applications.The related independent studies previously conducted by the author are summarized with the newly conducted being presented.At the same time,the algorithms motivated by recent bionics studies are compared and discussed for their potentials for agri-food production.