The evolution analysis of agricultural global value chains

With the Uruguay Round bringing agricultural trade into multilateral regulation,the major countries have actively participated in agricultural global value chains(AGVC)and occupied an important position according to their comparative advantages.Utilizing bilateral agricultural trade data of 66 countries based on the OECD Inter-Country-Input-Output Tables(OECD ICIO)from 2010 to 2018,this study applies social network analysis indicators to measure each country’s eigenvector centrality within AGVC and to examine the current global agricultural trade patterns,with particular attention to the changes in the status of world powers within AGVC.The main findings are as follows:first,with the multilateral and regional trade liberalization,growing numbers of developing nations,including China and India,are engaging in international agricultural trade,which contributes to its diversification;second,as AGVC develops,the structure of global agricultural trade networks has become more decentralized and balanced.This is evidenced by the emergence of additional central nodes,and large nations like the United States,which formerly held the most central position as indicated by a drop in its centrality,are becoming less dominant.

Research on the High-Quality Development of Agricultural Supply Chain Financial Ecosystem Empowered by Science and Technology

A systematic perspective on agricultural supply chain finance can offer fresh insights into its development.The high-quality development of the agricultural supply chain finance ecosystem is crucial for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas and the realization of agricultural power.Based on the current state of development of this ecosystem,this paper identifies several bottlenecks,such as insufficient policy and technical support in the macro-environment system,weak incentives for independent circulation within the industrial environment system,and inadequate motivation for stakeholders to participate in the micro-environment system.To address these issues,this paper proposes that the visualization,digitalization,and authenticity characteristics of the“blockchain+Internet of Things”technology architecture can effectively resolve these bottlenecks.Additionally,targeted strategies are suggested to promote the high-quality development of the agricultural supply chain finance ecosystem.

Application of Deep Learning to Production Forecasting in Intelligent Agricultural Product Supply Chain

Production prediction is an important factor influencing the realization of an intelligent agricultural supply chain.In an Internet of Things(IoT)environment,accurate yield prediction is one of the prerequisites for achieving an efficient response in an intelligent agricultural supply chain.As an example,this study applied a conventional prediction method and deep learning prediction model to predict the yield of a characteristic regional fruit(the Shatian pomelo)in a comparative study.The root means square error(RMSE)values of regression analysis,exponential smoothing,grey prediction,grey neural network,support vector regression(SVR),and long short-term memory(LSTM)neural network methods were 53.715,6.707,18.440,1.580,and 1.436,respectively.Among these,the mean square error(MSE)values of the grey neural network,SVR,and LSTM neural network methods were 2.4979,31.652,and 2.0618,respectively;and theirRvalues were 0.99905,0.94,and 0.94501,respectively.The results demonstrated that the RMSE of the deep learning model is generally lower than that of a traditional prediction model,and the prediction results are more accurate.The prediction performance of the grey neural network was shown to be superior to that of SVR,and LSTM neural network,based on the comparison of parameters.

The Operation Mechanism of Agricultural Products Supply Chain and Profit Allocation Model in the Context of Asymmetric Information

The research performed analysis on causes of asymmetric information of agricultural product supply chain and made conclusion on operation mechanism and characteristics of supply chain based on asymmetric information. Finally, the research detailed profit sharing of agricultural product supply chain in the context of asymmetric information and proposed suggestions, providing references of pricing and profit sharing of supply chains of agricultural products.

Comparative Analysis on Farmers' Specialized Cooperatives from the Perspective of Agricultural Industry Chain

Taking three typical farmers' specialized cooperatives in Jingyuan County of Gansu Province as example,this paper compared with the operating mode of three cooperatives and their position in the agricultural industry chain,and analyzed operating characteristics,problems,and similarities of three cooperatives and their functions in the agricultural industry chain.The study indicated that the farmers' specialized cooperatives can accurately find their position in the agricultural industry chain.This is helpful for raising their comprehensive competitiveness and it is very important to manage the survival and development of farmers' specialized cooperatives,which is of utmost importance to their effective operation.According to this study,the government should strengthen its support,speed up the cultivation of new-type professional farmers,while farmers' specialized cooperatives should grasp the operating characteristics,locate themselves and integrate multi-resources.These are effective measures for promoting healthy operation of farmers' specialized cooperatives.

Agricultural Supply Chain Traceability System Based on Multi-Agent System

In order to overcome defects in existing ASCTS(Agricultural Supply Chain Traceability System,a new traceability system based on Multi-Agent System(MAS) is put forward.By qualitative method,I analyze problems of application of Agent technology in tracing quality of agricultural products.Physical model is built for this system and structure of traceability system is determined.Finally,algorithm is presented for major entities.From analysis of algorithm,it is proved that this system has some reference value in improving breadth and depth of product traceability.

Strategic Agricultural Commodity Value Chains in Africa for Increased Food: The Regional Approach for Food Security

The challenge Africa faces the most is how to feed the 2.4 billion people in 2050. This will require a transformational agriculture. Africa doesn’t need subsistence agriculture, but rather agriculture linked to the market where market demand and the consuming habits are taken in consideration. Agriculture evolves in an environment where small holders are linked to markets (national and regional), where economies of complementarity and economies of scale are taken advantage of by producers and private sector. In short, Africa will need a paradigm shift to industrialise and commercialise its agriculture sector in order to increase food production, and income and to create jobs in and outside the sector. Africa needs agribusiness and agro-industries to domesticate the benefits of the sector, to create wealth in the sector and retain that wealth in the continent. Agricultural commodities regional value chains for increased food should be the target for Africa. The continent remains the region with the highest prevalence of under-nourishment. Since agriculture remains the mainstay of most African economies except the mineral producers, the sector deserves a close attention from leaders. It accounts for 65% of employment and 40% of Africa’s export earnings and accounts for 17% of the GDP. This shows how important the sector is. Agriculture needs to be seen as a conduit for farmers to get connected to markets, a conduit for revenue, for jobs and for transformation. Africa needs to come back on the international scene as food sufficient continent and even food exporter. This can be achieved only with a stable, productive agricultural resource base. Thus, achieving and sustaining food security and economic prosperity in Africa will require significant efforts to modernize the continent’s agriculture sector through injection of agribusiness and agro-industries and through the application of science and technology in agriculture. In essence, agriculture needs to be viewed as knowledge based entrepreneurial activity. Smart investments in agriculture will have multiplier effects for the whole economy and hence induce prosperity to other sectors. In recent years, a renewed focus on agriculture has been evident in policy and development agendas across the African continent. This paper outlines the status of agriculture, agribusiness and agro-industries in Africa, their role in the agenda of agricultural transformation and economic transformation and the focus on regional value chain to increase food production, transformation and trade. The paper adopts a new thinking in agriculture, which reflects a regional value chain approach. The author covers such issues as: need for agricultural transformation, the role of value chain in agricultural sector, the need for regional value chain for increased income and increased food, the role of markets and the common denominator of all, the regional integration to push forward the African agriculture agenda. Evidence shows that it is agricultural growth, through its leverage effects on the rest of the economy that typically enables poor countries, poor regions and ultimately poor households to take the first steps toward economic transformation. Therefore agricultural productivity, at the small holder’s level, has the potential to lift millions of Africa’s vulnerable out of poverty and provide sustainable jobs. Other factors, namely “the rapid urbanization” and “increased population growth”, are quoted to be of critical importance. Africa population is projected to double, attaining the 2.3 billion people mark over the next 40 years representing half of the globe’s total population. This could trigger competition for resources and can have devastating effects on natural resources if not rightly channelled.

Fuzzy MCDM for Improving the Performance of Agricultural Supply Chain

Fertilizer industry in Vietnam and globally have entered the saturation phase.With the growth rate slowing down,this poses challenges for the development impetus of the fertilizer industry in the next period.In fact,over the past few decades,Vietnam’s crop industry has abused excessive investment in chemical fertilizers,with organic fertilizers are rarely used or not at all,limiting crop productivity,increasing pests and diseases.To develop sustainable agriculture,Vietnam’s crop industry must limit the use of chemical fertilizers,increase the use of environmentally friendly organic and natural mineral fertilizers to produce clean agricultural products which is safe.Therefore,it is necessary to consider and choose the right supplier to ensure the goal of sustainable development.Spherical Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process(SF-AHP),and the combinative distance-based assessment(CODAS)are new Multicriteria Decision Making(MCDM)method which can be used to solve supplier selection problem.This paper uses an effective solution based on a combined the concept of triple bottom line(TBL),SF-AHP and CODAS approach to help agriculture companies that need to select the best fertilizer supplier.This research can support supply chain managers to achieve supply chain systems that reduce not only sourcing costs,but also develop sustainable agriculture.

Optimization Agricultural Supply Chain:A Case Study of Fertilizer Supplier Selection

The 21st century is associated with the IndustrialRevolution 4.0 and the organic agriculture trend,making the utilization of high-quality fertilizers,abundant nutritional content,economical,and no affect to environment pollution.According to the new concept,clean agricultural production and organic agricultural products are not allowed to excessively use synthetic chemicals such as chemical fertilizers,and plant protection drugs,but priority is to use manure,organic fertilizers,and natural mineral fertilizers.Fertilizer must meet the balanced nutritional requirements of crops,maintain,and improve the fertility of the ground,protect the surrounding ecosystem,and leave harmful effects in agricultural products,products with high quality,safe for users and high economic efficiency for producers.To achieve the above goal,the selection of a fertilizer supplier is an important decision,supporting the supply chain’s sustainable development,fertilizer supplier selection is a multicriteria decision making model,the decision maker must assess all qualitative and quantitative factors.In this paper,the author proposed an integer decision making model including Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process(FAHP)and Complex Proportional Assessment of Alternatives(COPRAS)for fertilizer supplier selection.The weightings of the criteria are calculated by using FAHP,COPRAS is then applied for ranking some potential fertilizer suppliers.The efficiency of the proposed models is proved by a case study conducted in a farm located in the south of Vietnam.This research is the first fertilizer supplier evaluation and se-lection model in Vietnam by interviewing experts and reviewing the literature.Re-search result is to provide a case study on evaluating supplier in agricultural supply chain utilizing the model proposed by the combination of FAHP and COPRAS models.

Expansion Strategy of Agricultural Industrial Chain of Suburban Villages and Towns in the Process of Urbanization——A Case Study of Yongle Town in Nanming District of Guiyang City

On the basis of introducing the connotation of agricultural industrial chain, taking Yongle Town in Nanming District of Guiyang City as an example, this paper analyzes the advantages and constraint factors of the suburban villages and towns in the process of expanding agricultural industrial chain in the context of urbanization. Corresponding strategies of expanding the agricultural industrial chain of Yongle Town in the process of urbanization as follows: vigorously develop the leading enterprises; strengthen the construction of farmers' specialized cooperatives and agricultural associations; build and perfect agricultural industrial chain organizations; set up the public information platform; rely on the food industrial park to propel the deep processing of agricultural products; vigorously develop the logistics of agricultural products; promote the development of operation model of "brand+ standard+ scale"; vigorously develop ecology-oriented rural tourism; give full play to the functional role of the government.

Optimization Analysis of Agricultural Product Supply Chain From the Perspective of Internet

With the development of our agricultural modernization process accelerated, the agricultural products supply chain is also facing the demand of further optimization and improvement. And the development of the Intemet makes it become an important means to optimize the agricultural products supply chain. Firstly, it is based on the concept explanation of ＂Internet ＋＂. Secondly, according to the present situation which includes traditional models dominated, the main bodies on the chain are diversified, farmers＇ position is lower and the problems which include the chain is too long, logistics nodes are scattered, infi＇astructure lags behind, circulation of information is poor, and risk monitoring is difficult of the supply chain of agricultural products are facing in China, clarifying the role of the Internet in the agricultural products supply chain which includes making the agricultural information network more perfect, adjusting and optimizing the supply chain of agricultural products. Finally, authors put forward some measures to optimize the supply chain of agricultural products and make conclusions.

Quality Improvement through Contract Design and Competition in Agricultural Suppply Chains

Quality emerges as a pivotal competitive factor for agricultural products.Recently,retailers within agricultural supply chains have begun investing in technologies to improve quality and designing contracts to incentivize farmers to enhance their labor inputs.The farmers and the retailers incur different quality investment costs,with this cost increasing in the quality they provide.Simultaneously,retailers have embraced the farmer-competition strategy,employing competition to stimulate improved agricultural product quality among farmers.We construct a Stackelberg game model to analyze how farmers’quality investment,retailer’s contract design,and profits are affected by the retailer’s farmer-competition strategy.We show that the farmer competition introduced by the retailer is not always effective in improving the farmer’s quality investment.Similarly,the competition cannot always lead to additional profits for the retailer.Moreover,the supply chain profit suffers from the retailer’s farmer-competition strategy when the competition intensity between farmers is relatively large.Our results offer insights for retailers by identifying how should the retailer design the contract to improve the farmer’s quality effort given the existence of the farmer competition and under what conditions the retailer should adopt the farmer-competition strategy.

Fresh-Keeping Decision and Coordination of Fresh Agricultural Product Supply Chain Considering Carbon Cap-and-Trade under Different Dominance

In the context of low carbon,this paper discussed the impact of the carbon cap-and-trade policy on the fresh-keeping decision-making of two-echelon fresh agricultural product supply chains under different dominance,and designed cost-sharing contracts to coordinate the supply chain of fresh agricultural products dominated by suppliers and retailers respectively.The results showed that:dominance has no effect on the fresh-keeping decision and total revenue of fresh agricultural product supply chain,but it affects the internal income distribution,and dominance does not always bring more benefits;the implementation of carbon cap-and-trade reduces the fresh-keeping decision-making of fresh agricultural products supply chain and reduces the free-rider income of followers;the role of higher carbon trading price is twofold,which not only brings about the speculation of leading enterprises,but also promotes the application of low-carbon technologies;consumers’high preference for freshness,low-cost and high-efficiency low-carbon technology are all conducive to improving the fresh-keeping efforts and benefits of the supply chain;cost-sharing contracts can coordinate the supply chain of fresh agricultural products.

The Construction and Competitiveness of Operation Model of Agricultural Industrial Cluster

Through reviewing the viewpoints of former scholars, the connotation and features of supply chain of agricultural industrial cluster are introduced. The agricultural industrial cluster model constituted by core network and supporting network is constructed. Three operation models of this kind of supply chain is described: the model takes wholesale market of agricultural products as the core; the model take pillar industries of agricultural industrialization as core; model takes the chains of retail enterprises as core. The competitiveness of agricultural industrial cluster is researched. The research assumes that the competiveness of supply chain of agricultural industrial cluster is mainly represented to make the agricultural industrial cluster to acquire more capabilities in terms of innovation and knowledge sharing capability, resource allocation capability, agile market adaptability and distinct value creation capability.

Exploring Mechanisms for Putting Agriculture Value Chain Oriented Research into Use： Empirical Cases from the Research into Use （RlU） Program

Innovation systems principles are increasingly applied for putting agricultural research into use. This paper presents and analyses three such initiatives located in South Asia, with an aim to generate empirical evidence about practical aspects of the innovation process. These cases seem to suggest that the initial stages of innovation trajectory comprise of social engineering and creation of appropriate architecture of actors, after which need for new knowledge arises and favourable conditions develop for putting such knowledge into use. The cases also present how different types of agencies assume lead roles during different stages of innovation trajectory. The paper urges authorities from policy and practice to consider status of social architecture and the fact that different types of agencies play lead role in the innovation process before planning agricultural innovation initiatives.

Research on the Logistics Model of Agricultural Material

The paper states something about the characteristic of agricultural material, product and agricultural material market, and searches for the new agricultural material logistics model. In .addition, some proper strategies are provided for logistic companies.

A blockchain maturity model in agricultural supply chain

Blockchain technology is a disruptive technology that changes business and supply chain models.Using distributed software architecture and advanced computing,blockchain can change the way information is exchanged between actors in the chain.Blockchain technol-ogy provides a platform for solving the problem of tracking product information in supply chain management.Accordingly,the present study aims to provide a model for evaluating the maturity of blockchain technology in the agricultural supply chain.The present research is applied that has been done in three stages.In the first phase,the dimensions of the blockchain are ranked by agricultural experts using the SWARA method.The research experts are 13 faculty members of the department of agriculture active in the field of technology application.In the second phase,a model is designed to evaluate blockchain maturity using each dimension of blockchain technology and maturity dimensions.In the third phase,the proposed model is tested using data collected by a questionnaire in the supply chain of a company active in the agriculture sector.The research findings show that smart contracts,Internet of Things(IoT),and transaction records are of the highest impor-tance among the blockchain dimensions.Also,the supply chain under study is in a good condition in digital documents.Theoretically,the originality aspect of the research is that it determines the importance of blockchain dimensions in the field of agriculture and from an applied point of view,it introduces the maturity model of blockchain in supply chain management.

Quality control of the agricultural products supply chain based on"Internet+"

This paper describes a quality-control supply-chain model using the"Internet+"paradigm.The model is based on principal-agent theory,which considers the reputational loss due to inferior products and external responsibility identification.After model analysis and simulation verification,the results show that the optimal quality-control level and market price of agricultural products can be achieved in the agricultural supply chain based on"Internet+"if and only if the information platform’s claim to the agricultural producer is less than the agricultural producer’s claim to the delivery service provider.Also,a rise in consumers’claims or the agricultural producer’s reputational loss due to inferior products will motivate the quality control of an agricultural procedure.Meanwhile,the market price of agricultural products will also increase with enhanced quality control procedures.The quality-control level of a delivery service provider is inversely proportional to the information platform or its own reputational loss.Thus,the key to promoting quality control along the supply chain is to strengthen the responsibility confirmation of an inferior product between the agricultural producer and the delivery service provider.

Enabling affordances of blockchain in agri-food supply chains:A value-driver framework using Q-methodology

The application of blockchain beyond cryptocurrencies has received increasing attention from industry and scholars alike.Given predicted looming food crises,some of the most impactful deployments of blockchains are likely to concern food supply chains.This study outlined how blockchain adoption can result in positive affordances in the food supply chain.Using Q-methodology,this study explored the current status of the agri-food supply chain and how blockchain technology could be useful in addressing existing challenges.This theorization leads to the proposition of the 3TIC value-driver framework for determining the enabling affordances of blockchain that would increase shared value for stakeholders.First,we propose a framework based on the most promising features of blockchain technology to overcome current challenges in the agri-food industry.Our value-driver framework is driven by the Q-study findings of respondents closely associated with the agri-food supply chain.This framework can provide supply chain stakeholders with a clear perception of blockchain affordances and serve as a guideline for utilizing appropriate features of technology that match organizations’capabilities,core competencies,goals,and limitations.Therefore,it could assist top-level decision-makers in systematically evaluating parts of the organization to focus on and improve the infrastructure for successful blockchain implementation along the agri-food supply chain.We conclude by noting certain significant challenges that must be carefully addressed to successfully adopt blockchain technology.