Operation Mode and Optimum Design of China's Agricultural Modern Logistics System

Using comparative analysis and logical reasoning methods,in combination with traditional logistics theory and practice,and on the basis of objective demand of modern agricultural development for logistics service,we analyze features of logistics function.Besides,we discuss functional elements and service contents of agricultural modern logistics.In addition,we explore innovation model of agricultural modern logistics and systematized operation of supply chain.Finally,it is concluded that logistics development shall bring into full play all functional elements and achieve high efficient operation of the system through enhanced management measures.

Game Theory Based Decision Coordination Strategy of Agricultural Logistics Service Information System

Under the background of“Internet plus”rapid development,the agricultural logistics industry should apply information technology to every link of the agricultural product logistics industry chain.By making full use of the decision making module of the agricultural logistics information system,we can realize the full sharing of information and data resources,which makes the decision-making scheme of the agricultural logistics information system more optimized.In real economic society,the uncertainty and mismatch between the customer’s logistics service demand and the logistics service capability that the logistics service function provider can provide,that is,when the two information are asymmetric,how to use the third-party contract to coordinate the income and profit distribution of the two,to make the information system decision making more reasonable?This paper mainly studies the coordination scheme of agricultural logistics information system decision making under uncertain output and demand information by introducing the spot market.A joint coordination strategy based on revenue sharing and penalty feedback contracts proposes decentralized decision making based on game theory.Experiments show that the flexible ordering strategy proposed in this paper can reduce the logistics service supply chain’s uncertainty and significantly improve the logistics service supply chain’s overall income level through coordination contracts.

Coupling of crop assignment and vehicle routing for harvest planning in agriculture

A method for harvest planning based on the coupling of crop assignment with vehicle routing is presented.Given a setting with multiple fields,a path network connecting these,multiple depots at which a number of harvesters are initially located,the main question addressed is:Which crop out of a set of different crops to assign to each field when accounting for the given setting?It must be answered by every farm manager at the beginning of every work-cycle starting with plant seeding and ending with harvesting.Rather than solving an assignment problem only,it is here also accounted for the connectivity between fields.In practice,fields are often located distant apart.Traveling costs of machinery and limited harvesting windows demand optimized operation and route planning.Therefore,the proposed method outputs crop assignments to fields and simultaneously determines crop-tours,i.e.,optimized sequences in which to service fields of the same crop during harvest.It is of particular relevance for larger farms and groups of farms that collaborate and share machinery.Integer programming based exact algorithms are derived.For large numbers of fields,where these algorithms may not be tractable due to computational constraints,elements of clustering and the solution of local Traveling Salesman Problems are added,thereby on the one hand rendering the method heuristic and in general suboptimal,but on the other hand maintaining large-scale applicability.

An intermodal transportation geospatial network modeling for containerized soybean shipping

Containerized shipping is a growing market for agricultural exports,particularly soybeans.In order to understand the optimal strategies for improving the United States’economic competitiveness in this emerging market,this research develops an intermodal transportation network modeling framework,focusing on U.S.soybean container shipments.Built upon detailed modal cost analyses,a Geospatial Intermodal Freight Transportation(GIFT)model has been developed to understand the optimal network design for U.S.soybean exports.Based on market demand and domestic supply figures,the model is able to determine which domestically produced soybeans should go to which foreign markets,and by which transport modes.This research and its continual studies,will provide insights into future policies and practices that can improve the transportation efficiency of soybean logistics.

Freeform path fitting for the minimisation of the number of transitions between headland path and interior lanes within agricultural fields

Within the context of in-field path planning this paper discusses freeformpath fitting for theminimisation of the number of transitions between headland path and interior laneswithin agricultural fields.This topic ismotivated by two observations.Due to crossings of tyre traces such transitions in practice often cause an increase of compacted area.Furthermore,for very tight angles between headland path and interior lanes undesired hairpin turnsmay becomenecessary due to the limited agility of in-field operating tractors.Byminimising the number of interior lanes both detrimental effects can be mitigated.The potential of minimising the number of interior lanes by freeform path fitting is evaluated on 10 non-convex real-world fields including obstacle areas,and compared to the more common technique of fitting straight interior lanes.