Biosystems Engineering for Agricultural Postharvest and Food Safety

Kristina Luz B. Sebastian and Ma. Resurreccion L. Altamera

Planning and Project Development Division , Planning and Evaluation Department Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension

Biosystems Engineering for Agricultural Postharvest and Food Safety: Definitions

Biosystems engineering in agriculture and food safety is an integrated science that combines engineering design and analysis with biological sciences to address the agricultural, environmental and food safety concerns across the production-processing system from farm to consumer. Epidemiologists, food microbiologists, and chemists advance our understanding of food-borne pathogens and contaminants, how they cause diseases, how they react to environmental influences, and how to isolate and identify them. However, this knowledge must ultimately be translated to the design, development and implementation of technical solutions and technologies to the real problems faced by the food industry, from production to processing and distribution. Given this premise, biosystems engineers are in a unique position to impact food safety. Moreover, biosystems engineering combines the broadest scope of information technology to engineering analysis and design in response to specific agricultural concerns.

The end products of biosystems engineering are appropriate technologies resulting to sustainable developments in agriculture, environmental preservation and protection, and provision of safe food products to consumers.

Agricultural biosystems engineering includes the following broad categories:

• Bioproducts and Renewable Bio-Resources
• Agricultural Safety and Health
• Bioprocessing, Food, and Value-Added Processing
• Land and Water Resources
• Livestock Systems
• Machinery Systems

Information technology is an integral part of the methods and machines that are designed and developed through biosystems engineering. Areas of interest under information technologies include: communications and field bus protocols; ergonomics; geographical information systems; operations research; biosystems modeling and decision support; machinery management; risk and environmental assessment; and operator health and safety.

The following section describes, in more specific terms, the scope of agricultural biosystems engineering, for each of the broad categories cited previously:

1. Renewable Bio-Resources

• alternative and renewable energy resources
• alternative crop production technologies such as hydroponics and soil-less media, green houses, controlled environments
• pollution control; protection of the rural environment; infrastructure and landscape; sustainability properties of biomaterials

2. Agricultural Safety and Health

• food, fiber and forage crop production
• input reduction
• integrated pest management
• composting and waste treatment; gaseous emissions
• crop drying, processing and storage
• size grading, ripeness, quality, damage and disease detection
• ood chain integrity and foreign body detection

3. Bio-processing, Food, and Value-Added Processing

• food packaging and processing
• meat processing
• products and by-products development
• waste utilization and recycling

4. Land and Water Resources

• soil structure and properties; soil dynamics in tillage, traction and compaction; soil erosion control
• crop water requirements; infiltration and transport processes; irrigation and drainage; hydrology; water resource management; hydroponics and nutrient status

5. Livestock Systems

• livestock housing
• livestock welfare, health monitors
• feed handling
• animal draught
• integrated stock management; stock handling, weighing, transport and slaughter

6. Machinery Systems

• intelligent machines
• automatic control
• navigation systems
• mage analysis
• biosensors; sensor fusion; engineering for biotechnology
• tillage and earthmoving equipment
• machines for the establishment, protection and harvesting of field, protected, and orchard crops
• tractors and agricultural vehicles
• dynamics, vibration and noise
• forest engineering
• hydraulics and turbo-machinery
• clean technology

Researches on Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering are also classified according to the following areas:

• Aquaculture Engineering
• Ecological Systems Engineering
• Energy Systems Engineering
• Environmental Engineering
• Food Engineering
• Forest and Fiber Engineering
• Health and Safety Engineering
• Machine Systems Engineering
• Postharvest Engineering
• Sensor and Control Engineering
• Soil and Water Engineering

BPRE and Biosystems Engineering and Food Safety

Agricultural biosystems engineering and food safety provide a wide array of interests for the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension (BPRE), whose mandate is to generate, extend and commercialize postproduction technologies that lead to the reduction of postharvest losses while preserving and adding value to agricultural products. BPRE's scope has been expanded to include all major crops of the country, except rice. BPRE is well-placed and has a strong manpower base and capability to conduct basic and applied agricultural biosystems engineering and food safety researches particularly on postharvest handling and processing. The existing structure of the agency and its current available manpower posses a strong foundation in engineering, food protection, economics and downstream technology dissemination to carry out the demands of agricultural biosystems engineering research and extension. It would be most beneficial to further strengthen the existing manpower through specialized training particularly in areas that deal with renewable bio-products and agricultural/food safety and health.

Supply Chain Management in Biosystems Engineering for Agricultural Postharvest and Food Safety

Definition and Concept of Supply Chain Management

Despite the popularity of the term Supply Chain Management (SCM), both in academia and practice, there remains considerable confusion as to its meaning. Some authors define SCM in operational terms involving the flow of materials and products, some view it as a management philosophy, and some view it in terms of a management process (Tyndall et al. 1998). The concept of SCM is to connect the different players (both within and outside a particular organization) in bringing a product or in providing a service from the source to the end-users (OSD Comptroller iCenter, ____ ), whereby exchange of information, movement of supplies and transformation of products are facilitated through open collaboration and cooperation among these players.

Among others, a supply chain is composed of producers, traders/distributors and logistics providers who have to coordinate their activities to achieve optimum performance. Traditionally, the planning, purchasing, production and marketing functions have operated separately, each stage having discrete objectives that do not necessarily take into consideration the entire chain of activities of bringing a product or service to the customer or end-user. In an integrated supply chain, the different players collaborate and that various logistics activities are viewed as a series of interconnected processes rather than isolated functions. Changes in one element of the supply chain are likely to affect the cost and/or performance of other processes (Ganeshan, et. al. 1995). The practice of SCM encompasses the disciplines of economics, marketing, logistics and organizational behavior to study how supply chains are organized and how institutional arrangements influence industry efficiency, competitions and profitability (Opara, 2003; Woods, 1999).

Supply Chain Management in Agriculture

Agriculture is inherently a fragmented industry, involving a diverse range of distinct enterprises (farmers, processors, marketers and distributors), and relies on inputs from various sources, often at distinct geographical locations (Hobbs, 1996; Williamson, 1979). From the marketing and processing perspectives, SCM is an essential tool for integrating each step in the entire production process (from the farming of basic raw materials to delivery of final products to the consumer) is viewed as a link in the chain (Opara, 2003). For the consumer and other stakeholders, SCM focuses on improving the performance of the supply chain through the delivery of guaranteed safe, desirable and good quality food in a cost-effective manner. SCM, therefore, represents the management of the entire set of production, manufacturing/transformations, distribution and marketing activities by which a consumer is supplied with a desired product. Some analysts refer to this as demand chain management to emphasize the focus on meeting consumer expectations (Woods, 1999).

Supply Chain Management in Biosystems Engineering and Food Safety

SCM, in the realm of agricultural biosystems engineering and food safety includes the numerous players coming from the upstream technology development phase, the downstream technology commercialization phase, and the utilization of these technologies for the production and distribution of clean and safe food products. The supply chain participants include, among others, the scientists (biosystems engineers, biologists, chemists, economists, extensionists, etc), technology users (farmers, processors, and food handlers), manufacturers and marketers.

The government also plays a crucial part in the supply chain by effecting an environment that is conducive to the development, distribution and sustained utilization of technologies emanating from the drawing boards of the biosystems engineers/scientists, and the commercialization efforts of the extensionists to distribute and encourage utilization of innovative technologies for the production of safe food and food products.

Specifically, the government's role includes, among others, the following:

• logistics support that would reduce the costs of transportation and communication (i.e. construction of infrastructure and facilities such as roads, central distributions systems - airports and terminals, communication satellites, facilities for electricity and power, etc.)
• funding or support for strategic projects such as (a) technology development emanating from biosystems engineering RD&E and (b) setting up of public platforms for supply chain integration, specially with SMEs
• credit and financial access for supply chain participants who need the support, especially small farmers, producers or processors
• aggressive awareness and educational campaign to drive the adoption of e-commerce technologies in enterprises
• training and education of downstream users of technologies such as farmers' trainings
• regular, unbiased information on prices and quantities of production from products from the farm to fork
• quality assurance through institutionalized grading and classification systems
• investment incentives such as tax holidays
• maintenance of peace and security
  

References

Ganeshan, R., and T.P. Harrison. 1995. An Introduction to Supply Chain Management. Department of Management Science and Information Systems. Penn State University, PA, U.S.A. http://lcm.csa.iisc.ernet.in/scm/supply_chain_intro.html

Hobbs, J.E. 1996. A transaction cost approach to supply chain management. Supply Chain Mgt 1(2): 15-17. Opara, Linus U. 2003. Traceability in agriculture and food supply chain: a review of basic concepts, technological implications, and future prospects. Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.1(1): 101-106.

OSD Comptroller iCenter, ____. Integrated Supply Chain Management: Optimizing Logistics Support: A concept paper. http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/icenter/learn/iscm.htm .

Tyndall, G.R, Kamauff, G.W (1998), Global Supply Chain Management, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, NY. Williamson, O. 1979. Transaction-cost economics: the governance contractual relations. J. Law and Econ. 22: 233-261. Woods, E. 1999. Supply chain management. ACIAR Postharvest Technology Internal Workshop No. 20, Canberra, 1-2 December. 6 p.

References for Biosystems Engineering and Food Safety

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department. South Dakota State University. http://abe.sdstate.edu/ .

Agricultural Biosystems Engineering. Iowa State University. http://www3.abe.iastate.edu/about_abe.asp

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department. Oklahoma State University. http://www.ceat.okstate.edu/information/ceat_sp/ceat_sp_files/UNIT%20BIOENG%20Strategic%20Plan%20051304.pdf

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering. Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Oklahoma State University. http://biosystems.okstate.edu/ .

Center for Food Safety Engineering. Purdue University. http://www.cfse.purdue.edu/why_we_exist/

Marks, Bradley. 2001. Engineering Applications for Food Safety. http://www.egr.msu.edu/age/aenewsletter/1_archives/1_2_01food_safety.pdf .