Narrow Results

Climate models predict more weather extremes in the coming decades. Weather shocks can directly reduce crop production, but their effect on food markets is partly buffered by storage and supply responses that can be complex and nuanced. We explore how inter-hemispheric trade and supply responses can moderate the effects of weather shocks on global food supply by enabling potential intra-annual arbitrage. Our estimates of this effect in the case of wheat and soybeans suggest that it may be considerable: 25–50% of crop production lost to a shock in the Southern Hemisphere is offset six months later by increased production in the North. These results have implications for the potential effects of climate change on global food markets, for how we model these interactions and, possibly, for the design of trade and production-related policies that aim to leverage this inter-hemispheric buffer more effectively.

The study aims to scientifically substantiate the application of the scenario approach in predicting the development of the agri-food sector in rural areas. The conceptual novelty of the study is that it develops a scenario forecasting algorithm for the development of the agri-food sector of rural areas in the digital economy. It also clarifies methodological approaches and recommendations for forecasting production volumes of certain agri-food products at the zonal level. The paper shows that digitalization is one of the critical factors that directly ensure an increase in agribusiness efficiency in the current conditions in agriculture. An assessment of the impact of digital transformation processes on the activities of agricultural producers is given, and the advantages of using modern digital technologies in the agricultural sector are highlighted. Furthermore, the results of scenario forecasting of production volumes of agri-food products by farms of all categories are presented in the example of the non-black soil zone of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The study’s preliminary results are as follows: the world experience in scientific research on the use of digital technologies in the activities of agricultural producers was generalized.

This work is a contribution to the improvement of the thermal and the dynamic fields of a natural convection indirect solar dryer, composed of a solar flat air heater and a drying chamber, intended for drying agricultural products and medicinal plants. We have studied the effects of size and position of the outlet on the distribution of air and temperature within the drying chamber, containing the figs as a product to be dried. To be more realistic, we have used a user defined function (UDF) subroutine written in $C++$ to integrate the unsteady evolution of a day’s climate data in the Oujda region.

This study was achieved by numerical simulations using the ANSYS FLUENT software, in order to optimize the distribution of air and temperature inside the drying chamber, and to choose the best outlet’s position and size for the best efficiency of the dryer.

The results show that the optimal outlet position found is in the right corner with a size range of 0.07 to 0.15m. The effects of the position and size of the outlet on the air deflection along the trays were also presented and discussed.

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) acknowledge the interlinkages between human well-being, economic prosperity, and a healthy environment, and hence, are associated with a wide range of topical issues that include the securities of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources, poverty eradication, economic development, climate change, health, among others. As SDGs are assessed through targets to be achieved by 2030 and monitored through measurable indicators, nexus planning was applied as a transformative approach to monitor and assess progress toward SDG in 2015 and 2018 using South Africa. WEF nexus-related SDGs that were evaluated include Goals 2 (zero hunger), 6 (clean water and sanitation), and 7 (affordable and clean energy). The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to integrate indicators for each of the reference years. Resource management and implementation of WEF-related SDGs improved by 31% (from 0.155 to 0.203) between 2015 and 2018 in South Africa but remained marginally sustainable. The assessment provided an evidence-based support framework for improved and effective management strategies to meet set SDG targets. The connections between the WEF nexus and SDGs strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders, unpack measures for cooperative governance and management, and supporting outcomes that arise from different cross-sectoral interventions. As food production, water provision, and energy accessibility are the major socio-economic and environmental issues currently attracting global attention, the method enhances climate change adaptation.

Food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth. However, food is currently threatening both people and the planet. An immense challenge facing humanity is to provide a growing world population with healthy diets from sustainable food systems. While global food production of calories has generally kept pace with population growth, more than 820 million people still lack sufficient food, and many more consume either low-quality diets or too much food. Unhealthy diets now pose a greater risk to morbidity and mortality than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use combined. Global food production threatens climate stability and ecosystem resilience and constitutes the single largest driver of environmental degradation and transgression of planetary boundaries Willett et al. (2019). Taken together, the outcome is dire. A radical transformation of the global food system is urgently needed. Without action, the world risks failing to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement, and today’s children will inherit a planet that has been severely degraded and where much of the population will increasingly suffer from malnutrition and preventable disease…

Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency in the world, with many adverse health effects on human beings and the animals. The success of an iron fortification program depends largely on the iron compounds. In this work, the various iron fortification compounds were investigated and their advantages and disadvantages were discussed. There are three stages in the development of iron fortification compounds: inorganic iron (e.g. ferrous sulfate), organic iron (e.g. iron fumarate) and chelating iron (e.g. iron-glycine chelate). Among them, the ferric pyrophosphate does not modify organoleptic characteristics of foods, and can have a similar bioavailability with ferrous sulfate through micronization or solubilization, making it a potential and alternative iron fortification compound.

Research to measure the fly density and environmental factors in street vendors foods was done along the Margonda Avenue, Depok City, West Java Province, Indonesia used crossectional design.

A total of 100 street vendors were selected randomly, from which different types of foods were sampled for fly density and Escherichia coli. Fly grill was used to measure the fly density, otherwise the analysis of E. coli using the Most Probable Number (MPN) method. Also, environmental factors of street vendors and personal hygiene of food hanlers were observed. Analizing of the data used Chi Square Test and Logistic Regression.

It was found that the fly density was a quite high (more than 6) with the average in each location were 9.38 in Point-1, 8,53 in Point-2, and 10.33 in Point-3. Forty one (41) percent of samples contaminated by E. coli and 14% contaminated by Salmonella. The average flies’ density around the street vendors area were high. Almost half of the food sold by street vendors was contaminated by E. coli, some contained other pathogens such as Salmonella. Based on the statistical test, there was an association between flies density and E. coli contamination on food. But statistically, high flies density will prevent contamination as much as 3.86 times (OR=0.26).