Singapore turns vacant space into urban farms (2)
Resource-scarce Singapore is turning vacant pockets of land into space for urban farming as the island city strives to ease its reliance on imported food.
The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state imports more than 90 per cent of its food, much of it from neighbouring countries, which can leave it exposed to potential supply chain disruptions.
Edible Garden City, a company with a grow-your-own-food message, has designed and built more than 50 food gardens in the tropical city for clients ranging from restaurants and hotels to schools and residences.
One of its projects is Citizen Farm, an 8,000 square metre plot that used to be a prison, converted into an urban farm"where the local community can learn and grow together", according to the project website.
Citizen Farm produces up to 100 kg of vegetables, 20 kg of herbs and 10-15 kg of mushrooms - enough to feed up to 500 people - a day.
It's tiny compared with demand for food in the country of 5.5 million people, but it's a start, said Darren Ho, head of the Citizen Farm initiative.
"No system will replace imports, we are here to make us more food resilient," said Ho, adding that it was "up to the community" to decide how self-sufficient it wants to be.
Government agencies are considering the company's urban farming concept for other parts of the city, including spaces around high-rise public housing.
Source: Asia One. Date: 2017-07-28
Singapore turns vacant space into urban farms (3)
Resource-scarce Singapore is turning vacant pockets of land into space for urban farming as the island city strives to ease its reliance on imported food.
The wealthy Southeast Asian city-state imports more than 90 per cent of its food, much of it from neighbouring countries, which can leave it exposed to potential supply chain disruptions.
Edible Garden City, a company with a grow-your-own-food message, has designed and built more than 50 food gardens in the tropical city for clients ranging from restaurants and hotels to schools and residences.
One of its projects is Citizen Farm, an 8,000 square metre plot that used to be a prison, converted into an urban farm"where the local community can learn and grow together", according to the project website.
Citizen Farm produces up to 100 kg of vegetables, 20 kg of herbs and 10-15 kg of mushrooms - enough to feed up to 500 people - a day.
It's tiny compared with demand for food in the country of 5.5 million people, but it's a start, said Darren Ho, head of the Citizen Farm initiative.
"No system will replace imports, we are here to make us more food resilient," said Ho, adding that it was "up to the community" to decide how self-sufficient it wants to be.
Government agencies are considering the company's urban farming concept for other parts of the city, including spaces around high-rise public housing.
Source: Asia One. Date: 2017-07-28
EU-China special products pact offers bright future for Europe’s exports
In June, the EU and China published a list of 200 European and Chinese geographical indications (GIs) that are protected on their respective markets, as part of a bilateral deal that should be concluded by December. EURACTIV’s partner Italia Oggi reports.
Both parties submitted 100 denominations each but many European items, particularly those from Italy, have been left off the list.
This is because the European Commission’s selection criteria for its 100 denominations took into account GI market volume in China and the potential risk of counterfeiting. Only one product from the South of Italy made it onto the list: buffalo mozzarella.
Once pen was put to paper on the agreement, the Commission immediately began negotiations with the EU member states in order to include other products on the list.
A first draft added a further 162 European products and Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs), including five Sicilian items, all selected based on predicted demand in China. In January, China in fact eliminated its phytosanitary barriers that had hindered imports of Sicilian citrus fruit.
Quality schemes help EU producers break new markets
The promotion of geographical indications (GI) has helped EU products attract new emerging markets which seek quality food. However, Europol warns that fake GI products are on the rise across the EU and policymakers should not disregard the protection of intellectual rights.
Italian MEP Michela Giuffrida (S&D group), a substitute on the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, asked the Commission to include more Sicilian products on the new list, in order to guarantee “territorial representation of the island’s products”.
She also told Italia Oggi that “I would like to have other interested parties involved in these consultations, such as consortia and producer organisations, because it would make these European negotiations more credible and more in accordance with the market’s demands and potential.”
The Italian lawmaker added: “This list of products protected in China does not mean that only those on the list will be marketed in China. No one is being excluded here.
“In fact, some companies are not willing to bear the costs. Some Sicilian producers were asked if they wanted to participate with a European delegation in two major agri-food fairs in Iran and Saudi Arabia. They declined the invitation because they thought it would be anti-economical for them.”
Who is driving quality in EU agri-food?
The EU’s Southern member states are the leading producers of foods certified by EU quality schemes: between them, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece account for 70% of the total.
Giuffrida insisted that the road ahead is clear and that the range of products agreed with China should be widened. She added that the “appeal” of GI’s is clear and that products bearing the stamp of approval often see an upsurge in foreign sales and demand.
Chinese products aspiring to obtain EU GI status include Yantai Ping Guo (the Yantai apple), Hengxian Mo Li Hua Cha (jasmine tea), Panjin Da Mi (rice), and Baise Mang Guo (the Baise mango).
The Chinese agri-food products market is one of the biggest in the world and is growing year on year, supported by a growing middle class, which has developed a taste for European food and drink, often due to increased experience of international travel. The country even boasts its own GIs, still unknown to European consumers.
The bilateral deal between Europe and China was welcomed immediately by Italy’s national confederation of cultivators, Coldiretti, which said that “the defence of Italian products from unfair competition posed by fakes and imitations will encourage Italian foodstuff exports”.
According to official figures, China’s consumption of Italian products jumped 19% in the first month of 2017 and foodstuff exports totalled €391m in 2016. The wine sector was the big winner, after China got through €101m of Italy’s finest bottles.
Source: Euractiv. Date: 2017-07-28
Salmon sector to use Chinese technology against harmful algae
The technique, known as flocculation, was able to convert green microalgae-laden water into clear crystal water in China, and now SalmonChile is trying to implement it in the south.
In 2008, at the Olympic Games with which China managed to impress the world, authorities took a striking decision to ensure the quality and purity of its water during water competitions. Thanks to technology known as flocculation, organizers of the Beijing event managed, within a few hours, to convert totally green water bodies, due to microalgae, into crystalline water.
And that same technique is the one the Chilean salmon industry intends to use to combat, among other things, the harmful algae bloom that last year meant the loss of 39,000 tonnes of salmon.
According to David Farcas, general manager of the research laboratory for the Centrovetagricultural and veterinary industry, the project started some time ago when they were approached from the Technical Institute of Salmon (INTESAL), SalmonChile’s technical branch, with the idea of adapting the patented technique by Chinese scientists for the Chilean industry.
"It is a question of using clay, which is a natural component of the sea, to capture microalgae and finally eliminate it. The technology developed by the Oceanographic Institute of China consists in modifying the electrical charge of the clay surface in such a way that when it contacts the microalgae, it sticks and then sinks into the sea floor, where it can not develop due to the lack of oxygen in the depth," explains Farcas.
Operational by 2018
Thanks to the joint work between Centrovet and INTESAL, the latest tests of the technology are currently being carried out in the United States to validate the best way to use the clay and to specifically control the microalgae that have affected the local salmon industry.
"The idea is that it is a solution to Chile's specific problems, so we have to get approvals from environmental authorities, which we hope will materialize in 2018," says David Farcas.
The expert comments that the intention is to incorporate the respective governmental entities (SAG, IFOP, SERNAPESCA) to the process, since the technology also has the potential to mitigate the algae blooms on mussel farming and artisanal fishing.
"The idea is that this technology can effectively help reduce the risk of algae blooms, along with other technology that is being implemented by salmon companies to monitor and mitigate the impact of microalgae," concludes the general manager of Centrovet.
Source: FIS. Date: 2017-07-28
Across China: Growing vegetables in Gobi Desert
Even during the dog days of summer, Zhang Guosen, 50, is hard at work in a greenhouse in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province. All around him, tomatoes, cucumbers and gourds grow in rows.
Zhang is head of the vegetable division under the Suzhou District Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau and is responsible for providing technical guidance on greenhouse cultivation.
"We used to think it was impossible to grow vegetables in the barren Gobi Desert," Zhang said.
Located in the western Hexi Corridor, an important part of the ancient Silk Road, Jiuquan is notorious for droughts and barren land covered with sand and gravel.
A fragile ecosystem and lack of water have limited the development of agriculture.
The local government has come up with measures to help farmers, including building greenhouses and introducing organic soilless cultivation.
"We can take advantage of the abundance of sunshine in the desert to grow vegetables," Zhang said.
The greenhouses are built with sand and gravel. Locally sourced plant and animal waste is used in place of soil and fertilizer in the soilless cultivation, according to Zhang.
Compared to traditional vegetable cultivation, the cost of soilless cultivation in the greenhouses is lower because there is no need to buy extra fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, crop quality is guaranteed because of organic farming.
"We adopted micro-spray irrigation technology, which can save about 40 percent of water used in traditional agriculture methods," Zhang said.
Research and development institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Gansu Agricultural University have helped the district introduce advanced technology, including wireless remote controlled equipment, multi-functional data collection systems, and carbon-dioxide generators.
"The equipment can be used to remotely monitor and change the temperature, humidity and concentration of carbon dioxide in the greenhouses," said Zhang. "Farmers can view the data on mobile apps."
So far, around 786.7 hectares of greenhouses have been set up in the district, and crops have been expanded to include mushrooms and grapes.
The greenhouses have also indirectly contributed to the prevention of land desertification in the Gobi Desert region.
Source: Xinhua News. Date: 2017-07-28
Across China: Growing vegetables in Gobi Desert (2)
Even during the dog days of summer, Zhang Guosen, 50, is hard at work in a greenhouse in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province. All around him, tomatoes, cucumbers and gourds grow in rows.
Zhang is head of the vegetable division under the Suzhou District Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau and is responsible for providing technical guidance on greenhouse cultivation.
"We used to think it was impossible to grow vegetables in the barren Gobi Desert," Zhang said.
Located in the western Hexi Corridor, an important part of the ancient Silk Road, Jiuquan is notorious for droughts and barren land covered with sand and gravel.
A fragile ecosystem and lack of water have limited the development of agriculture.
The local government has come up with measures to help farmers, including building greenhouses and introducing organic soilless cultivation.
"We can take advantage of the abundance of sunshine in the desert to grow vegetables," Zhang said.
The greenhouses are built with sand and gravel. Locally sourced plant and animal waste is used in place of soil and fertilizer in the soilless cultivation, according to Zhang.
Compared to traditional vegetable cultivation, the cost of soilless cultivation in the greenhouses is lower because there is no need to buy extra fertilizers and pesticides. In addition, crop quality is guaranteed because of organic farming.
"We adopted micro-spray irrigation technology, which can save about 40 percent of water used in traditional agriculture methods," Zhang said.
Research and development institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Gansu Agricultural University have helped the district introduce advanced technology, including wireless remote controlled equipment, multi-functional data collection systems, and carbon-dioxide generators.
"The equipment can be used to remotely monitor and change the temperature, humidity and concentration of carbon dioxide in the greenhouses," said Zhang. "Farmers can view the data on mobile apps."
So far, around 786.7 hectares of greenhouses have been set up in the district, and crops have been expanded to include mushrooms and grapes.
The greenhouses have also indirectly contributed to the prevention of land desertification in the Gobi Desert region.
Source: Xinhua News. Date: 2017-07-28
Why IoT, big data & smart farming are the future of agriculture
The farming industry will become arguably more important than ever before in the next few decades.
The world will need to produce 70% more food in 2050 than it did in 2006 in order to feed the growing population of the Earth, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. To meet this demand, farmers and agricultural companies are turning to the Internet of Things for analytics and greater production capabilities.
Technological innovation in farming is nothing new. Handheld tools were the standards hundreds of years ago, and then the Industrial Revolution brought about the cotton gin. The 1800s brought about grain elevators, chemical fertilizers, and the first gas-powered tractor. Fast forward to the late 1900s, when farmers start using satellites to plan their work.
The IoT is set to push the future of farming to the next level. Smart agriculture is already becoming more commonplace among farmers, and high tech farming is quickly becoming the standard thanks to agricultural drones and sensors.
Below, we've outlined IoT applications in agriculture and how "Internet of Things farming" will help farmers meet the world's food demands in the coming years.
High Tech Farming: Precision Farming & Smart Agriculture
Farmers have already begun employing some high tech farming techniques and technologies in order to improve the efficiency of their day-to-day work. For example, sensors placed in fields allow farmers to obtain detailed maps of both the topography and resources in the area, as well as variables such as acidity and temperature of the soil. They can also access climate forecasts to predict weather patterns in the coming days and weeks.
Farmers can use their smartphones to remotely monitor their equipment, crops, and livestock, as well as obtain stats on their livestock feeding and produce. They can even use this technology to run statistical predictions for their crops and livestock.
And drones have become an invaluable tool for farmers to survey their lands and generate crop data.
As a concrete example, John Deere (one of the biggest names in farming equipment) has begun connecting its tractors to the Internet and has created a method to display data about farmers' crop yields. Similar to smart cars, the company is pioneering self-driving tractors, which would free up farmers to perform other tasks and further increase efficiency.
All of these techniques help make up precision farming or precision agriculture, the process of using satellite imagery and other technology (such as sensors) to observe and record data with the goal of improving production output while minimizing cost and preserving resources.
Future of Farming: IoT, Agricultural Sensors, & Farming Drones
Smart agriculture and precision farming are taking off, but they could just be the precursors to even greater use of technology in the farming world.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, predicts that IoT device installations in the agriculture world will increase from 30 million in 2015 to 75 million in 2020, for a compound annual growth rate of 20%.
The U.S. currently leads the world in IoT smart agriculture, as it produces 7,340 kgs of cereal (e.g. wheat, rice, maize, barley, etc.) per hectare (2.5 acres) of farmland, compared to the global average of 3,851 kgs of cereal per hectare.
And this efficiency should only improve in the coming decades as farms become more connected. OnFarm, which makes a connected farm IoT platform, expects the average farm to generate an average of 4.1 million data points per day in 2050, up from 190,000 in 2014.
Furthermore, OnFarm ran several studies and discovered that for the average farm, yield rose by 1.75%, energy costs dropped $7 to $13 per acre, and water use for irrigation fell by 8%.
Given all of the potential benefits of these IoT applications in agriculture, it's understandable that farmers are increasingly turning to agricultural drones and satellites for the future of farming.
The future of farming is in collecting and analyzing big data in agriculture in order to maximize efficiency. But there are far more trends to understand with the IoT, and the Internet of Things will touch many more industries than just farming.
Source: Business Insider. Date: 2017-07-27
Vietnam's agro-forestry-aquatic exports hit 20.45 billion USD in 7 months
The export value of agro-forestry-aquatic products reached 20.45 billion USD in the first seven months of this year, up 14.7 percent against the same period last year, reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Key farm produce raked in 10.89 billion USD (up 18 percent) while aquatic products earned 4.31 billion USD (up 17.5 percent) and forestry products brought home 4.41 billion USD (up 10.8 percent).
Vietnam shipped 3.3 million tonnes of rice worth 1.5 billion USD abroad, up 15.7 percent in volume and 13.7 percent in value compared to the Jan-July period of 2016.
Meanwhile, coffee and cashew nut exports maintained stable growth in the period thanks to higher prices. The country earned 2.12 billion USD from exporting 937,000 tonnes of coffee and 1.83 billion USD from shipping 186,000 tonnes of cashew nuts.
Vegetable and fruit exports witnessed a year-on-year rise of 50 percent in export value to 2.03 billion USD in the reviewed period.
The export value of rubber also recorded a strong surge, reaching 1.13 billion USD, 59 percent higher than that in the same period last year.
Meanwhile, pepper export turnover suffered an 18 percent fall to 800 million USD due to a 30 percent drop in prices.
Source: VNA. Date: 2017-07-27
China orders halt to red meat imports from several Australian meatworks
China has temporarily banned beef imports from six Australian meatworks, the Federal Government has confirmed.
Australia was made aware of the ban on Tuesday, and Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the ABC he intended to work closely and constructively with industry and China to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
The ABC understands the affected abattoirs are in Queensland and NSW, and include two facilities owned by Australia's largest meat processor JBS.
Other companies affected are Kilcoy Pastoral, Australian Country Choice, the Northern Rivers Co-operative at Casino, and Thomas Food.
Mr Ciobo said the ban related to Chinese concern about labelling non-compliance.
There is no suggestion health or food safety issues are involved.
"This is obviously a very material situation," Mr Ciobo said.
"We've got, potentially, very significant amounts of trade involved in this and so it's a matter that I'm very mobilised on, my team, my office, as well as our embassy in China."
Government adopts proactive approach
Mr Ciobo said Australia and China had a strong relationship that "sees us work through irritants", such as Australia's recent ban on prawn imports.
"We intend to engage in a very constructive way," Mr Ciobo said, and sought to reassure the beef industry the Government would adopt a very "proactive" approach.
The Australian Meat Industry Council confirmed it was working with the Department of Agriculture through diplomatic channels on the issue.
There are shipments currently on the water.
The ABC understands the Australian industry believes it has resolved the labelling issues, and the Government is hopeful it can resolve the issue before those ships arrive in China.
The Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources issued a statement on Wednesday saying the six affected export establishments were reported as suspended on the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China website.
"The department is working with industry and Chinese authorities to resolve the matter urgently," the statement read.
Australia's beef exports to China were worth more than $600 million last year, and China is the fourth-largest market.
More beef and lamb processors were given approval in March to export chilled meat to China in a deal struck at the highest level, between the Chinese Premier and the Australian Prime Minister.
But Australian exporters are also now confronted with a new competitor in the market as China opens up to US beef imports for the first time in 13 years.
Source: ABC News. Date: 2017-07-27
China’s love of wine drives thirst for knowledge
The speed with which China has become Australia’s largest wine market (by value) is extraordinary.
In calendar 2000 China imported $1.34 million of our wine; by 2016 it reached $520m, three months later in March it had reached $568m, a year-on-year growth of 41 per cent.
France is its leading supplier, with 44 per cent of the market, Australia is second with 25 per cent, and Chile (with a long-standing free trade agreement) third with 16 per cent. Chile’s exports (largely bulk) are declining, and Australia’s growth rate is greater than that of France. Wheels of all sorts are driving the dynamics, some more obvious than others.
The two-way trade of products and services between China and Australia is many times greater than that between China and France. More Chinese arrive in Australia every day than any other country. Chinese returning home become brand ambassadors for wine and its use in everyday living.
Despite all this, the Chinese wine market is immature.
While there is a thirst for knowledge evidenced by the many wine courses now run in China — the multi-level British Wine and Spirit Education Trust course is most important — a large gap still exists between theory and application.
Even for some hoping to become professionals (sommeliers, writers, teachers, retailers), having a glass with meals at home for casual enjoyment can still be a step too far, but not on the basis of gender. On a trip to China in May, Wine Australia arranged for 15 Chinese wine professionals (of varying experience) to each ask me one question. All were in their 20s or 30s, and all but one were female. But the statistics don’t lie. The middle and middle-upper classes who live in one of the hundred cities with a population of more than one million, have the income to fund ever-increasing consumption.
At the other end of the scale is the demand for high quality South Australian shiraz, led by Penfolds Grange and its other luxury brands.
These wines are purely aspirational for upper-middle-class buyers, but well within the reach of the millions of wealthy consumers. Treasury Wine Estates’ share price is a direct reflection of this. Then there is the so far largely ignored white wine sector. The split is 88 per cent red wine, 12 per cent white, utterly at odds with the greater compatibility of white wines with cuisine and all but winter temperatures.
Source: The Australian Business Review. Date: 2017-07-26