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In this study, it was aimed to increase the antimicrobial properties by combining chitosan and titanium nanoparticles. First, titanium nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method and nanoparticles were modified with thiol groups. The chitosan has been modified with allyl glycidyl ether. Both obtained molecules were linked to each other by a thiol-ene click reaction. The chemical structure of the obtained chitosan modified titanium nanoparticles was elucidated by ATR-FTIR. Paper coating formulations were prepared by using the produced nanoparticles and hydroxy ethyl cellulose at different rates and applied on the base paper. Color, gloss, surface energy, contact angle, air permeability properties of the papers were determined by spectrophotometer, glossmeter, goniometer and L&W air permeability device, respectively. Screen prints were made on coated papers and their printability properties were examined. Antimicrobial properties of titanium nanoparticles, chitosan and chitosan modified titanium nanoparticles were determined against E. coli and S. aureus by disk diffusion method. As a result, it has been determined that both titanium and chitosan have antimicrobial properties against both bacterial species separately and the produced chitosan modified titanium nanoparticles increase this antimicrobial property more having a synergetic effect. It has been concluded that the produced antimicrobial papers have a high upside to be active packaging printing material.

La globalització de l'agricultura ha obert noves oportunitats, reptes i una competència més dura a l'Índia. Aquest article explora i avalua diversos factors macro i micro que influeixen en les eleccions de canals de màrqueting fetes pels productors d'hortalisses d'Odisha. S’han recollit respostes de 323 agricultors d'hortalisses i 110 comissionistes i 192 minoristes de cinc districtes d'Odisha. Les dades s’han analitzat mitjançant SPSS per confirmar la fiabilitat, la validesa i la reducció de les dades. AMOS s’ha utilitzat per dissenyar el model d'equació estructural. L'accés al coneixement del mercat té un signe positiu per a les opcions de mercat tant organitzades com no organitzades, que és coherent amb la hipòtesi. Per tant, el valor suggereix que augmentar el coneixement del mercat pot augmentar-ne la participació. La millora de les pràctiques i l'experiència en la qualificació també mostra un augment de la implicació dels mercats organitzats i no organitzats. Tenint en compte aquests reptes de màrqueting, aquest estudi suggereix millorar la participació dels agricultors emergents als mercats d'exportació., The globalization of agriculture has opened new opportunities, challenges and stiffer competition in India. This paper explores and evaluates various macro and micro factors influencing the marketing channel choices made by the vegetable farmers in Odisha. Responses were collected from 323 vegetable farmers and 110 commission agents, and 192 retailers across five districts of Odisha. Data were analyzed using SPSS to confirm reliability, validity and data reduction. AMOS was used to design the structural equation model. Access to market knowledge has a positive sign for both organized and unorganized market choices, which is consistent with the hypothesis. Hence, the value suggests that increasing market knowledge can increase market participation. The improvement in practices and expertise in grading also shows an increase in the involvement of both organized and unorganized markets. Given these marketing challenges, this study suggests improving emerging farmers' participation in the export markets., La globalización de la agricultura ha abierto nuevas oportunidades, desafíos y una competencia más dura en la India. Este documento explora y evalúa varios factores macro y micro que influyen en las elecciones de canales de comercialización realizadas por los agricultores de hortalizas en Odisha. Se recopilaron respuestas de 323 agricultores de vegetales y 110 comisionistas, y 192 minoristas en cinco distritos de Odisha. Los datos se analizaron con SPSS para confirmar la confiabilidad, la validez y la reducción de datos. AMOS se utilizó para diseñar el modelo de ecuación estructural. El acceso al conocimiento del mercado tiene un signo positivo tanto para las elecciones de mercado organizadas como para las no organizadas, lo cual es consistente con la hipótesis. Por lo tanto, el valor sugiere que aumentar el conocimiento del mercado puede aumentar la participación en el mercado. La mejora en las prácticas y la experiencia en la clasificación también muestra un aumento en la participación de los mercados organizados y no organizados. Dados estos desafíos de comercialización, este estudio sugiere mejorar la participación de los agricultores emergentes en los mercados de exportación.

The pulp and paper industry is primarily dependent on fibrous wood for pulp and paper production. However, this over-dependence on fibrous wood poses serious environmental challenges such as the diminishing of the fibrous wood stocks, deforestation, emission of greenhouse gases, and global warming. Therefore, to mitigate these environmental challenges associated with its utilization for paper and pulp production, other sustainable raw material sources can also be considered for the production of paper and pulp. There are enormous benefits associated with the utilization of non-wood fibres as an alternative and sustainable raw materials source for the production of paper and pulp. These benefits have in the recent past prompted millers in China, India, Brazil, and the USA to consider the utilization of non-wood fibres in paper and pulp production. In Kenya, the pulp and paper industry is very much dependent on fibrous wood for production and the industry is yet to fully embrace the utilization of nonwood fibres for paper and pulp production. Further, the dependence on fibrous wood has contributed significantly to the decline of paper pulp and paper production, deforestation, and rise in paper importations due to insufficient raw material supplies. The importation of paper and pulp products has further led to the collapse of the paper industry in Kenya. The sector stands a chance of revival and vibrancy through the utilization of the abundant agricultural residues and feedstocks lying in the agricultural fields across the country. Similar experiences elsewhere have proved that the abundance of agricultural waste can be utilized for the production of paper and pulp due to their excellent fibre content for specialty papers, and easy pulpability. The agricultural residues are therefore considered a quintessential alternative and sustainable source of raw materials for the pulp and paper industry. Moreover, their utilization will mitigate environmental impacts such as deforestation, climate change, and pollution .

Surface characteristics of printing substrates are of the utmost importance to all types of paper that interact with ink. During all types of printing processes, the behaviour of the liquid phase (ink or dye) on the paper is directly defined by the paper cellulose-based surface. The printed ink spreads and penetrates more into paper fibres when the paper surface is rougher and more permeable. Contact angle measurements by sessile drop method are considered the most appropriate for determining the paper sheet surface energy. Paper as hydrophilic material has a high absorption rate resulting in a low contact angle. The objective of this study was to evaluate the surface free energy of laboratory-made papers containing straw pulp obtained from residues after the harvest of the most cultivated cereals in Croatia (wheat, barley and triticale). The obtained surface free energy results are promising for straw pulp usage in the manufacture of printing paper.

The problems that arise in relation to this research are that in the context of implementing corporate social responsibility, it has not been running effectively, which is marked by the lack of precise targeting of the assistance provided in the context of community empowerment by PT. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Tbk Perawang to farmers in Tualang District. In addition, the low nominal assistance provided is also an obstacle for local community empowerment programs. In addition, the assistance provided will be returned to the company is also an unusual thing. The purpose of this study was to analyze and explain the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility at PT. Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper Tbk Perawang in Tualang District, Siak Regency. The type of research used is qualitative research with descriptive method. There are two types and sources of data, namely primary data and secondary data. Data collection techniques consist of interviews, observation and documentation. Informants from this research consisted of the Chief Executive of CSR, Head of the TJSP Forum Unit of Bappeda Siak, Coordinator of Agricultural Extension Center in Tualang District and community elements as fostered farmers. The results showed that of the 5 indicators, namely understanding of the program, right on target, on time, achieving goals and real changes had not run effectively. The obstacle faced is that there has not been a collaboration between PT. IKPP, Center for Agricultural Extension and Assisted Farmers. In the future, it is hoped that there will be good cooperation between the parties involved, and that each CSR program activity is free of charge or free, and the CSR forum shows its performance in accordance with applicable regulations.

In this paper, the implementation of artificial neural networks (multilayer perceptron [MLP] and radial base functions [RBF]) and the upgraded Markov chain model have been studied and performed to identify the human behavior patterns during rock, paper, and scissors game. The main motivation of this research is the design and construction of an intelligent robot with the ability to defeat a human opponent. MATLAB software has been used to implement intelligent algorithms. After implementing the algorithms, their effectiveness in detecting human behavior pattern has been investigated. To ensure the ideal performance of the implemented model, each player played with the desired algorithms in three different stages. The results showed that the percentage of winning computer with MLP and RBF neural networks and upgraded Markov model, on average in men and women is 59%, 76.66%, and 75%, respectively. Obtained results clearly indicate a very good performance of the RBF neural network and the upgraded Markov model in the mental modeling of the human opponent in the game of rock, paper, and scissors. In the end, the designed game has been employed in both hardware and software which include the Zana intelligent robot and a digital version with a graphical user interface design on the stand. To the best knowledge of the authors, the precision of novel presented method for determining human behavior patterns was the highest precision among all of the previous studies.

Declining carbon (C) content in agricultural soils threatens soil fertility and makes soil prone to erosion, which could be rectified with organic soil amendments. In a 4‐yr field trial, we made a single application of three different organic sludges from the pulp and paper industry and studied their effects on cereal yield, soil C content, and fungal and bacterial composition. In laboratory rainfall simulations, we also studied the effects of the soil amendments on susceptibility to erosion and nutrient mobilization of a clay‐textured soil by measuring the quality of percolation water passing through 40‐cm intact soil monoliths during 2‐d rainfall simulations over four consecutive years after application. A nutrient‐poor fiber sludge reduced wheat yield in the first growing season, but there were no other significant effects on cereal yield or grain quality. An input of ∼8 Mg ha−1 C with the soil amendments had only minor effects on soil C content after 4 yr, likely because of fast microbe‐mediated turnover. The amendments clearly changed the fungal and bacterial community composition. All amendments significantly reduced suspended solids (SS) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in percolation water. The effect declined with time, but the reduction in SS and TP was still >25% 4 yr after application. We attributed the lower tendency for particle detachment in rain simulations to direct interactions of soil minerals with the added particulate organic matter and microbe‐derived compounds that stabilize soil aggregates. In soils with low organic matter content, pulp and paper industry by‐products can be a viable measure for erosion mitigation.

The contamination of water and food in agricultural areas, where an enormous volume of pesticides is widely employed to enhance crop production, is a challenging reality. The rapid assessment of these contaminants is fundamental to assure water and food quality and safety, particularly for local community members. This work presents a nonexpensive and easy-operational paper-based testing device for the fast detection of insecticides (carbamates and organophosphates) in water samples. The structural design "dip-and-fold" allows us to carry out the analysis without introducing reagents or samples. The device is prepared using different high-quality papers to support the active acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the customized chemical formulation for colorimetric detection. The chemical principle is based on the AChE inhibition reaction and Ellman's method. The experiments using standard solutions of carbofuran, propoxur, and chlorpyriphos indicated satisfactory detection at concentrations between 0.1 and 0.0001 mM, and the color results are revealed within 10 min. Therefore, this technique represents a promising alternative for implementing low-cost and efficient water monitoring and management solutions.

The aim of this paper is to present the situation, interconnections and potential conflicts of interest of the different levels of the food supply chain in Hungary (production of raw materials, processing, trade), to give an overview of the situation of solutions to promote more sustainable and equitable supply chain operations (e.g. short supply chains, local products, quality systems), and to provide insights into one of the most important sustainability problems of the food chain, the phenomenon of food loss and waste. The paper presents, in a non-exhaustive way, relevant strategic and practical policy efforts, as well as locally based, socially driven initiatives and good practices. The Rural Prosperity MAP has identified needs and problems for which it makes policy recommendations, while also making suggestions for future research directions.

Plant biomass in the form of waste materials and by-products from various industries can be a valuable material for the production of composts and growing media for urban gardening. In this study, pulp and paper mill sludge, fruit-vegetable waste, mushroom spent substrate and rye straw were used to produce compost that was further used as a medium component in container cultivation of tomato. The plants were grown in containers with a capacity of 3 dm3 filled with three types of compost-based growing media supplemented with high peat, fen peat, pine bark and wood fiber. The tomato plants grown in 100% peat substrate served as controls. The plants grown in the compost-enriched media had a higher leaf greening index and percentage of ripe fruit, and exhibited an increased content of total polyphenols and flavonoids, potassium, calcium, magnesium and copper in fruit as compared with the control. The tomatoes grown in a medium consisting of 25% compost, 30% high peat, 15% low peat, 20% pine bark and 10% wood fiber reached the highest fresh fruit weight, total polyphenol content and L-ascorbic acid levels. This study demonstrated that the compost produced from natural materials from various sources was a valuable potting medium supplement with positive effects on tomato yield and nutritional value.

This Position Paper provides a consolidated overview of challenges and recommendations emerged by the discussions of Multi-Actor Platform (MAP) Alqueva’s members on land use and climate change.In the Alqueva region, this theme is one of the most important and current issues affecting the region. The reason for this is the vast land use change that happened in the region over the last 25 years. Where before the main land use was cereal production and pastures, nowadays land use has shifted to irrigated crops (such as olive groves, almond orchards and irrigated arable crops)over a surface of 120.000 ha. Change in land use impacted the society and region in various aspects, but one aspect that is crucial to bring to the discussing is climate change and how it can affect the current land use of the region. In addition, another burning question is what the region can do to mitigate and adapt to the reality of climate change.

COVID-19 pandemic limits many physical activities of the society in public areas. The agricultural production sector is one of the important sectors in supporting the country’s nutrition demand. Research is a way to maintain the productivity of the agricultural sector. This study has a purpose to analyze if pandemic COVID-19 has an impact on the number of papers about agriculture recorded by Scopus. This study uses a quantitative with secondary data analysis approach in collecting data. The samples are paper on the Scopus website contains keywords “agriculture& meat”, and “agriculture&egg”. the period of samples are during 2019-2020. The data are analyzed using Vosviewer software to show the institution with the most related topic paper. The result shows that some papers are decreasing while others are increase based on the document type. For paper related to “agriculture” meat”, article as full type research paper increases along with review type paper. For a paper about “agriculture & egg”, conference type paper and review increase, while other decreases. It can be concluded that the type of paper along with the topic affects the institutions’ productivity in publishing papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Pharmacognosy Journal is the property of Phcog.Net and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper presents the research results on the properties of the pulp coniferous and deciduous wood composition in its original state and paper made from it, proposes a mechanism to increase the waterfast and waterproof food packaging paper by surface treatment with a composition based on polyamidepichlorohydrin with polyvinyl alcohol and urea. The study was conducted in order to ensure an increase in the consumer properties of packaging paper, since when packaging materials encounter food products, their structure can change under the influence of moisture, steam, and gas. Polyamidaminepichlorohydrin was used as the main component of the composition for paper processing, as functional additives: polyvinyl alcohol and urea. The above-mentioned starting materials are environmentally friendly, since foreign inclusions in food packaging materials would pose a serious danger to human health and life, as well as to the brand image of the product in which they would be detected. It was proved that high waterfastness and waterproofness, as well as the necessary level of barrier, protective and operational properties of packaging material for food products cannot always be obtained by introducing a significant amount of polyamidaminepichlorohydrin, so the paper investigated the mechanism of interacting cellulose fibers of paper with polyamidaminepichlorohydrin, and also proved the possibility of its use to obtain packaging paper with a given set of properties. It was found that the consumption of up to 4–6% polyamidaminepichlorohydrin provides the main increase in the mechanical strength of packaging paper, both in wet and dry conditions. The resulting waterfast and waterproof material can be used for food packaging.

Although the use of pesticides has highlighted obvious advantages on agricultural yields, intensive and widespread pesticide use raises serious environmental and health concerns. In particular, organophosphate pesticides represent >40% of the totality used in the field of agriculture, and developing countries face the issue of agricultural poisoning, also due to scarce monitoring programs. In this work, a decentralized, miniaturized, sustainable, and portable paper-based electrochemical biosensor for the quantification of organophosphorus pesticides' level has been realized. The proposed approach highlights the use of a very common paper-based substrate, namely, office paper. Office paper offers several advantages due to its nature: it allows one to print conductive strips for electrochemical connection, loading bio-hybrid nanosized probes (Prussian blue, carbon black, and butyrylcholinesterase), evaluating pesticides and reducing waste disposal compared to plastic-based strips. The portable system has been characterized by a low detection limit of 1.3 ng/mL, and accordingly to total discovered pesticide contents in EU agricultural soils, up to ca. 3 μg/mL, it can offer a valuable tool for fast monitoring. To demonstrate its effectiveness, soil and fruit vegetables have been used to perform in situ quantification. Good recovery percentages between 90 and 110% have been achieved in different matrices, highlighting to be suitable for field measurements, and a good correlation has been obtained in comparison with LC-MS analysis.

Silage quality remains an important issue in farming, as do limitations in the range of products suitable for animal fodder. We therefore explored the microorganisms that are critical for the fermentation quality of paper mulberry silage. Low (unwilted) and high (wilted) dry matter (DM) paper mulberry were harvested at two cutting times. These were ensiled for 0, 3, 7, 14, and 56 days, respectively. Compared with unwilted silages, wilting significantly decreased (p

Data supporting the peer-reviewed manuscript: Defining and validating regenerative farm systems using a composite of ranked agricultural practices Tommy Fenster Claire E. LaCanne Jacob R. Pecenka Ryan B. Schmid Michael M. Bredeson Katya Busenitz Alex Michels Kelton D. Welch Jonathan G. Lundgren

Sustainability standards are increasingly used in the livestock sector.Insight into their actual contribution to sustainability is limited.This paper sets out a research agenda to study the role that standards play.We focus on the role of standard developers, consumers, producers and scientists.Standards need to be reliable and make an actual improvement to sustainability.

Small companies encounter difficulties to adapt to new markets with a sustainable perspective. The subject of this article is a paper transformation company which has been eager to develop the organic farming market by developing a new plant support. Alternatives made from plant fibres or plastics exist, such as jute and polypropylene. The main difficulty of this project was to ecodesign a paper product with a multicriteria approach. The factors considered have been divided into two categories. Firstly, the environmental impacts calculated according to the Life Cycle Assessment methodology (on raw material extraction, manufacturing and end-of-life) are summarised. Secondly, the characteristics of the product are discussed in regards to these results and sustainability questions as part of the interpretation phase. Finally, ways of improvement of the LCA methodology to improve the study in terms of geographical representativeness and societal considerations are discussed.

FACCE-JPI first addressed urban agriculture through the “Exploratory Workshop on Urban Agriculture and Adaptation to Climate Change” described in the FACCE-JPI 2018-2020 Implementation Plan under Core Theme 4 (Exploratory Workshops on Urban Agriculture). At the time, this action was identified to explore the opportunities urban agriculture can offer in the challenge to provide healthy, nutritious and sufficient food for a growing population under the aspect of climate change.A first workshop in January 2020 in Wageningen brought together a broad selection of stakeholders and experts (academics, industry, policymakers, funders, retailers, land & urban planners etc.). Together they discussed what urban agriculture could offer, the main challenges and the type of instruments needed to strengthen its role e.g. through FACCE-JPI.To continue the work on this topic, a follow-up meeting took place on June 14th 2021 bringing together a similarly diverse but smaller audience to further address the recommendations and outcomes from the 2020 workshop. Specifically, the participants addressed the definition of the policy environment around urban agriculture attempted to identify the place of urban agriculturewithin FACCE-JPI remit, Strategic Research Agenda and Implementation Plan, and provided input on external activities such as Horizon Europe partnerships with a potential relevance for the area. Following the expert meeting, the FACCE-JPI Secretariat has prepared this white paper connecting the outcomes from the workshop and a JRC report with FACCE-JPI in order to aid decision-making for the Governing Board.

FACCE-JPI first addressed urban agriculture through the “Exploratory Workshop on Urban Agriculture and Adaptation to Climate Change” described in the FACCE-JPI 2018-2020 Implementation Plan under Core Theme 4 (Exploratory Workshops on Urban Agriculture). At the time, this action was identified to explore the opportunities urban agriculture can offer in the challenge to provide healthy, nutritious and sufficient food for a growing population under the aspect of climate change.A first workshop in January 2020 in Wageningen brought together a broad selection of stakeholders and experts (academics, industry, policymakers, funders, retailers, land & urban planners etc.). Together they discussed what urban agriculture could offer, the main challenges and the type of instruments needed to strengthen its role e.g. through FACCE-JPI.To continue the work on this topic, a follow-up meeting took place on June 14th 2021 bringing together a similarly diverse but smaller audience to further address the recommendations and outcomes from the 2020 workshop. Specifically, the participants addressed the definition of the policy environment around urban agriculture attempted to identify the place of urban agriculturewithin FACCE-JPI remit, Strategic Research Agenda and Implementation Plan, and provided input on external activities such as Horizon Europe partnerships with a potential relevance for the area. Following the expert meeting, the FACCE-JPI Secretariat has prepared this white paper connecting the outcomes from the workshop and a JRC report with FACCE-JPI in order to aid decision-making for the Governing Board.

In recent years evolution of Internet of Things has brought revolution in many different sectors. The agriculture sector has become efficient and cost effective due to role of IoT. Monitoring systems has become the crucial part of agriculture. In past few years lot of work is been done and many systems has been purposed in this regard. In this paper we are going to make comparison between 4 different agriculture monitoring systems. We are also going to discuss what type of hardware including different sensors are used in those systems. We are also going to discuss software and platform on which those applications run. We will also discuss processing mechanism and what kind of algorithms are used in these systems and in the last we are going to make a comparative table based on these parameters.

The Coronavirus outbreak has brought a global health emergency with a newfound domestic and international trade disruption such as restrictions on imports and exports of major food commodities, loss of lives, closure of various essential institutions, and the likes. With the spread of COVID-19 around the world, the food and agricultural sector have experienced a negative downturn with an immense labor loss, inadequate distribution of food inputs around the world. Thus, the question arises that to what extent can the food supply chain remain resilient to the effects of the pandemic? And, what are the immediate and lasting resolutions? Importantly, the resilience of the food supply chain is critical to mankind’s survival. In this paper, we highlighted the main challenges faced by the resilience of the global food supply chain. We also present policies and suggestions that focus on mitigating the impact of the pandemic on food production and distribution systems.

The study was undertaken to identify the suitable mulch paper for different high-value vegetables during the winter season of November 2019 to March 2020 at the Olericulture research field of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur, Bangladesh. The study was a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Four vegetable varieties viz., tomato, brinjal, capsicum and broccoli and 3 mulch treatments viz., T1 = Silver over black mulch; T2 = Black mulch; T3 = No mulch were included in this study. Different vegetables responded differently with the changes of mulches irrespective of different characters. it was clear that fruit number, average fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter were strongly related to soil moisture content. The effect of different plastic mulches on fruit weight per plant and yield (t/ha) was significant. Mulching produced higher fruit yield per plant and fruit yield per hectare than for the control, indicating that the mulch had a positive effect in generating increased fruit yield. Silver over black plastic mulch produced the highest fruit yield viz., 98.05 t/ha (tomato), 54.11 t/ha (brinjal), 34.33 t/ha (capsicum), 26.09 t/ha (broccoli) followed by black and no mulches, while the control plot produced the lowest fruit yield.

Most developing country's governments in Sub Sahara African countries’ including Zambia's and international organizations have committed major resources to promote Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) as a means of increasing resilience to the effects of climate change. Zambia has made significant progress in expanding CSA and is now regarded as a regional leader in this file. This research is of great importance in ascertaining adopted practices impacts among rural farming households and contributions to soil physicochemical properties (agroecosystem). The study's findings will aid in the improvement of CSA activities and have an impact on policy regarding the development of future intervention approaches. Hopefully, CSA activities in Zambia will be scaled up, resulting in more effective resource use and CSA project execution. Therefore, an inclusive study is needed to quantify the effects of CSATs on soil physicochemical properties across different (selected) technologies and household consumption among smallholder farmers. The inclusive study will conduct a statistical analysis with a holistic econometric approach. © International Journal of Ground Sediment & Water, © Sun Jichao, The website is http://ijgsw.comze.com/

This compendium consists of four papers following the major themes covered in the working paper series and draws heavily upon them for much of the empirical content. The report was prepared to reach a broad audience of practitioners involved with or interested in China’s agriculture trajectory, especially its interfaces with the environment. An abridged synthesis and a policy note, primarily targeting Chinese program managers and policymakers, respectively, have also been prepared. The policy note provides a brief synopsis of major findings from the study program and a set of recommendations for strengthening ongoing initiatives supporting China’s green agricultural modernization. The coverage and major findings of the compendium papers are as follows: restoring and managing agricultural ecosystems as climate changes; deepening pollution prevention and control on China’s farms; and investing in technology, innovation, and institutions; reforming agricultural policy, institutions, and public expenditures.

This paper is a contribution to the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme, which is developing a prototype automatic pollen monitoring network in Europe covering all aspects of the information chain from measurements through to communicating information to the public., Background: Information about airborne pollen concentrations is required by a range of end users, particularly from the health sector who use both observations and forecasts to diagnose and treat allergic patients. Manual methods are the standard for such measurements but, despite the range of pollen taxa that can be identified, these techniques suffer from a range of drawbacks. This includes being available at low temporal resolution (usually daily averages) and with a delay (usually 3–9 days from the measurement). Recent technological developments have made possible automatic pollen measurements, which are available at high temporal resolution and in real time, although currently only scattered in a few locations across Europe. Materials & Methods: To promote the development of an extensive network across Europe and to ensure that this network will respond to end user needs, a stakeholder workshop was organised under the auspices of the EUMETNET AutoPollen Programme. Participants discussed requirements for the groups they represented, ranging from the need for information at various spatial scales, at high temporal resolution, and for targeted services to be developed. Results: The provision of real-time information is likely to lead to a notable decrease in the direct and indirect health costs associated with allergy in Europe, currently estimated between €50–150 billion/year.. Discussion & Conclusion: A European measurement network to meet end user requirements would thus more than pay for itself in terms of potential annual savings and provide significant impetus to research across a range of disciplines from climate science and public health to agriculture and environmental management.

Crop disease management depends on efficient and adequate pesticide distribution to reduce pest population. Instrument-based methods to evaluate the spatial distribution of pesticides are available, but they are not field-compatible because of instrument size, cost, and extensive sample preparation. The current gold standard of water-sensitive papers is field-compatible; however, these papers often produce false positives due to reaction with water from sources other than the pesticide mixture. Thus, we developed a novel method in which a fluorescent dye is sprayed over a crop with circles of filter paper (samplers) attached to the leaves. After collection, a lightbox is used to take pictures of the samplers, and an algorithm analyzes each image for percent coverage to visualize the pesticide distribution within the crop. Our method produces results quickly and inexpensively compared to current methods and can be applied to any crop to inform best pesticide application strategies.

Self-Sufficiency is an undermined subject that has not been given attention since the early days of Socialism and the beginning of Marxism. With the capital-based economy and the rise of globalisation, most countries reached their lowest self-sufficiency level ever with the majority having only 20% capacity to depend on their products. This paper explores why SF is important now during the pandemic and in the New Norma and how these current conditions brought more opportunities for the subject to make people and decision-makers release more from the pros and cons of globalisation. The paper explores how countries and communities could benefit from SF to re-build more independent communities through optimising concepts as the eco-villages and animal farming that would also encourage the making of sustainable cities. The challenges and the solutions of future food security SF projects establishment are presented as part of the contribution of this paper. Further studies in the area SF during lockdown are recommended to extract the best methodologies of maintaining livelihood while we are fighting for life.

Objective. Over the past time, more and more importance has been attached to the analysis of scientometric indicators of a particular scientific discipline, occupational health is no exception. Materials and methods. A special place is given to the analysis of indicators of occupational health and safety in the workplace. Results. The largest percentage of research is based on the study of the worker`s health in the mining, chemical and oil refining industries, metallurgy and mechanical engineering. During the same period, the share of dissertations dealing with the influence of production factors in agriculture decreased significantly. Conclusion. This problem is not studied enough among knowledge workers, medical personnel, military personnel, employees of potentially dangerous facilities, workers of "peaceful" professions builders, transport. Representatives of other studied professional groups, including research on the development of occupational health of vocalists, migrants, athletes, as well as workers related to small and medium-sized enterprises, are also found, but in isolated studies, although the problems of prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of occupational health disorders in these categories of workers are relevant, both in this country and abroad, especially in terms of the growing pace of world labor migration.

Preamble of the Volume 10, Issue 1

The primary focus of the urban agriculture literature has been on landscapes as biophysical spaces in which to grow food rather than on them as humanized places in which to grow experience. There is a need to leave the desk behind and enter the field to invigorate case study descriptions through the reflexive tool of narrative scholarship.

Pesticides are largely used at worldwide level to improve food production, fulfilling the needs of the global population which is increasing year by year. Although pesticides are beneficial for crop production, their extensive use has serious consequences for the pollution of the produced food as well as for soil and groundwaters. Indeed, it is reported that 50% of sprayed pesticides reach different destinations other than their target species, including soil, surface waters, and groundwaters. For this reason, we developed a flower-like origami paper-based device for pesticides detection in aerosol phase for precision agriculture. In detail, the paper-based electrochemical platform detects paraoxon, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, and glyphosate at ppb levels by measuring their inhibitory activity towards three different enzymes namely butyrylcholinesterase, alkaline phosphatase, and peroxidase enzyme, respectively. This integrated electrochemical device is composed of three office paper-based screen-printed electrodes and filter paper-based pads loaded with enzymes and enzymatic substrates. The pesticide detection is carried out by measuring through chronoamperometric technique the initial and residual enzymatic activity by using a smartphone-assisted potentiostat and evaluating the percentage of inhibition, proportional to the amount of aerosolized pesticides. This paper-based device was able to detect the three classes of pesticides in aerosol phase with limits of detection equal to 30 ppb, 10 ppb, and 2 ppb, respectively for 2,4-D, glyphosate, and paraoxon.

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is becoming a worldwide threat due to the increasing occurrence of antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacterial strains. There is a general consensus about the potential implications of the use of antibiotics in livestock on the onset of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB), mainly through meat consumption. However, the ever-increasing use of reclaimed wastewater (RWW) in agriculture may also contribute significantly to the non-accounted exposure to antibiotics, ARB, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). This position paper aims at evaluating the current knowledge concerning the occurrence of antibiotics, ARBs, and ARGs in edible parts of different common crops irrigated with RWW. We will discuss which regulations on the use of RWW may contribute to the minimization of the prevalence of these contaminants in crops, and provide recommendations on how to minimize the impact of these practices., The authors would like to acknowledge the COST Action ES1403 NEREUS “New and emerging challenges and opportunities in wastewater reuse”, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology, www.cost.eu) for enabling the collaboration among the authors of the paper.

In recent decades, advances in pulp and paper making involve immense chopping of trees, which consecutively leads to clearing of forests. Rising contest for provisions of wood fibers combined with progressively increasing expenses of wood has caused increased attention in the consumption of agricultural residues for pulp and paper manufacturing in the developed and developing nations. The utilization of natural cellulosic plant residues in pulping and paper production might be necessary since it avoids the necessity for clearance, which presently rises the expenditures of farming and induces ecological deterioration by toxic wastes. The significant goals of this chapter are threefold; (1) to examine the requirements for utilization and improvement of natural cellulosic plant fibers in pulping and paper making; (2) to recognize the various issues related with the utilization of natural plant residues in pulp and paper production, and remedies accessible; and (3) to examine the prospects of various natural cellulosic plant fibers for pulp and paper making and recognize the potential of using pineapple leaf fiber as an alternate source materials in pulp and paper manufacturing mills. Better mechanical characteristics, a renewable resource, and reasonable price are some of the leading aspects that make great prospective of pineapple leaf fibers to be employed as a replacement for conventional wood fibers in pulp and paper production industries.

This study aims to examine current trends and patterns of North Korea’s knowledge production in science and technology (S&T) by employing scientometrics analysis. In order to capture the distinctive nature and characteristics of S&T activities in the Global South, this study analyzes co-occurring keywords of papers in the North Korean journal titled Technological Innovation to construct and visualize semantic and network structure of scientific knowledge. Although S&T has long been emphasized as an important means of rebuilding the economy and society in the country, research and development (R&D) activities have been veiled in the shadows, mainly due to difficulties in accessing adequate data and information. The results found that the terms “use” and “method” are predominately associated with a variety of keywords concerning urgent domestic issues regarding energy resources, agriculture, virus, and industrial automation. This pattern of knowledge production is manifested in the national S&T policy framework that has primarily focused on applied and problem-solving knowledge and techniques responding to social and economic needs. While North Korea has embraced S&T as a strategic means to cope with challenges encountered in its autarkic economy, a close and interactive relationship has established between science, technology and society.

Producing sugar from lignocellulosic biomass is a promising resilient food solution to counter the near-total global failure of food production due to the agricultural collapse that would likely follow an abrupt sunlight reduction catastrophe such as a nuclear winter, a supervolcanic eruption, or a large asteroid or comet impact. This study examines how quickly edible sugar production could be ramped up globally by repurposing pulp and paper mills, sugarcane biorefineries, corn biorefineries, and breweries for lignocellulosic sugar production. A sub-unit component comparison to the NREL 2017 Biochemical Sugar Model indicates that 84%, 65%, 37%, and 39% of ISBL unit components are present, respectively. Fast construction methods were studied to analyze how this and other industrial foods could be rapidly leveraged in a catastrophe. Results suggest that the world’s current sugar demand could quickly be fulfilled by repurposing pulp and paper mills for lignocellulosic sugar production, given 5 months of production ramp-up and 24/7 construction. This method could reduce construction time to an estimated 32% of the original at an increased labor cost of 1.47 times, resulting in sugar production beginning 5 months after the catastrophe at a retail cost of $0.82 USD/kg. This could not only contribute a significant share of the food requirement after the catastrophe (∼28% within the first year), but also be key to preventing global starvation between the time at which global food storages run dry and other resilient food solutions can scale up significantly. This study aims to serve as the basis for more comprehensive scenario analyses. More research is needed to characterize material and labor constraints to fast response in more depth; repurposing and fast construction pilot studies and food safety studies are recommended.

It is estimated that >400 Mt of board and paper are produced globally per year, and that 4.3–40 kg (dw) of sludge like material, pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS), is generated for every tonne of product. PPMS are now more widely reused in agriculture as a soil amendment due to their high organic content of 40–50% by weight, perceived low toxicity and possible liming capabilities. Within this review article historic and recent literature on PPMS land spreading are combined with knowledge of European and UK regulation to explore the benefits, potential impacts and viability of land spreading PPMS. The review reveals that risks relating to potential N immobilisation in soils post-application can be readily mitigated, if desired, by coapplication of an N source, or even pre-treatment of sludge via composting. The benefits to crops have been demonstrated emphatically, while negative ecological impacts under typical field application rates have not been observed to date. The case is therefore strong for continued land application of the material as an environmentally responsible and sustainable use option. However, there are currently gaps in the literature regarding longer-term implications of PPMS applications in agriculture and in regards to the possible presence of emerging contaminants in some PPMS materials, both of which have been identified as areas that merit further research.

Caribbean small island developing states (SIDS) depend heavily on their limited natural resources, with the largest sectors generally being agriculture, fisheries, and tourism. Agriculture has always been an integral part of the Caribbean economy as a result of slavery and colonialism. In the post-emancipation period, a local peasantry of former slaves emerged and established independent communities with economies based on small-scale agriculture and other informal activities, including fishing, small-scale retailing, and charcoal-burning. At the same time, export agriculture based on sugar production persisted. The result was a system with a large-scale, export-oriented sector based on traditional plantation crops such as sugarcane and bananas juxtaposing a small-scale farming sector focusing on crops that are staples in local diets. This duality characterizes the agriculture sector in most Caribbean SIDs. Today, agriculture accounts for 23% of employment in the Caribbean, with Haiti having the largest share in the Caribbean of 62%. The majority of the Caribbean’s poor rely on agriculture for the provision of their livelihood. For example, nine of Jamaica’s fourteen parishes are over 70% rural while 65% of the population depends on agriculture as a major source of their livelihood.

The private sector in the Caribbean is crucial for economic growth and job creation and economic resilience is thus heavily determined by the shock absorbing capacity of individual firms and households. As the definition of the private sector is generally broad and includes economic agents of various size operating across different sectors, the assessment conducted in this chapter is multifaceted and considers different elements that determine vulnerabilities and resilience to exogenous shocks. The focus of the analysis is on the private sector’s vulnerability to tropical storms, the type of disaster most prevalent in the region, but the discussion of risks and vulnerabilities is also more broadly applied to other types of shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Protecting the health of farmworkers is a crucial issue. Previous studies report that safety training and educational interventions might increase farmworkers’ protective behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of distributing a checklist as an interventional measure for pesticide protection in rural Asia, where pesticide poisoning is a major problem. This study was a community-based interventional study, using the distribution of a checklist with pesticide protective habits in Narail district, Bangladesh, with a total of 100 eligible males. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted before distributing the checklist and 25 days after. Change between the baseline and follow-up surveys was measured by frequency scores of protective behavior. The average pesticide-protective behavioral score increased from 4.58 in the baseline survey to 8.11 in the follow-up. Additionally, the checklist was more effective in the group with higher education, the younger group, and the group with lower pesticide-protective behavioral scores in the baseline survey. The paper checklist on protective behaviors against pesticide poisoning was effective because of the increase in the frequency of such positive behavior among farmworkers. Thus, intervention measures should be implemented to increase the knowledge and awareness regarding pesticide protection habits to protect the health of farmworkers.

The continual growth of pulp and paper industry has led to the generation of tremendous volumes of fly ash as byproducts of biomass combustion processes. Commonly, a major part of it is landfilled; however, updated environmental regulations have tended to restrict the landfilling of fly ash due to rising disposal costs and the scarcity of suitable land. The pulp and paper industries are therefore urgently seeking energy-efficient mechanisms and management for the beneficial use of fly ash in an ecological and economical manner. This paper offers a comprehensive review of existing knowledge on the major physicochemical and toxicological properties of pulp and paper mill fly ash to assess its suitability for various bound and unbound applications. The current state of various methods used for the valorization of pulp and paper mill fly ash into more sustainable geomaterials is briefly discussed. This paper also presents promising and innovative applications for pulp and paper mill fly ash, with particular reference to agriculture and forestry, the construction and geotechnical industries, and the immobilization of contaminants. It was identified from a literature review that modified pulp and paper mill fly ash can be environmentally and economically advantageous over commercial coal-based fly ash in various sustainable applications.

Solid waste generated from food mainly contains various organic compounds such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. These biodegradable wastes mainly released from food, agricultural, household, and hospitality segments. The waste material produced from food is frequently burned or discarded into open areas, which may also become a source of many severe health and environmental problems. The management of waste material generated from food is done by transform into various value-added products, like phytochemicals, food supplements, bioactive materials, dietary fibers, safe to eat and important oils, biofertilizers, biofuels, and single-cell proteins (SCP). Every year, enormous amounts of solid waste (sludge) from the wastewater treatment of paper manufactures have been created. They might be dumped into the landfill if they have heavy metals lower than the standard of the Department of Industrial Work and the Ministry of Industry. Nowadays, the area of landfills is quite limited whereas solid waste has been accumulated. In the case of waste from agriculture biomass, a few of them are mixed with soil or applied as ingredients of the fertilizer. On the other hand, the value of the wastes is fairly low. Hence, the manufacture of value-added products, such as furniture cardboard, and packaging and the agricultural product from solid wastes could be useful. This chapter is mainly focused on the modification of the solid waste from agriculture, paper, and food by searching the suitable technology for producing value-added products such as biofuels, bioenergy, agricultural products, phytochemicals, bio fertilizers, enzymes, and single-cellproteins.

Recently, the research and development of novel antimicrobial food packaging paper have been accrued a considerable attention due to their ultimate advantages namely contain food in a cost-effective way that satisfies industry requirements and consumer desires, maintains food safety, and minimizes environmental impact also to increase the shelf life of foodstuff. These unique food packaging papers can be prepared through different materials such as synthetic polymers, nature or bio-polymers owing to their numerous properties. Therefore, in order to enhance the biological properties particularly the antimicrobial activity against the most pathogenic bacteria and biodegradability of the packaging material, the polymeric matrix can be reinforced with different fillers mainly biofiber, clay and agriculture biomass. Herein, this chapter book reviews the different classes of food packaging paper and their roles, manufacturing, applications and also the effects of antimicrobial agents on the final properties of packaging papers. The major aim of this review was to highlight the effect of several antibacterial agents on final mechanical and biological properties of biomass- based composites and nanocomposites materials. This chapter is divided into three parts, the first one is dedicated to the classifications and roles of food packaging systems, the second part is devoted to the manufacturing of packaging paper based on agriculture biomass, the third part concern the applications of these materials and the side effect of the antibacterial agents on their properties. From the results obtained in this research work, we can conclude that the agricultural biomass can be used to manufacture food packaging by several techniques mostly pulp manufacturing processes. Also, the mechanical and antibacterial properties of these materials can enhanced by the addition of divers antibacterial agents.