Posts Tagged agricultural product
Organic Vs Natural – What is the Difference?
This is a question I have asked myself a number of times and I finally have taken the time to find the answer. My understanding is that organic refers to how food is grown whereas natural refers to how food is made/produced or processed. Of course this is an over simplified definition so I’ll break it down further.
Organic and organic certification as defined by the National Organic Program (NOP) is:
Organic certification is a certification process for producers of organic foods and other organic agricultural products. In general, any business directly involved in food production can be certified, including seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers and restaurants. Requirements vary from country to country, and generally involve a set of production standards for growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping that include:
- Avoidance of most synthetic chemical inputs (e.g. fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, food additives, etc), genetically modified organisms, irradiation, and the use of sewage sludge;
- Use of farmland that has been free from chemicals for a number of years (often, three or more);
- Keeping detailed written production and sales records (audit trail);
- Maintaining strict physical separation of organic products from non-certified products;
- Undergoing periodic on-site inspections.
In some countries, certification is overseen by the government, and commercial use of the term organic is legally restricted. Certified organic producers are also subject to the same agricultural, food safety and other government regulations that apply to non-certified producers.
The NOP covers fresh and processed agricultural food products, including crops and livestock. It does not cover non-food products that may be sold as organic, including natural fibers (eg: organic cotton), and health and beauty products (eg: organic shampoo).
So, it is certainly a good idea to buy organic whenever possible. Not only are you putting something safe into your body, you are supporting a more sustainable approach to farming.
Natural foods are foods that do not contain artificial ingredients and are minimally processed. They do not consist of ingredients such as refined sugars, refined flours, milled grains, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, artificial food colors, or artificial flavorings. You may find that some products will fall into both classifications which is all the better. But worst case, if you can’t buy organic, try to by natural.
As hard as it is to accept, it can tend to be expensive to fill your refrigerator and cabinets with organic and natural products. It makes me angry to be standing in line at the supermarket and the person ahead of me has a cart full of processed foods with preservatives and refined ingredients and their total is half of mine. Keeping in mind that my cart is only half full with fresh fruit and veggies, whole grain bread and pasta, organic milk etc.
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Lean Concepts in Agriculture and Food Industry
I was fascinated about the concept of lean manufacturing since I first read the articles on lean manufacturing. Then when I conducted few researches on lean manufacturing I understood that lean is the path for future.
But one question continuously I asked myself is the possibility of applying lean manufacturing concepts in the field of agriculture and food industry. Agriculture is traditionally based on bulk manufacturing. Harvesting is done once a season most of the times and stocked and used later. In fact some lean thinkers say that people adopted batch processing and stocking in manufacturing as a result of the practices from agricultural thinking. Before the industrialization people with the biggest stocks of food and other supplies were considered as more stable and they were able to face challenges of nature without having to starve. People with time develop the concept of having more stocks is better. When people gradually moved to industrialization, still the concept of maintaining big safety stocks hasn’t changed according to these lean thinkers.
Agriculture is an industry which requires a new way of thinking. Traditional methods have lots of wastes and inefficiencies build into them. According to some researches more than 20% of agricultural products become unusable before it reach the end consumer in some countries. This offers any lean thinker a good opportunity to explore the possibilities of implementing lean concepts in this area. Even if we can reduce this waste by half we will be reducing the number of people dying due to starvation.
Just in time manufacturing may not be possible in the field of agriculture. But the distribution, handling methods etc can be improved with the techniques like JIT and kaizen. By educating people and using simple technology waste can be reduced dramatically. Effectively connecting the manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and retailers up to the customer is very necessary to improve the effectiveness of the process.
Tags: agricultur, agricultural, agricultural product, agricultural products, agriculture, countries, food industry, implementing lean, lean concept, lean concepts, lean manufacturing, lean manufacturing concept, lean manufacturing concepts, manufacturers, manufacturing, stock, stocksRelated posts
The Benefits Of Agricultural Biotechnology
Agricultural biotechnology is any technique in which living organisms, or parts of organisms are altered to make or modify agricultural products, to improve crops, or develop microbes for specific uses in agricultural processes. Simply put, when the tools of biotechnology are applied to agriculture, it is termed as “agricultural biotechnology”. Genetic engineering is also a part of agricultural biotechnology in today’s world. It is now possible to carry out genetic manipulation and transformation on almost all plant species, including all the world’s major crops.
Plant transformation is one of the tools involved in agricultural biotechnology, in which genes are inserted into the genetic structure or genome of plants. The two most common methods of plant transformation are Agrobacterium Transformation – methods that use the naturally occurring bacterium; and Biolistic Transformation – involving the use of mechanical means. Using any of these methods the preferred gene is inserted into a plant genome and traditional breeding method followed to transfer the new trait into different varieties of crops.
Production of food crops has become much cheaper and convenient with the introduction of agricultural biotechnology. Specific herbicide tolerant crops have been engineered which makes weed control manageable and more efficient. Pest control has also become more reliable and effective, eliminating the need for synthetic pesticides as crops resistant to certain diseases and insect pests have also been engineered. Phytoremediation is the process in which plants detoxify pollutants in the soil, or absorb and accumulate polluting substances out of the soil. Several crops have now been genetically engineered for this purpose for safe harvest and disposal, and improvement of soil quality.
According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), in reference to a section specific to the major biotechnology derived field crops, out of the whole crop plantings in the United States in 2004, biotechnology plantings accounted for about 46 percent for corn, 76 percent for cotton, and 85 percent for soybeans.
Modern agricultural biotechnology has now become a very well-developed science. The use of synthetic pesticides that may be harmful to man, and pollute groundwater and the environment, has been significantly lessened with the introduction of genetically engineered insect-resistant cotton. Herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn have also enabled the use of reduced-risk herbicides that break down more quickly in soil. These are nontoxic to plants or animals, and herbicide-tolerant crops help preserve topsoil from erosion since they thrive better in no-till or reduced tillage agriculture systems. Papayas resistant to the ringspot virus were also developed through genetic engineering, which saved the U.S. papaya industry.
Agricultural biotechnology may also be helpful in improving and enhancing the nutritious quality of certain crops. For example, enhancing the levels of beta-carotene in canola, soybean, and corn improves oil compositions, and reduces vitamin A deficiencies in rice. There are also researches going on in the field of biotechnology to produce crops that will not be affected by harsh climates or environments and that will require less water, fertilizer, labor etc. This would greatly reduce the demands and pressures on land and wildlife.
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