In this work, a time-dependent thermodynamic AOD process model, TimeAOD3™, is proposed to be used as a prediction model at practice to reach the desired nitrogen level to lower the cost and carbon ...footprint. The model is developed from an existing model and integrated with Thermo-Calc®. The modelling results suggest a fairly good prediction when compared with production-scale heats. The relative error of dissolved nitrogen content during and after decarburisation is −0.05 < RE < 1.36 and −0.23 < RE < 0.29, respectively. Besides, most modelled dissolved N% are higher than the measurement during decarburisation. This is probably owing to the formation of high turbulence flow and CO gas bubble which can flush the dissolved nitrogen out of the bath at practice. Moreover, dissolved C%, Cr% in bath and Cr
2
O
3
%, CaO%, MgO% in slag, as well as bath temperature are also compared and studied.
Agri-food has become an economic sector under increasing pressure in order to support food demand and decrease environmental impacts. One valuable methodology to evaluate environmental impacts is ...life cycle assessment (LCA), which has been employed in different economic sectors, however, beekeeping has been scarcely explored. In this context, this article investigates the environmental profile of 31 Chilean beekeeping systems reporting 15 environmental impact categories with a cradle to gate approach. In this way, this study identifies key contributing activities, variability in the environmental impacts, differences among operation scales, and provided efficient management practices for policy-makers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that conducts a wide environmental analysis of beekeeping systems through LCA. The results show that feeding is the most impacting activity in all categories, followed by hives transport. Otherwise, medication, consumption of disposable inputs and honey extraction contribute less than 5% in average across all categories. Regarding the operation scale, the results suggest that small-scale beekeepers have the lowest environmental performance. Otherwise, medium-scale beekeepers have better environmental performance than the large-scale ones, depending on the environmental impact category evaluated. Finally, managerial practices in order to achieve sustainable honey production are provided.
Crop insurance is critical in risk management in global agricultural production (e.g. by helping stabilise farmers' incomes in the long term and reducing risk‐bearing costs). In this paper, using ...field survey data on cotton farmers in Xinjiang, China, we examine the influence of crop insurance on farmers' behaviours regarding agrochemical inputs and aim to investigate the synergy between crop insurance and reductions in fertiliser and pesticide usage. We find evidence that crop insurance significantly negatively affects farmers' use of fertilisers and pesticides, as well as significantly positively affects their adoption of green agricultural technologies (GAT) that can replace or complement traditional fertilisers and pesticides. Moreover, our results reveal that compared with small‐scale farmers, crop insurance has a stronger effect on large‐scale farmers' use of agrochemicals. Finally, when the insured amount is higher or the relative deductible is lower, farmers are more likely to reduce fertiliser and pesticide usage and adopt GAT. Overall, this paper scientifically identifies crop insurance can improve farmers' agrochemical input behaviour, by reducing farmers' use of traditional agrochemical inputs and increasing their adoption of GAT, which is of great significance for ensuring the safety of the agricultural ecological environment.
This study examines the cost of applying ixodicides by using three methods (subcutaneous injection, pour-on and spraying), in different animal categories, to generate information that can help in the ...choice of the method. The research was carried out between May and September 2017, in the dairy cattle section of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of the South of Minas Gerais - IFSULDEMINAS - Muzambinho campus, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. All operational expenses related to the application of the ixodicides were recorded. Data were collected by three people: two to time the application of the product and one to record the measured data. Twenty-seven Holstein cattle infested with Rhipicephalus microplus were used, consisting of 12 calves, six heifers and nine adult cows. A simulation was carried out with 50 and 100 animals to check the effect of the production scale on the cost of applying the ixodicides. Application times (animal transport, product dosing and application itself) for the calves, heifers and cow categories were shorter in the injection and pour-on methods, which did not differ from each other in any of the three studied categories. The time spent per animal on the washing of personal protective equipment and washing of sprayer reduced as the number of animals increased, because these procedures are performed only once regardless of the number of animals. The pour-on method was the least expensive. Production scale was found to be an important factor for diluting fixed costs and optimizing labor.
The improvement in the utilization rate and nutritional value of soybean meal (SBM) represents a significant challenge in the feed industry. This study conducted a 50 kg SBM fermentation based on the ...300 g small-scale fermentation of SBM in early laboratory research, to explore the combined effects of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and acid protease on fermentation quality, chemical composition, microbial population, and macromolecular protein degradation during fermentation and aerobic exposure of SBM in simulated actual production. The results demonstrated that the increase in crude protein content and reduction in crude fiber content were considerably more pronounced after fermentation for 30 days (d) and subsequent aerobic exposure, compared to 3 d. It is also noteworthy that the treated group exhibited a greater degree of macromolecular protein degradation relative to the control and 30 d of fermentation relative to 3 d. Furthermore, after 30 d of fermentation, adding LAB and protease significantly inhibited the growth of undesired microbes including coliform bacteria and aerobic bacteria. In the mixed group, the microbial diversity decreased significantly, and Firmicutes replaced Cyanobacteria for bacteria in both groups’ fermentation.
The issue of profitability of the agricultural production is often discussed within the framework of the problems of agricultural economics. The study showed a diversification in the profitability of ...the milk production depending on the cow herd’s size and identified the main determinants of positive economic results. The studies were conducted on commodity farms, which have been grouped according to the production scale, the criterion of scale was the number of dairy cows in the herd. Three scale ranges have been identified, i.e. small, medium and large. The data of 2014 and 2017 was used for the analysis. What was examined was the effectiveness of feeding cows in the identified farm groups and the technical and economic efficiency of the milk production. The full costs of the milk production (i.e. economic costs) were assessed and income from management activity was calculated. The results of the analyses show that as the number of cows in the herd increases, their milk yield and the price of milk are increasing. Farms with a large number of cows in the herd incurred the lowest full costs of the milk production, while obtaining the highest income from management activity per 1 cow and per 1 litre of milk. The measure of the milk production’s economic efficiency was the profitability index (revenues-to-economic costs ratio), the highest was recorded for the large-scale milk production, for the small scale this index did not exceed the profitability threshold.
The main objective of the research was to assess the economic results of dairy cows, cattle for slaughter and porkers in 2019 depending on the scale of their production. The research was conducted on ...commercial farms, which sell their production. These farms were purposively selected from a representative farm sample that was in the field of observation of the Polish FADN system. Data describing the agricultural activities were collected in the AGROKOSZTY system, and then supplemented with data from the Polish FADN database. The results of the analysed production activities were influenced by production potential of farms, i.e. resources of land, labour and capital, their quality and the manner of use, but they were also dependent on external conditions (e.g. market). These impacts resulted in varying degrees of changes in the unit costs and price of products. In 2019, the income from the analysed production activities was within fairly wide limits. However, the positive impact of the size of the production scale was visible. In each group, there were farms where production was unprofitable, but in the case of large-scale production, the percentage of farms with an indicator below 100 was always the smallest.
This paper presents a model for computing the parameters of an integrated inventory replenishment and outbound dispatch scheduling policy under dynamic demand considerations. The optimal policy ...parameters specify (i) how often and in what quantities to replenish the stock at an upstream supply chain member (e.g., a warehouse), and (ii) how often to release an outbound shipment to a downstream supply-chain member (e.g., a distribution center). The problem is represented using a two-echelon dynamic lot-sizing model with pre-shipping and late-shipping considerations, where outbound cargo capacity constraints are considered via a stepwise cargo cost function. Although the paper is motivated by a third-party warehousing application, the underlying model is applicable in the general context of coordinating inventory and outbound transportation decisions. The problem is challenging due to the stepwise cargo cost structure modeled. The paper presents several structural properties of the problem and develops a polynomial time algorithm for computing the optimal solution.
•We analyzed options for district heat production systems (DHSs) under different scenarios.•Environmental and social cost scenarios influent the design of minimum-cost DHSs.•Composition and cost of ...district heat production is dependent on the scale of heat demand.•Cogenerated district heat is cost- and fuel-efficient, except for small-scale DHSs.•Primary energy use for district heat production varies with production scales and contexts.
District heat systems can contribute to the achievement of social and environmental targets and energy security. District heat production systems (DHSs) vary in size depending on heat demand, which is influenced by several factors such as local climatic conditions and the sizes of the communities they serve. In this study, we analyzed options for minimum-cost DHSs of different sizes under different environmental and social cost scenarios. We calculated the production cost and primary energy use of district heat for minimum-cost options by considering a value of cogenerated electricity equivalent to the value of electricity produced in minimum-cost standalone condensing power plants. We varied the size of DHSs from 100 to 1800GWhheat per year to investigate how size influences the minimum-cost compositions of production units and district heat production costs. We determined that the optimal composition and cost of district heat production is dependent on the size of the system, the overall load factor of heat demand and the technologies considered for both DHSs and reference power plants. In general, cogenerated district heat is more energy-efficient than district heat from heat-only production and also more cost-efficient, except for small DHSs, for which cogenerated district heat is more costly than heat-only production. The cost and primary energy use of district heat production is dependent on environmental and social cost scenarios; however, this dependence is reduced if a DHS is cost-minimized and based on cogenerated units.
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