A systems-based management practices for enhancing quality and safety of organic produce: Planning Grant

A SYSTEMS-BASED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR ENHANCING QUALITY AND SAFETY OF ORGANIC PRODUCE: PLANNING GRANT

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

TERMINATED

Funding Source

OTHER GRANTS

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

1007457

Grant No.

2015-51300-24149

Project No.

IND050101G

Proposal No.

2015-07419

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Program Code

113.A

Project Start Date

Sep 1, 2015

Project End Date

Aug 31, 2017

Grant Year

2015

Project Director
Panigrahi, S.

Recipient Organization
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
WEST LAFAYETTE,IN 47907

Performing Department
School Of Engineering Technolo

Non Technical Summary
Microbial food safety and post-harvest quality are critical issues for organic produce. Recent advancements of sensor, electronics, computer-based information, and intelligent modeling technique have potential to address the complex issues of microbial safety and quality of organic produce. It is critical to develop the appropriate form of technologies for real-world applications (i.e. safety and quality of organic produce). Thus, we adopted a two tier approach to address this issue. In the first stage, our team ofinterdisciplinary faculty members (from six land grant universities) chose to be engaged with the stakeholders of organic produce to identify and prioritize the problems and needs via this planning grant proposal. Based on the identified needs, we intend to develop an integrated proposal to OREI in 2016. We rationalize that this approach will lead to our success in bringing technological solutions for the benefit of our organic agricultural system. In this approach, we intend to engage the stakeholders in the development of the solution from day one and this will also allow them to be the advocate of the developed solution. Our project is aligned with FY 2015 priorities "develop and improve allowable post-harvest handling, processing and food safety practices to reduce microbial contaminations while increasing shelf-life, and quality". Our project also is aligned with a few segments of the two OREI legislatively defined goals - "improvement of organic production and food safety".Our proposed project is timely and is significant because we adopt a system-based approach in addressing the complex issue of microbial safety and quality. Our approach for microbial safety is based on risk prediction and therefore, is prevention-focused. Our overall approach for safety and quality is based on innovative adaptations of potential emerging technologies and research-based evidences. Our two tier-approachesin creating technology-based solutions are also appropriate. Our proposed research activities will generate new knowledge and information related to stakeholder's needs, microbial safety, harvesting, and post-harvest handling and technological adaptation for organic produce. Once completed, the developed systems and processes will also be useful for growers, processors, researchers and policymakers in making critical decisions related to produce quality and safety. This, in turn, contributes to the long-term sustainability of organic as well as U.S. agriculture.

Animal Health Component

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

40%

Developmental

60%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
712	1499	1060	15%
712	1499	2020	10%
712	1499	3030	10%
712	4010	1060	10%
712	4010	2020	10%
712	4010	3030	10%
205	1499	1060	15%
205	1499	2020	10%
205	1499	3030	10%

Knowledge Area
712 - Protect Food from Contamination by Pathogenic Microorganisms, Parasites, and Naturally Occurring Toxins; 205 - Plant Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
4010 - Bacteria; 1499 - Vegetables, general/other;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 2020 - Engineering; 3030 - Information and communication;

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
Our long-term goal is to adopt a system-based approach in developing scale appropriate management practices using advanced and emerging technologies for sustainable food production (including organic crops). The goal of this planning grant is to lay the foundation of for developing a multi-state interdisciplinary team of researchers and stakeholders who will work together to identify priority research and extension needs for a subsequent integrated OREI grant proposal. This grant will enable the team to share with the stakeholders the concepts of systems-based management practice using risk-assessment modeling and sensor technologies to address safety and quality issues of organic produce. Moreover, the team will also assess the stakeholder's needs and develop pathways to address the identified needs related to safety and quality of organic produce. We intend to use two vegetables - lettuce and tomato as our model organic produce during our study. Our interdisciplinary faculty members with research and extension expertise represent six land grant universities and different geographical regions of the U.S. Our university team members will work closely with the regional and national growers and stakeholders. Thus, our team is well prepared to undertake this project.We propose the following specific objectives to meet our goal of developing a competitive integrative grant proposal to OREI for 2016. The specific objectives are:1. Organize a project meeting at Purdue University to be attended by all the project investigators and a wide range of stakeholders.2. Conduct a survey among the stakeholders related to needs and practices for safety and post-harvest quality of organic fresh produce.3. Develop informational-materials on emerging information and sensor technologies and their potential applications for safety and quality issues of organic produce.4. Participate in regional organic meeting to be engaged with a variety of stakeholders for assessment of needs and technological solutions with respect to organic produce.5. Develop a competitive integrated OREI proposal to be submitted in 2016.

Project Methods
We will organize a stakeholder's meeting and the scope of this meeting is to provide a non-aligned forum for multi-state, multi-institution, trans-disciplinary researchers, extension specialists and different stakeholders to discuss, share, brain storm different issues, as well as challenges related to safety and quality of organic produce. The objective of this meeting will be to identify the priority research and extension needs that will enhance long term sustainability and profitability of organic produce with emphasis on lettuce and tomato as model vegetable crops. This meeting will also identify how all the stakeholders can develop collaborative partnership to execute the research and extension needs and what strategies or roadmaps can be developed that will be sustainable for continued growth of organic produce sector.The stakeholders meeting will be organized by an organizing committee that will be formed at the inception of the grant. All the investigators of the proposal will be in the organizing committee. The stakeholders meeting will consist of three, 3-hour sessions. Each session will consist of need assessment and overview modules. The need assessment modules will involve interactive small and large group discussions using proven need assessment techniques. Facilitations will be provided to engage stakeholders in a collaborative manner so that stakeholders (non-university) become a part of the proposed solutions. Role and responsibilities of the stakeholders will be identified. Moreover, the roadmaps and roadblock will be identified so as that the different stakeholders can participate with positive contributions.During the planning grant period, we will also develop a survey instrument with contributions from our co-PIs. Dr. Panigrahi will lead this survey process and we will follow all the applicable rules and policies related to human subject research. We will obtain IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval from all the participating institutions. The survey will be designed to obtain feedbacks from different stakeholders related to the needs and issues associated with organic produce, produce safety, and produce quality. We will use internet (web-based survey) using publicly available tools. The web-based survey will be hosted in Purdue computer server and will be accessible to the stakeholders during the survey period of six months. Advertisement about the survey and its web-link will be circulated via the newsletters published by different organic growers association (i.e. MOSES). The feedbacks from the web-survey will be recorded and analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative statistics. We will work with the Statistical Consulting service available at Purdue for analysis of the data. This analyzed result will be presented in the stakeholder's meeting, or conferences. The analyzed information will also be used for prioritization of the needs of the stakeholders. We also intend to develop informational material related to emerging information and sensor technologies and their potential applications for microbial safety and quality of organic produce. We will use computer-based animation and simulation techniques to develop demonstration materials for different quality and safety related processes/ events. This will help the stakeholders to visualize and understand the complex interaction of various elements (environment, soil, plant, microbes) affecting quality and safety of organic produce. We will also develop and demonstrate a few selected cell-phone-based "apps" related to sensors for explaining the capabilities of these tools to monitor and control quality parameters of organic produce.In addition to the stakeholder's meeting, we also plan to attend four regional organic agriculture conferences in different regions within the USA. Our goal is to interact with a wide range of stakeholders. We postulate that these regional conferences will be suitable venues for our team to achieve our goal. Each conference will be attended by at least one of our faculty team members. We will host workshops in each of the conferences. In these workshops, we will discuss about different safety and quality issues of organic produce and engage the attendees (the stakeholders) in interactive discussions to assess their needs. We will also inform and demonstrate the stakeholders about different technologies and technology-based solutions for safety and quality problems. We will use developed informational materials during this process. We will obtain their feedbacks (perceptions, concerns, and needs) for the discussed technology-based solutions. We will also conduct IRB-approved survey in these conferences as per the IRB guidelines.In addition, a majority of our faculty team members have extension /outreach responsibilities. So, they will also visit farms, attend local meetings or events, and conduct small meeting (one-on-one) to be engaged with the stakeholders. From these engagements, they will assess the stakeholder's needs related to safety and quality issues of organic produce.One of our objectives of this planning grant is to develop a quality proposal to OREI in 2016. The information obtained from the survey and the stakeholder's meeting will be analyzed by the organizing committee (stakeholder's representative and university researchers) to identify the research and extension needs and their priorities in terms of long-term sustainability (market growth, social and environmental impact), and profitability. Roadmap will be developed focusing on how to solve the prioritized needs through research, development, demonstration and deployment (R-D-D-E) in alignment with the mission of OREI program. Additional layout will also be developed focusing on: i) the desired structure of the multidisciplinary teams for the required R-D-D-E activities, ii) management and operational plan, iii) formation of an advisory board, iv) how an integrated (research and extension) grant can be developed to OREI in 2016, v) how to develop coalition with growers, extension agents, and other stakeholders to disseminate the generated information, and vi) developing post-award sustainability plan. For developing the planned grant, we plan to meet once a month via web conferencing to be provided by eOrganic group. We will also use the virtual workspace to be provided by eOrganic to develop and manage our proposal development process.

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Organic growers, processors, researchers, extension personnel Changes/Problems:This project has a provision for hiring part-time undergraduate student. We initially focused on hiring students from both the colleges of Agriculture and Technology (now Purdue Polytechnic). We initially faced challenges in recruiting and retaining undergraduate student for this project. Recently, we have engaged an undergraduate student from Mechanical Engineering Technology program (who is on scholarship from LSAMP program of Purdue University) in the research activities of the project (on a part-time basis). We are also working on to hire other undergraduate students (from College of Agriculture and/or Purdue Polytechnic) to be funded from the budgeted funding of this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?2 presentations have been made in two conferences What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the last several months (since the end of the reporting date of this progress report), we have worked or are working on several informational module based on emerging sensor and information technology as related to quality and safety of organic produce. Briefly, they are as follows: 1) cell-phone-based computer apps for plant diseases management, b) technological perspectives for organic produce traceability using QR code, c) imaging information module for quality and safety of produce, d) module for visual assessment of environmental parameters, d) portable computing system for environment and e) risk assessment and management module for quality and safety of organic produce. The amendment of the survey instrument included additional 11 questions for the 1st segment (anonymous written survey). Additional changes have been incorporated in the 2nd and 3rd segments of the survey instruments. The details will be reported in the subsequent report. As soon the amendment is approved by the IRB, the anonymous survey will be hosted on the internet. It will continue till June 2017. We plan to host the stakeholder's meeting at Purdue University in April 2017 (the 2nd segment of the survey instrument). In parallel, we will obtain feedbacks form the stakeholders via extension meetings/events and/or informational workshops(s) (the 3rd segment of the survey and objective 4) in the next six months till the end of June 2017. In both the 2nd and 3rd segments of survey instrument, we will use the above mentioned informational module or systems to obtain stakeholder's feedback (using a show, tell and assess approach). We will summarize the results from the survey instruments and the results will be disseminated via multiple modes. The identified needs and results will subsequently be used to develop new research/extension projects, studies, and publications.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? One of the objectives of the grant (objective 2) was to conduct a survey among the stakeholders related to the needs and practices for safety and post-harvest quality of organic produce. For this objective, our team worked on to develop survey instrument that consists of three segments: a) written anonymous survey using questionnaire, b) a stakeholders meeting to be hosted at the Purdue University, West Lafayette Campus or in West Lafayette, Indiana, and c) obtain feedback from the stakeholders via extension meetings/events and/or informational workshops(s). It is to be noted the proposed objective 1 of the project "organize a project meeting at Purdue University to be attended by all the project investigators and stakeholder) of the project" has been included as the 2nd segment of the survey instrument mentioned above. Similarly, the proposed objective 4 of the project "participate in regional organic meeting to be engaged with a variety of stakeholders for assessment of needs and technological solutions with respect to organic produce" has been incorporated as the 3rd segment of the survey instrument mentioned above. We obtained the IRB approval for the instrument mentioned above from Purdue University. We conducted multiple group meetings among the project investigators. The anonymous survey questionnaire was powered by qualtrics. We interacted with office bearers of MOSES (Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Services) and presented a verbal discussion session on organic produce safety. As a part of the objective 3, we focused on developing informational materials on emerging information and sensor technologies and their potential application for safety and quality of organic produce. In this project our emphasis is on two model vegetables - lettuce and tomato. As temperature is an important parameter for post-harvest quality and safety, one of our presentations focused on the use of commercially available infrared thermometers for temperature measurement of produce in comparison with conventionally used thermometer. This was presented in Hortcongress in Indianapolis, 2016. We also reviewed informational literature related to different aspects (i.e. production, post-harvest handling, risk management and modeling for produce safety) for organic produce. We also investigated how the existing relevant information (i.e. soil health, weather information) from existing literature, completed studies and/or different agencies (i.e. NRCS) can have potential for best management practices for organic produce. Initial framework was also developed for developing GAP (good agricultural practices) for organic produce. One of the focuses of this project is to identify how sensors and information technologies can be utilized for quality and safety of organic produce. To achieve this, we planned to develop and share information materials on sensor and information technologies (and their applications for quality and safety of organic produce) with the stakeholders during stakeholder's meeting. Based on our experience in developing and applying different technologies for agricultural applications in the past, we focused on developing a few selected tools or modules (based on sensors and information technology) that were beyond the conceptual framework. We postulated that this approach will engage the stakeholders in assessing the technological capabilities in a better way during the stakeholder's meeting and interaction (2nd and 3rd segment of our proposed survey instrument mentioned above). Accordingly, we added additional questions in the written survey of our survey instrument. This delayed our proposed stakeholder's meeting (2nd and 3rd segment). However, we believe that this approach will result in a more productive and useful feedbacks from the stakeholders. Subsequently, this information could be used to develop techniques, tools, and systems that will be tuned to stakeholder's need.

Publications

Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Panigrahi, S. and L. Maynard. 2016. Technological perspectives for organic produce quality and safety. Technical Presentation in Indiana Hortcongress, January 19- 21, 2016. Indianapolis. IN.
Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Panigrahi, S. 2016. Organic Produce Safety study. A verbal discussion with attendees. MOSES organic farming conference. Feb. 25 27. 2016. La Crosse, WI.

Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Growers and stakeholders related to organic agriculture Changes/Problems:We faced some problems in hiring udnergraduate students in the project. We engaged an undergraduate student (who was on schoalrship from LSAMP program at Purdue University). The IRB developmetn and approval process more time then we had planned for. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?3 presentations have been made in three conferences What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? One of the objectives of the grant (objective 2) was to conduct a survey among the stakeholders related to the needs and practices for safety and post-harvest quality of organic produce. For this objective, our team worked on to develop survey instrument that consisted of three segments: 1) written anonymous survey using questionnaire, 1) a stakeholders meeting to be hosted at the Purdue University, West Lafayette Campus or in West Lafayette, Indiana, and 3) obtain feedback from the stakeholders via extension meetings/events and/or informational workshops(s). It is to be noted the proposed objective 1 of the project "organize a project meeting at Purdue University to be attended by all the project investigators and stakeholder) of the project" has been included as the second segment of the survey instrument mentioned above. Similarly, the objective 4 of the project "participate in regional organic meeting to be engaged with a variety of stakeholders for assessment of needs and technological solutions with respect to organic produce" has been incorporated as the third segment of the survey instrument mentioned above. We obtained the IRB approval for the instrument mentioned above from Purdue University. We conducted multiple group meetings among the project investigators. An anonymous survey questionnaire was developed and was powered by qualtrics via on-line. Printed hardcopies of the survey were used in conferences as per the IRB protocol. Unfortunately, we only obtained valid response from 1 respondent. Under objective 1, a meeting was organized at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN from August 25-26, 2017. This was a one and half-day meeting. Three of the investigators of the project along with two stakeholders (not part of the project) were present. Different topics related to organic produce and their quality as well as safety were discussed. Summary of the feedbacks and discussion are as follows: There is a need on how to empower the growers to make decisions that are appropriate for their farms. Safety is about risk reduction and quality is about marketing of product. Dealing with both quality and safety is an important issue. Often they are inseparable. Self-assessment (asking growers about quality and safety) may be considered. Empower farmers to make best decisions for their operations/resources, diversifications of commodities (e.g. washing and cleaning). A few areas that need attention are - soil amendment, agricultural water, worker health hygiene, and wild life & livestock monitoring. Consumers remain a vital component in maintaining produce (product) safety. Simple tools for identifying E.coli, pesticide drift, and compost safety (readiness) will be helpful. Soil health - healthy soil can have pathogens; good microbes in soil diminishes risks. So, there is a need to know how amendments (soil) influence microbe population. Plant breeding could take care of the plant diseases. Development of disease resistant organic crop would be helpful. Rewarding good practices for land conservation with subsidies would be a positive incentive. Organic farmers have diversified market and diversified crops. A tool (based on market information, resources, soil, and weather etc.) to help farmers decide which produce to sell or grow could help. Being sensitive to the needs in different regions is important (audience or customer analysis). Providing incentives for best practices in food safety would promote favorable actions. Farmers do not prioritize such practices until they reach a risk threshold. Providing innovative tools/technology in farmers' hand is another form of incentive. Promote post-harvest communication between farmers and consumers. Traceability is driven by regulation or liability. Incentive-based card to track individuals (who bought what) could be helpful. Traceability is also influenced by the volume of products sold by the farmers. The more the volume, the more is the capacity to create a traceability system. Consumers could be involved in traceability with loyalty cards. It will be helpful to know how nutritional quality of organic produce compensates/convinces the consumers. It is important to know (via research) how the quality of produce relates to or change with the date of harvest. We have such information for hay. But we do not have such information for organic produce. Easy to use sensor/tools to read parameters (i.e. temperature, humidity, ethylene etc.) with different user interface and alert mechanism could be useful. Ethylene filter is also needed. Food style-based demand is short lived. People's perception of availability of crop/produce availability is based on what they see in grocery store. In reality, it is different. A simple poster that has storage and temperature holding information for produce can be helpful for farmers - at the storage area. Ethylene sensitivity of produce, recommendations for washing can also be included. As a part of the objective 3, we focused on developing informational materials on emerging information and sensor technologies and their potential application for safety and quality of organic produce. In this project our emphasis was on two model vegetables - lettuce and tomato. As temperature is an important parameter for post-harvest quality and safety, one of our presentations focused on the use of commercially available infrared thermometers for temperature measurement of produce in comparison with conventionally used thermometer. This was presented in Hort congress in Indianapolis, 2016. Subsequently, we developed the framework for measuring temperatures for different objects (water or air) used for organic produce handling using low-cost electronic systems and sensors. Core temperature (internal temperature) is an important parameter for organic produce. Using tomato as a model produce, we also developed an initial framework for determining internal temperature (in a non-destructive manner) from the surface temperature of the produce using non-contact infrared thermometer (commercially available). We also developed an initial framework on visual assessment of air temperature (based on color change) and its application in organic produce handling (in the storage area and packaging shed). This will not need separate temperature measurement system such as thermometer. We also developed information on how smart-phone-based computer apps can have applications for organic agriculture including post-harvest quality and safety. We also developed information on: a) risk factors and modeling related to produce quality and safety, and b) use of QR (quick response) code for possible use in organic produce traceability. This was shared in NOFA summer conference in 2017. Under objective 4, we interacted with office bearers of MOSES (Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Services) and presented a verbal discussion session on organic produce safety in MOSES conference in 2016. Similarly, we presented information and interacted with stakeholders in other two conferences - Hort Congress in 2016 and NOFA summer conference in 2017. We are working on to submit a follow up OREI proposal in 2018.

Publications

Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Panigrahi, S. 2017. Technology and tools for enhancing post-harvest quality and safety of organic produce. A poster presented at the NOFA Summer conference, August 11-13, 2017. Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.