Progress 01/01/24 to 12/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience: Rural Communities in Alabama Farmers and Agricultural Producers Forestry Industry Business Owners and Workers Agricultural Business Owners and Workers Agricultural Stakeholder Groups (ALFA, Alabama Cattlemen's Association, Alabama Poultry and Egg Association) Alabama Forestry Association Sawmill Owners, Managers, and Operators Poultry Processing Managers, Operators, Industries and Related Industries Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) Alabama Community College System Innovation Center (ACCS-IC) Southern Union Community College Alabama Green Industry Training Center (AGITC) Water Departments in Rural Communities Alabama Focused Cybersecurity Intelligence Center Auburn University Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Manufacturing Systems Representative Citizens of Alabama (through Rural Poll) Pelleting Mill (Auburn University) Legislature in Alabama National Poultry Technology Center (NPTC) Attendees at the Vermont RISE summit (at least 75 attendees) Technology Providers for Processing Plants Consortia Partners Ag and Forestry Equipment Manufacturers Alabama Citizens Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Graduate and undergraduate students funded by AUPRI have been mentored on how to gather data and have been introduced to basic methods of research. These activities have resulted in gathering data on the poultry and timber products industries. Faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and staff researchers participated in the responsible conduct of research training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? AURPI Advisory Board is comprised of owners and managers of poultry processing and forest products plants, organizations that represent wood products and poultry industries (ALFA, Alabama Forestry Association, Alabama Poultry and Egg Association), workforce development organizations, and economic development entities in Alabama. Cyber Incident Response Plan for the Water Department of a Rural Community What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?General: Submit manuscripts for publication Present at national and state conferences and meetings (in both research and extension settings). Continue to build partnerships with stakeholders in poultry and forestry industries and various entities in Alabama Continue to build partnerships with Rural Partnership Institute Consortia (Auburn, Wisconsin-Madison and Vermont) Social Science (Focus Area 1): Publish research findings from 2024 qualitative and quantitative data collection efforts for the general public. Technology (Focus Area 1): The Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) capability will be completed and implemented for the poultry industry. OEE is aimed at optimizing production efficiency and quality by evaluating how effectively resources in the process are utilized. The important performance indicators in poultry meat processing will be determined and used to develop an encompassing OEE metric to monitor performance. This will then be implemented for real-time monitoring and modeled to identify best practices, enabling poultry processors to make informed decisions about their operations. The return on investment for each category of technology will be determined. This is aimed at providing a basis for an economic analysis of investments made in these technologies by the firms thus enabling them to make informed decisions about their adoption. Implementation of Urban.io sensors on equipment in the feed mill, and ICAMS operations will provide a test bed for the use of these technologies in the poultry processing and sawmill environments. Technology, Forestry and Poultry (Focus Area 2): Conduct a project on axle weight discrepancies between onboard, portable, and mill scale systems. Initiate projects that focus on (a) impact of current loading configurations on axles and road infrastructure, what is the frequency of load truck accidents where are they located, and what opportunities are there for adding captives to the forest industry to mitigate high insurance costs, and (b) remote sensing-based tools for deriving forest aboveground carbon information and establishing a methodology for utilizing low-cost UAVs as a tool for producing high-resolution mapped estimates of carbon in the forests of Alabama. Develop AI-driven quality assurance systems to strengthen poultry processing workforce Implement a grant funding program that strengthens partnerships between AURPI ag/forestry industries. AURPI is in the process of develop two RFP(request for proposal) programs. One program is for those in academia (faculty and students) while the second program will focus on technology providers. For both programs, a proposal submission will be required by those interested in being funded but for both program, the main goal is to propose a novel solution to one or more technological challenges faced in the forestry and/or poultry industry. An AURPI panel will evaluate which projects to fund and monitor the progress. The academia RFP program was released in December 2024 for proposal submissions in March 2025 and with the goal of grant recipients starting on summer/fall 2025. The industry RFP program will be developed in 2025. Implement Ag Technology Short Certificate Program: After several meetings with potential partners (ALFA, Southern Union Community College, and National Poultry Technology Center), the certificate program will be held in Summer 2025 for a one-week period. Each day of the week will focus on one of the following modules - poultry technology, forestry technology, precision agriculture and drone technology. The attendees will be 20-25 students that are enrolled in the Mechatronics 2-year degree program at Southern Union Community College in Opelika, AL. Depending on feedback from the planned delivery of the program in 2025, our goal is to build relationships with other community colleges in the state especially those that are located in rural communities and have similar 2-year degree programs. AURPI will also be participating in the high school camp on Ag (also in Summer 2025) that is offered by Southern Union Community College. Cybersecurity (Focus Area 3): Continue to assist industry partners in preventing and recovering from cyber-attacks, the cyber team plans to advise the forestry, poultry, and rural water industries in Alabama on subjects, such as attack surface management, controls to prevent lateral movement, backup solutions, and recovery policy and procedures. Partner with another rural water department in January to conduct a cybersecurity assessment of their treatment plant. The team will provide the rural water department with security recommendations and avenues to fund security solutions. Perform a penetration test of the operational technology sensors being utilized by AURPI. Develop a cybersecurity training module for workers in the industry focused on ransomware prevention and recovery controls. Assist in preventing partners from being targeted by a successful ransomware attack the cyber team will perform advanced opened sourced intelligence techniques against participating partners by identifying internet facing vulnerabilities, leaked credentials, and typosquatted domains. Upcycling of Wastewater (Focus Area 4): Continue to develop BSFL with anti-pathogen properties Continue the bioprocess operation (including pilot scale system) to grow nutraceutical microorganisms on hydrolysate from rendering of DAF solids bioprocess in which we develop. Continue to develop poultryponics using the series reactor configuration Develop an online sensor for detecting live and dead Salmonella in a process stream
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Issue or problem that the focus area is addressing Focus Area 1:Develop technology solutions and market intelligence that will help producers and processors of agricultural and forest products improve their competitiveness and sustainability Focus Area 2:Fill gaps in technologies needed to advance the poultry and forest product industries Focus Area 3: Predict and prevent cyber-physical vulnerabilities in the agricultural and forest product sectors and their supporting critical infrastructure. Focus Area 4:Manage water and wastewater and upcycle waste streams from poultry and forest production processing facilities for beneficial use. Who or what will be most immediately impacted by results from this focus area and how? Focus Area 1: Policymakers,economic developers, industry stakeholder groups, farmers, agricultural and forestry business owners, rural communities, and Alabama citizens Project team members Poultry processing operations will have insight into the effect that investment into the different areas of an OEE score (Productivity, Availability, and Quality) will have on their operations and make investment decisions, adding resiliency to their operations. Focus Area 2: Poultry and forest product industries Technology providers, workers (especially temporary and low-wage earners) in both industries Communities where the industries are located (mostly rural Alabama) Focus Area 3: Entities in Alabama are dependent on the forestry and poultry industries. Rural water treatment facilities and entities are dependent on their services. Focus Area 4: The general public downstream of poultry and forest production processing facilities. Major activities accomplished/experiments conducted, data collected, and summary of results. Focus Area 1 (Social Science): Completed qualitative and quantitative research (interviews and statewide survey) to provide an overview of business, economic, workforce, and community indicators Conducted 17 semi-structured interviews, 11 statewide focus groups (115 participants), and one statewide survey (1,500 respondents Rural poll Focus Area 1 (Equipment Effectiveness): Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a metric for identifying losses and tracking improvements in production that consist of these three factors: Availability (A) Performance (P) Quality (Q) An OEE of 85% is considered a good score; scores below this value indicate opportunities for improvement. Standardizing the data collection process is necessary to determine OEE for growth tracking.Availability and performance are factors that most need improvements in the poultry processing industry.To improve these factors, we will explore a predictive approach to maintenance, focus improvements on key processes and production units, and determine the optimal staffing approach. Scores below this value indicate opportunities for improvement Engagement with the Urban.io team on installing 142 sensors on equipment in different environments to evaluate the potential of the technologies so as to utilize them for predictive analytics of equipment utilized in poultry and forestry production and processing industries. The breakdown of the sensors at the four locations is: activity (16), vibration (27), current (53), humidity (9), moisture (7), on/off (2), pressure (5), and temperature (23). Focus Area 2: Developed an internal (i.e., for Auburn University researchers only) funding program that will broaden technology solutions and engagement with rural Alabama beyond the current AURPI focus. Developed collaboration with Southern Union Community College to embed a one-week Ag Technology certificate program in the course offering for 2ndyear Mechatronics students during the summer of 2025. The program will focus on Precision Ag, Poultry Technology, Forestry Technology, and Drone Technology, with the goal of exposing them to how their training is transferable to agricultural and forestry industries. Focus Area 3: Collated publicly available data on past cybersecurity breaches in the forestry, poultry and rural water industries in Alabama Below are the data obtained from the impact of breaches: Four of the five organizations interviewed were impacted between 2018-2022 Attackers are Russian-affiliated actors and accessed the domain controllers in all of the attacks Techniques, tactics and procedures (TTPs) the attackers utilized were through ransomware that used these methodologies: phishing, malicious websites, and default credentials and successfully controlled domain controllers. Conducting interviews to assess the cybersecurity posture of five organizations; two poultry processing facilities, two forestry processing facilities, and one rural water department. Conducted a walk-through vulnerability assessment of the physical and logical security controls of a rural water department. Focus Area 4: Poultry DAF solids have become a nuisance in much of the southeastern US because most of this material is land-applied. DAF is about 50% fat and 20% protein, and therefore, it has odor that is similar to that of rotting meat after land application. Several research topics were carried out with the goal of developing multiple avenues for better utilization of this potentially valuable material as listed below. Upcycling of poultry dissolved air flotation (DAF) solids using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) Upcycling poultry DAF solids using microorganisms Treatment of poultry processing wastewater for crop production Development biosensors for Salmonella and odor detection Were there issues or problem encountered during the report period (past one year) and how was this addressed. Focus Area 1: Hiring of qualified project personnel. We have been able to hire most of the project personnel through deliberate recruiting and social media campaigns. Focus Area 2: Alignment of AURPI programs (technology sensors, ag technology. Programs) and focus to those of our collaborating partners. We address this challenge through regular meetings and also by arriving at a middle ground that is acceptable to all entities. Focus Area 3: Members of the poultry, forestry, and rural water sectors are often reluctant to discuss the cybersecurity measures they have implemented due to the sensitive nature of this information. To strengthen partnerships, the cybersecurity team has offered consulting services to partners focusing on surviving ransomware attacks. Focus Area 4: Developing online monitoring biosensors that can detect both live and dead Salmonella Public acceptance of treated poultry wastewater for irrigation and other beneficial uses
Publications
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Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Individuals, groups, communities that efforts during this reporting period (last one year) were focused upon. Alabama Poultry and Egg Association (APEA) Alabama Farmers Federation (ALFA) Alabama Forestry Association (AFA) Two poultry integrator companies Two sawmill companies Forest landowners AU research team SRDC (Southern Rural Development Center) The efforts during this reporting period also focused on understanding the challenges faced during poultry processing operations and wood product companies, and identifying technology solutions available for adoption by the companies in these two sectors. Additionally, the social science team focus was on small and medium-sized business owners in the forest timber industry. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Graduate student training for 3 students Research and work experience for 3undergraduate students Other funded projects were utilized to leverage stipends for additional graduate and undergraduate students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The technical report detailing the results obtained is being completed. Consideration is being given to the most effective methods for disseminating this information. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Focus area 1: In the future, an Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) capability will be developed and implemented for the poultry industry. OEE is aimed at optimizing production efficiency and quality by evaluating how effectively resources in the process are utilized. The important performance indicators in poultry meat processing will be determined and used to develop an encompassing OEE metric to monitor performance. This will then be implemented for real time monitoring and modeled to identify best practices, enabling poultry processors to make informed decisions about their operations. Additionally, the return on investment for each category of technology will be determined. This is aimed at providing a basis for an economic analysis of investments made in these technologies by the firms thus enabling them to make informed decisions about their adoption. Secondly, the social science team will complete the interviews for individuals in the timber products industry and conduct qualitative analysis of the interview data. Reports of results will be used to determine the next steps in the research process and the direction of future efforts by the Social Science team. We also plan to conduct similar interviews for people in the poultry industry to determine the interactions between businesses, employees, and communities in rural Alabama. Focus area 3: Interviews of technology and security teams at businesses in the forestry and poultry industries begin in January. The research will be open-ended, seeking to collaboratively isolate cyber vulnerabilities in current and planned technologies. Several visits to the same sites may be required to build trust and develop a deeper understanding of the industry's concerns. A web page to host security bulletins and information for business owners in the forestry and poultry industries is planned for the second half of the year. Focus area 4: ?The ongoing research aims to delve deeper into the valorization of poultry processing wastewater, exploring its potential in cultivating hydroponic lettuce. Additionally, the focus involves developing effective strategies to address odor and pathogen concerns associated with the application of poultry wastewater using a dissolve air floatation (DAF) system. These efforts underscore a comprehensive approach, aiming not only to explore innovative uses for this wastewater but also to ensure its safe and environmentally responsible management throughout the process.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
1.Issue or problem that the focus area is addressing Focus area 1: This focus area aims at developing technology solutions and market intelligence that will help producers and processers of agricultural and forest products improve their competitiveness and sustainability. An additional goal of this focus area is to understand the factors that affect how small and medium-size timber products businesses and poultry processors do business in the state of Alabama. Technologies currently in use by the poultry industry have been identified to be automation, optical/ imaging technologies, sensors and Internet of things, machine learning and robotics. Other issues that are being addressed is understanding of the challenges faced by poultry processing companies and wood products mills in rural Alabama including recruiting and retaining employees with sufficient technical background. Focus area 1, Task 1: Our strategy entails commencing interviews with the forestry industry as an initial focus, driven by the interest and recruitment that occurred during our meeting with the Alabama Forestry Association (AFA) in Montgomery on July 21st, 2023. Following the completion of the forestry interviews around August 2024, we anticipate immediately beginning the poultry industry interviews and concluding the poultry interviews around August 2025. The findings from these interviews will continue to inform the other tasks and objectives. Focus Area 3, Task 1: Cyber-physical vulnerabilities of the systems and equipment used in the poultry and forestry industries are increasing and are not well understood. Both sectors are historically "non-connected" and have enjoyed a separation from Internet-centric threats. However, in recent years more of the control systems and processing systems are digital and connected via public data circuits to remote managing centers, vendors, and other business partners. Exposures to online threats are rapidly increasing. Focus Area 4: Manage water and wastewater, and upcycle waste streams from poultry and forest production processing facilities for beneficial use. 2.Who or what will be most immediately impacted by results from this focus area and how? Rural Alabamians should benefit from the knowledge produced from this project and data shared with policymakers and organizations. Focus area 1: Researchers and policy makers will be impacted by the results from these industry interviews. Currently, there is no systematically collected data to identify the factors that influence how these industries conduct business, and the factors that the business owners, employees, and communities take into consideration with regards to poultry and wood industries. Our goal is to understand and identify which of these factors with appropriate modification have the greatest potential to improving the lives of Alabama citizens in the communities where these poultry and wood industries are located. Poultry producers, poultry processors, wood products companies and forest landowners will also be impacted by results from this focus area because by developing technology solutions that improves competitiveness and result in sustainability of these two industries, the working conditions, labor retention and overall wages for the rural residents of the state of Alabama are improved. Focus Area 3, Task 1: The small business owners and operators in rural communities will benefit most from the results of this focus area. Most are not financially able to support large in-house cybersecurity teams and rely on managed service providers or other third parties to protect their systems. Focus Area 4: General public that are downstream of poultry and forest production processing facilities. Operators/owners of poultry and forest production processing facilities. The living conditions of the individuals living close to the processing plants are improved because of development of solutions to treat wastewater emanating from these plants. The upcycling of DAF solids from poultry processing plants will eliminate odor and pathogen issues and also may lead to creation of a new industry that can invariably provide additional revenue to residents of rural Alabama. 3.Major activities accomplished/experiments conducted, data collected, and summary of results. Focus area 1: A review of related literature on poultry processing technologies was conducted to identify the current processing technologies in use in the industry. In academic journals, automated systems, robotics, sensors, machine learning and internet of things are technologies reported, discussed, and explored to solve pressing challenges in the processing system. These technologies were used for environmental control, quality inspection, poultry processing operations such as rehanging, loading and unloading with the goal of improving the productivity of the industry. Some technology solutions companies such as Markel and FoodPro were also explored as they provide advanced digital technology solutions for the industry some of which include the production planning software and automated processing systems. Articles from poultry industry trade journals such as FeedStuffs, Wattpoultry were also explored to identify the additional technologies used by firms in the business. Digital wearable trackers to enhance employee safety, autonomous delivery trucks for product transportation, a virtual reality cobot system for robot control in production, smart control environmental monitoring system, automated poultry weighing system, to improve productivity and bird welfare while reducing manual labor and X-ray inspection for quality control in packaging amongst others. The poultry industry currently leverages optical and imaging technologies, automation, robotics, machine learning and the internet of things with sensors to enhance efficiency, quality, safety, and sustainability. These technologies are mostly used by large-scale chicken meat producers. Semi-structured interviews of four people in the timber products industry have been conducted so far. We have also visited two sawmills and attended the Alabama Forestry Association Annual meeting where we collected field notes. The data have not been fully analyzed to provide a summary of the results to date. Focus Area 3, Task 1: Conducted an initial verbal conversation with the plant managers of the three companies the team visited concerning the security of their existing cyber/physical systems. In all three cases the plant managers pointed to their corporate information technology (IT) teams for further information. Interviews of the IT teams will happen in CY2024. Focus Area 4: We have a developed the system that will be used to produce hydroponic lettuce from poultry processing wastewater. We have developed the system that will be used to valorize the solid residues from dissolved air flotation (DAF) utilized in poultry processing plants. 4.Were there issues or problem encountered during the report period (past one year) and how was this addressed. Focus area 1: The social science team did not have personal or professional relationships with people in the timber products or poultry industry. Therefore, two team members (Dr. Dozier and Dr. Gallagher) secured invitations to visit poultry plants and sawmills. These invitations have led to other interactions that have resulted in securing interviews with people in the timber products industry.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
"WIRED article https://www.wired.com/story/us-food-agriculture-isac-cybersecurity/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Congressional Report by Rural Partnership Consortium of the Three Universities/Institutes (Auburn University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and University of Vermont)
- Type:
Other
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Technical Report on Technologies in Use in Poultry Processing Plants and Growing Houses.
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