Alternative Adaptive Regimes for Integrating Foraging and Farming Activities
There are two distinct forager-farmer adaptive regimes
evidenced in the ethnographic record: an ancillary and... more
There are two distinct forager-farmer adaptive regimes
evidenced in the ethnographic record: an ancillary and surplus cultivation
regime. Societies characterized by these different regimes define different
systems for allocating time to the production of domesticated plants.
Cross-cultural patterns support the proposition that two socioecological
conditions are logically necessary in order for an ancillary cultivation
regime to develop and persist within a population of foragers. Wild
resources must be sufficiently available, and farmers who produce a surplus
of crops must be available to exchange with, live with or raid to
redistribute crops after an episode of crop loss. The cross-cultural
presence of two empirically distinct regimes for integrating foraging and
farming is a useful frame of reference for evaluating how prehistoric
foragers first integrated foraging and farming activities in archaeological
contexts of secondary crop acquisition. A preliminary examination indicates
that the ethnographic patterns are most consistent with the interpretation
that the earliest farmers to inhabit the American Southwest produced at
least a minimal surplus of domesticated plants. It is postulated that the
adoption of a surplus cultivation regime by a population creates the
adaptive opportunity for ancillary cultivation to develop and persist on a
landscape.
Fish Is Food - The FAO’s Fish Price Index
Co-authored with Frank Asche, Marc F. Bellemare, Martin D. Smith, Atle G. Guttormsen, Audun Lem, Kristin Lien, Stefania Vannuccini
World food prices hit an all-time high in February 2011 and are still almost two and a half times those of 2000.... more World food prices hit an all-time high in February 2011 and are still almost two and a half times those of 2000. Although three billion people worldwide use seafood as a key source of animal protein, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations–which compiles prices for other major food categories–has not tracked seafood prices. We fill this gap by developing an index of global seafood prices that can help to understand food crises and may assist in averting them. The fish price index (FPI) relies on trade statistics because seafood is heavily traded internationally, exposing non-traded seafood to price competition from imports and exports. Easily updated trade data can thus proxy for domestic seafood prices that are difficult to observe in many regions and costly to update with global coverage. Calculations of the extent of price competition in different countries support the plausibility of reliance on trade data. Overall, the FPI shows less volatility and fewer price spikes than other food price indices including oils, cereals, and dairy. The FPI generally reflects seafood scarcity, but it can also be separated into indices by production technology, fish species, or region. Splitting FPI into capture fisheries and aquaculture suggests increased scarcity of capture fishery resources in recent years, but also growth in aquaculture that is keeping pace with demand. Regionally, seafood price volatility varies, and some prices are negatively correlated. These patterns hint that regional supply shocks are consequential for seafood prices in spite of the high degree of seafood tradability.
Between the first herders and the last herders: are the Khoekhoe descendants of the Neolithic 'hunters-with-sheep' ?
by François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar
Published in "Before Farming", 2004/4, article 5
Recent publications have led us to re-assess the issue of the introduction of food-production in southern Africa.... more Recent publications have led us to re-assess the issue of the introduction of food-production in southern Africa. While some researchers have proposed new models for the spread of domestic stock and ceramics throughout the sub-continent, Karim Sadr suggests that we should re-introduce the concept of Neolithic to describe the appearance of low-intensity herding groups in the context of the Later Stone Age c 2000 BP. Following the path whereby Sadr disconnects the material culture associated with Neolithic herders from the historically-known Khoekhoe, one might ask again: where do the latter came from? Starting from ethnographic comparisons of two Khoekhoe husbandry techniques, it appears that the Khoekhoe can be seen as 'true pastoralists' possessing a complete 'pastoralist package' of cultural practices that are not readily visible in the archaeological record. This brings us to reconsider the possibility of a separate and late migration of the Khoekhoe in South Africa.
Intermediate product selection and blending in the food processing industry
Kilic, O.A, Akkerman, R., van Donk, D.P., Grunow, M. (2011), Intermediate product selection and blending in the food processing industry, International Journal of Production Research, accepted for publication.
This study addresses a capacitated intermediate product selection and blending problem typical for two-stage... more This study addresses a capacitated intermediate product selection and blending problem typical for two-stage production systems in the food processing industry. The problem involves the selection of a set of intermediates and end product recipes characterizing how those selected intermediates are blended into end products to minimise the total operational costs under production and storage capacity limitations. A comprehensive mixed integer linear model is developed for the problem. The model is applied on a data set collected from a real-life case. The trade-off s between capacity limitations and operational costs are analysed, and the eff ects of di erent types of cost parameters and capacity limitations on the selection of intermediates and end product recipes are investigated.
We spent a million bucks and then we had to do something: The unexpected implications of industry involvement in trans fat research
Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 2011, published online ahead of print.
Many scholars assume that industry meddles in scientific research in order to defend their products. But this article... more Many scholars assume that industry meddles in scientific research in order to defend their products. But this article shows that industry meddling in science can have a variety of consequences. American food manufacturers long denied that trans fats were associated with disease. Academic scientists, government scientists, and activists in fact endorsed trans fats as a healthier alternative to saturated fats. But in 1990, a high-profile study showed that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats did. Industry funded a U.S. Department of Agriculture study that they hoped would exonerate trans fats. But the industry-funded U.S. Department of Agriculture study also indicated that trans fats increased risk factors for heart disease more than saturated fats. Industry quickly began developing trans fat alternatives. This confirms that corporations get involved in science in order to defend their products. But involvement in science can be the very means by which corporations persuade themselves to change their products.
Download (.pdf) Supply chain planning for super chilled food products
Wang, Y., Akkerman, R., Grunow, M. (2011), Supply chain planning for super chilled food products, Working paper, Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1923948.
This paper studies a production and distribution system for food products, which are super chilled during production... more This paper studies a production and distribution system for food products, which are super chilled during production and then distributed in the conventional cold chain. Super chilling implies a partial freezing, which stabilizes the product temperature below 0°C during the subsequent partial thawing during the distribution. In this paper we identify the important planning decisions in relation to production and distribution. Then, a decision support model based on mixed-integer linear programming is developed for these planning tasks, which are especially focusing on packaging options and delivery intervals. An integral part of the approach is a model of the thermodynamic behavior of the food products that is used to describe the thawing process. An illustrative case study shows how the resulting models can be used to support supply chain planning for super chilled food products and how the detailed modeling of product changes allows for a significant decrease in distribution efforts even with the use of conservative shelf life estimates.
Olive Presses of the Israelite Period
by David Eitam
Tel Aviv, Vol. 6, 3-4: 146-155.
Rock-cut installations located in Iron Age II sites in the western slope of the Samaria Hills were discovered by us... more Rock-cut installations located in Iron Age II sites in the western slope of the Samaria Hills were discovered by us during archaeological survey (1976/7). I identified the installations as olive oil presses, which includs crushing basin and lever and weights press with central collecting vat. Sometime another side rock-cut vat was connected to the first one by perforated hole where the oil was collected, separated from the fruit liquid. The installations were similar to those cut in boulders, found in Tel Beit Mirsim by Albright and in many other towns in Judea dated to the 9th and 8th cent. BC. The identification of the installetions by Albright as dyeing vats for textile coloring holed for almost 70 years. By reconstructing and calculating the press forces I showed that the Judean installations could not served as dyeing vats, but were also oil presses, firstly revealing the vast proportions and intensity of the olive oil industry in ancient Israel.
Certifying Quality: Negotiating and integrating animal welfare into food assurance
by Emma Roe
Co-authored with Henry Buller, University of Exeter.
The Rough Guide to Food
Published 2009 Rough Guides, Penguin UK. Co-authored with George Miller
Winner of Guild of Food Writers Award for Investigative Writing 2010
New research into the world of food:... more
Winner of Guild of Food Writers Award for Investigative Writing 2010
New research into the world of food: global industry, cultural trends,etc.,
Energy Intensity of Agriculture and Food Systems
Pelletier, N., Audsley, E., Brodt, S., Garnet, T., Henriksson, P., Kendall, A., Kramer, K., Murphy, D., Nemecek, T., Troell, M., Tyedmers, P. Energy Intensity of Agriculture and Food Systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 2011. 36: 7.1–7.24.
The relationships between energy use in food systems, food system productivity, and energy resource constraints are... more
The relationships between energy use in food systems, food system productivity, and energy resource constraints are complex. Moreover, ongoing changes in food production and consumption norms concurrent with urbanization, globalization, and demographic changes underscore the importance of energy use in food systems as a food security concern.
Here, we review the current state of knowledge with respect to the energy intensity of agriculture and food systems.We highlight key drivers and trends in food system energy use along with opportunities and constraints to improved efficiencies.
In particular, we point toward a current dearth of research with respect to the energy performance of food systems in developing countries and provide a cautionary note vis- `a-vis increasing food system energy dependencies in the light of energy price volatility and concerns as to long-term fossil energy availabilities.
Domestication processes and morphological change: through the lens of the donkey and African pastoralism
Co-authored with Fiona Marshall and published in Current Anthropology
Little is known about the beginnings and spread of food production in the tropics, but recent research suggests that... more
Little is known about the beginnings and spread of food production in the tropics, but recent research suggests that definitions that depend on morphological change may hamper recognition of early farming in these regions. The earliest form of food production in Africa developed in arid tropical grasslands. Animals were the earliest domesticates, and the mobility of early herders shaped the development of social and economic systems. Genetic data indicate that cattle were domesticated in North Africa and suggest domestication of two different African wild asses, in the Sahara and in the Horn. Cowpeas and pearl millet were domesticated several thousand years later, but some intensively used African plants have never undergone morphological change. Morphological, genetic, ethnoarchaeological, and behavioral research reveals relationships between management, animal behavior,
selection, and domestication of the donkey. Donkeys eventually showed phenotypic and morphological changes distinctive of domestication, but the process was slow. This African research on domestication of the donkey and the development of pastoralism raises questions regarding how we conceptualize hunter-gatherer versus food-producer land use. It also suggests that we should focus more intently on the methods used to recognize management, agropastoral systems, and domestication events.
The Contrary Forces of Innovation: An Ethnography of Innovation in the Food Industry
Research monography, August 2011, Palgrave Macmillan.
Why do innovations tend to 'explode' into multiple versions when inventors seek to realize them? Why do most... more
Why do innovations tend to 'explode' into multiple versions when inventors seek to realize them? Why do most innovators seem to promise too much certainty about the future? And why is it so hard for innovations to succeed in finding use and establish a market?
A real-time study of the messy realm of industrial innovation. The complexity and the tensions of industrial innovation processes are fleshed out through the analysis of an intriguing case study from the food industry. By drawing together insights from innovation studies, science and technology studies, and studies of industrial networks, the controversies of innovation are investigated. Particular attention is given to the interaction between the mobilising of actors-networks and the exploration of knowledge, as well as to the interaction among the networks of interconnected processes called 'industry'.
Through an ethnographic case study of innovation between the biomarine and agricultural industries, I have followed innovation processes from idea to commercialization. The study adds to our understanding of innovation dynamics, particularly related to path creation, network friction, and the relationships between divergence and convergence in industrial innovation processes.
Christou I. and S.T. Ponis (2008), Enhancing Traditional ATP Functionality in Open Source ERP Systems: Α Case Study from the Food & Beverages Industry, International journal of Enterprise Information Systems, 4(1), pp.18-33.
Available-to-promise (ATP) procedures in today’s enterprise information systems usually involve a simple search for... more
Available-to-promise (ATP) procedures in today’s enterprise information systems usually involve a simple search for available or planned inventory of a particular product in a particular depot at a particular time. In this article, ATP is viewed as a dynamic and more complex problem of deciding whether to accept a customer order request given the available inventory and planned production plus the remaining production capacity and business rules for covering demand from certain customer classes, for given
products and time window. Whenever this is not possible, the production schedule is modified, by utilizing “reserved” capacity and resources, to cover extra demand. A prototype tool has been designed and implemented based on this approach, that can be easily integrated into existing ERP systems enhancing
their functionality and increasing the level of customer service. The elaborated prototype is pilot tested in a case company in the food industry and is loosely integrated within the Open Source Compiere 2, ERP system extended to handle manufacturing. The prototype produces almost real time results on modern commodity-off-the-shelf computers, thus enhancing sales personnel performance and efficiency and increasing the level of customer service and satisfaction.
Vinum picenum and oliva picena. Wine and Oil Presses in Central Adriatic Italy between the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Evidence and Problems
Van Limbergen, D. 2011. "Vinum picenum and oliva picena. Wine and Oil Presses in Central Adriatic Italy between the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Evidence and Problems," BABesch 86, 71-94.
This paper focuses on the potential contribution of wine and olive oil production to the agrarian economy of Adriatic... more This paper focuses on the potential contribution of wine and olive oil production to the agrarian economy of Adriatic central Italy between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. The study area assessed in this paper includes the Marche and northern Abruzzo. The application of a global approach incorporates the analysis of the available evidence in the countryside related to the manufacturing of wine and olive oil, and the cross-fertilization between archaeological, textual and ceramic documentation. It discusses its associated methodological problems and seeks to determine the production scale of these food products. It also raises the question whether the integration of our sources could allow for a deeper understanding of how these productions fitted within intra and extra regional economic networks.
De productie van olie en wijn op Romeinse boerderijen in centraal Adriatisch Italië
Van Limbergen, D. 2010. "De productie van olie en wijn op Romeinse boerderijen in centraal Adriatisch Italië," TMA 44, 28-36.
The production of oil and wine on Roman farms in Adriatic Central Italy
This paper focuses on the potential... more
The production of oil and wine on Roman farms in Adriatic Central Italy
This paper focuses on the potential contribution of wine and olive oil production in the agrarian economy of Adriatic Central Italy between the Late Republic and the Early Empire. The study area assessed in this paper includes the Marche and the northern part of Abruzzo. The author discusses the available archaeological evidence in the countryside related to the manufacture of wine and olive oil. The archaeological contexts have been classified according to their archaeological visibility and preliminary geographic and chronological patterns are presented. The processes of vinification and oil-extraction are then discussed through an analysis of the best documented pressing facilities.
Costs and Benefits of Compliance for Haccp Regulation In the Italian Meat and Dairy Sector
During the nineties, HACCP systems has been introduced as mandatory measures in some sectors of food industry (meat... more
During the nineties, HACCP systems has been introduced as mandatory measures in some sectors of food industry (meat and dairy products); moreover the compliance to the HACCP system has became a minimum standard to access to the food market, often within broader voluntary quality systems (ISO 9002, BRC standards, product certifications and so on). Cost and benefits of HACCP system have been the object of a great deal of investigations in the USA (see for example Golan et al., 2000;
Unnevehr, 2000). On the contrary, apart from some explorative research (se for instance: Henson et al., 1999) at the European level there is actually a lack of systematic information to support policy assessment.
This paper presents some preliminary results of a study aiming at assessing the economic impacts of firm compliance to HACCP regulation in the meat and dairy sector in Italy. This work is based on a survey that provided for both quantitative and qualitative data at firm level for 4 case studies. The structure of the paper is as follows. After a short discussion of the main issues concerning the analysis of cost and benefit of food safety at the firm level (section 2) and an introduction to the adopted
methodology (section 3), the case study is presented (section 4). Then, the main findings of the analysis of HACCP compliance costs (section 5) as well as of the perceived benefits (section 6) at the firm level are discussed. Finally, concluding remarks and some suggestions of possible improvements of the HACCP systems are reported (section 7).
Exploring Costs and Benefits of Compliance With HACCP Regulation In the European Meat and Dairy Sectors
A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program was introduced as a mandatory measure in the EU in the... more A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Program was introduced as a mandatory measure in the EU in the 1990s. Despite its impact on the food industry, only limited literature addresses the issue of cost and benefits of HACCP at the firm level in Europe. This paper illustrates the results of a pilot study on case studies in Italy, UK and The Netherlands, providing a first assessment of the order of magnitude of costs of compliance and a qualitative illustration of the main benefits perceived by producers.
Reassignment of Farm Subsidies
This was my big research paper for my University Writing class, which is the freshman writing program that all GW undergraduate students have to take. My specific section was about food issues in America. The professor was Shelly Mackenzie.
In this paper I argue that farm subsidies be reallocated away from corn. In this paper I argue that farm subsidies be reallocated away from corn.
