Royal Agricultural University Repository
Not a member yet
647 research outputs found
Sort by
The role of technology in crisis management/recall in food supply chains
Get PDFThis chapter considers the advances in governance and how this frames crisis management and product recalls in food supply chains. Effective food recalls following a food safety or legality related incident are supported by traceability systems that range from being paper based to those that apply the newest technology. This chapter is written to consider the value of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) for the improvements in food supply chain governance structures that are especially tested during product recalls. The focus is on identifying advantages of Blockchain systems within public-private partnerships (PPPs) for food governance. There is a great potential to reduce information asymmetry, which is a key barrier to supply chain development, innovation and efficiency, and effective crisis management and product recalls with the use of DLTs including Blockchain. PPPs for supply chain governance can deliver value at the supply chain and wider stakeholder level including developing Blockchain consortia to improve overall efficiency and integrity in data collection, storage and sharing
Forgotten children: A socio-technical systems analysis of the 2004 and 2015 forced child labour reports from Indian cottonseed farms
Get PDFUsing a systems analysis approach, the authors analyse forced child labour incidents in Indian cottonseed farms in the years 2003/04 and 2014/15, and explores the role played by human factors in contributing to the illegal use of child labour in the Indian agri-food sector. National policies on labour welfare and rights are reviewed through the case studies used as a lens to explore wider issues associated with forced child labour in supply chains. The study highlights the evolution of organised crime in India with regards to the reliance on forced child labour, using the four conceptual dimensions of modern slavery established by the UK Home Office in 2017. The study does identify limitations and flaws associated with designing policies based on a “work-as-imagined” philosophy and demonstrates how the use of maturity modelling can explore how exploitation, corruption and organised crime is framed and can become more formalised over time
It's good to talk: Speaking up for oracy in the management classroom
Get PDFOracy refers to the ability to speak well. Speaking well is essential to education, to the workplace and to social democracy, where informed, reflective and critical citizens play a role in creating and influencing public discourse. It is one of the most important communication skills that management graduates should seek to master, yet oracy is rarely taught in management education.
This paper describes a teaching and assessment initiative, introduced to a postgraduate class in a UK Business School, which developed students’ speaking competence by combining the critical exploration of the course content with the explicit teaching of oracy skills. Influenced by the philosophy of critical pedagogy with its emphasis on dialogue, the initiative demonstrates that dialogic teaching combined with oracy skills training encourages students to engage in purposeful talk around course content which extends their repertoire of spoken communication skills relevant to the workplace and beyond.
The paper brings oracy to the attention of management educators as a means of better preparing graduates for management roles. It demonstrates how an oracy framework can be used to inform course content and to provide a guide to assessing spoken communication. Practical advice is provided for tutors integrating oracy into current teaching practices
Agricultural water saving through technologies: a zombie idea
Get PDFA zombie idea is one that has been repeatedly refuted by analysis and evidence, and should have died, but clings to life for reasons that are difficult to understand without further investigation. The perception that investments in modern irrigation systems automatically save water constitutes a zombie idea. On face value, most would accept that modernizing irrigation systems makes sense: agriculture represents 70% of global water withdrawals while physical irrigation efficiencies range between 25-50% worldwide—that is, most of the water entering the irrigation system never makes it to the targeted crop. However, the impacts of modern irrigation systems are complex, and as we show, usually have the opposite effect to that intended through altered cropping and water application decisions by farmers that aggravate water scarcity. This paper investigates how this zombie idea forms; why it persists, even when proven wrong by scientific evidence; and how to overcome it
Field boundary features can stabilise bee populations and the pollination of mass-flowering crops in rotational systems
No full text1. Pollinators experience large spatio-temporal fluctuations in resource availability when mass-flowering crops are rotated with resource-poor cereal crops. Yet, few studies have considered the effect this has on pollinator population stability, nor how this might be mitigated to maintain consistent crop pollination services. 2. We assess the potential of boundary features (standard narrow 1m grassy margins, hedgerows and wide 4m agri-environment margins) to support and stabilise pollinator populations and pollination service in agricultural landscapes under crop rotation. Assuming a six-year rotation, we use a process-based pollinator model to predict yearly pollinator population size and in-crop visitation rates to oilseed rape and field bean across 117 study landscapes in England with varying amounts of boundary features. We model both ground-nesting bumblebees and solitary bees and compare the predictions including and excluding boundary features from the landscapes. 3. Ground-nesting bumblebee populations, whose longer-lifetime colonies benefit from continuity of resources, were larger and more stable (relative to the no-features scenario) in landscapes with more boundary features. Ground-nesting solitary bee populations were also larger but not significantly more stable, except with the introduction of wide permanent agri-environment margins, due to their shorter lifetimes and shorter foraging/dispersal ranges. 4. Crop visitation by ground-nesting bumblebees was greater and more stable in landscapes with more boundary features, partly due to increased colony growth prior to crop flowering. Time averaged crop visitation by ground-nesting solitary bees was slightly lower, due to females dividing their foraging time between boundary features and the crop, but the more stable delivery compensated for this by nonetheless increasing the minimum pollination service delivered in any given year. 5. Synthesis and applications. Boundary features have an important role in stabilising pollinator populations and pollination service in rotational systems, although maintenance of larger seminatural habitat patches may be more effective for stabilising less mobile solitary bee populations. We recommend using combinations of boundary features, accounting for pollinator range when spacing features/rotating crops, and synchronising boundary feature management with crop rotation to maximise their stabilising benefits
Review of Macadamia Production in Malawi: Focusing on What, Where, How Much Is Produced and Major Constraints
No full textMacadamia is an essential commodity crop in Malawi. The nuts are a lucrative commodity and are used for household consumption, income generation among farming families and as a foreign exchange earning crop at country-level. Macadamia production in Malawi has increased significantly in recent years. Malawi is the seventh top producer of macadamia nuts valued at £23.5 million, with a global market share of 3%. In 2018, the country was the fourth-largest exporter of macadamia nuts that were valued at £18.2 million. The majority (90%) of this crop was grown by large commercial estates with smallholder’s production only contributing about 10% of the total crop production. However, the smallholder sector is vital for the future growth of the macadamia sector in the country. Further, Malawian smallholders consider macadamia production as a low-input crop with large returns per unit area (£10.7 kg−1 ha−1), and it thus a lucrative commodity with high potential for poverty reduction and wealth creation among these farming families. This paper, therefore, explores: (i) the historical and current trends in macadamia nut production in Malawi; (ii) analyses the country’s macadamia value chain focusing on smallholder farmer contributions; and (iii) discusses the constraints of smallholder macadamia production in Malawi for informed policymaking. We conclude that the synthesis of the Malawian macadamia sub-sector provides an understanding of the vital contributions of macadamia to Malawi’s economic growth and improvement of livelihoods
Determining the capabilities of food businesses to produce safe and legal food in a pandemic.
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the role of third party certification in determining how business capability is assessed. Public health controls implemented to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 abruptly halted physical audits and regulatory inspection verification mechanisms. This left many brand owners and manufacturers being faced with a “no-visitor” policy from their suppliers. Concerns were expressed about the capability of food businesses to produce safe and legal food in a pandemic with its consequential disruption to supply chains, staffing, service provisions and the consequences of reduced surveillance and verification on food standards and food safety. As a result, the food industry had to reassess the processes used to ensure the production of safe and authentic food; and to reconsider whether alternate approaches to assuring food safety and legal compliance of food products could be used.
This article takes a look at the historical development of the third party audit and the role it plays in Food Safety and Quality Management Systems. It serves as a reminder of the principles that underpin a competent food business and highlights some options for monitoring and verification of a food business in the absence of 3rd party audits. Whilst these measures were introduced as a short term solution, it is likely that some elements will continue
Farm Women: An overview of the literature in a UK context.
Get PDFFarming is a heavily gendered environment. In this review paper we introduce, theorise and discuss the triadic research themes of ‘Women Farmers’, ’Farmers Wives’ and ‘Farm Women’ as an under researched social status group and resource. The term farm women include ‘farmers’ mothers and daughters’ and the ‘wives and daughters of farm workers’ but also ‘migrant workers’ whom are under-represented in the literature. Increasingly, women make up a considerable proportion of agricultural students and the land-based workforce. Such women and particularly women farmers have a marginalised voice in existing formal discourse. Indeed, little is written about women farmers in either the rural entrepreneurship literature or the entrepreneurship and gender literature with the limited exception of asking questions and attempting to answer questions about the role of household and off farm work. There are studies in the agricultural literature but there is an identifiable research gap relating to what they do and how they do it and more importantly their official status. Historically farm women in the wider context often received limited or no formal management skill or training or an agricultural education, but this is changing. Consequentially, this educational transition is of interest within the wider context of women being considered as an under recognised and under-valued resource worthy of further research
Researching the role of the ‘Institutional Animateur’ at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester: The case of Farm491
Get PDFTopic: In contemporary entrepreneurship literature there is growing interest in both rural 15 entrepreneurship and the emerging concept of the ‘Animateur’ in turning entrepreneurial ideas 16 into realities. Traditionally, the ‘Animateur’ or ‘Animator’ has been considered to be like the 17 entrepreneur, typically a lone individual, who works with and assists others to achieve an 18 entrepreneurial outcome. Animateurs assist and encourage budding entrepreneurs by providing 19 encouragement and experiential advice to those with an idea or vision, but do not have the 20 necessary experience, skills or confidence to ‘go it alone’. The developing model of 21 ‘Animateurial action’ differs from other forms of business support, because the animateurs are 22 not providing the actual solutions in a report for a set fee but are guiding the aspiring 23 entrepreneurs towards making the important decisions themselves on the path from ideation to 24 commercialisation. Building on existing studies, this case study examines the role of the 25 institutional animateur in driving an innovation ecosystem. Using narratives and examples 26 from Farm491, the AgriTech incubator, accelerator and innovation space based at the Royal 27 Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK, this scoping study expands the reach of the 28 theoretical concept of animateurs to consider their role in agri-technology adoption within the 29 land-based sector. 30
Context: Farm491 is a focal point for entrepreneurial activity that underpins the future of 31 farming and food systems and delivers on the requirements of developing the rural economy 32 (House of Lords, 2019). The Farm491 team consider 1) What do start-ups in the 33 AgriTech/agrifood space actually want and need? 2) What level of knowledge do ‘aspiring 34 entrepreneurs’ have about the AgriTech sector and terminology? 3) What is required to pull 35 together the right talent in the team to provide holistic business support; and 4) Assess the 36 animateurship offer to ensure it is realistic for start-ups and not overly extractive (Carr & Hill, 37 2021). The team offer (virtual) mentoring, face-to-face flexible learning opportunities, via 38 workshops and also access to a members’ only toolbox platform. As of early 2021, Farm491 39 had 72 active members (of which 32% are current RAU students or RAU alumni); they have 40 supported over 200 start-ups through membership and ERDF-funded workshops since starting, 41 helped them raise, approx. £33million in investment and have helped them hire 120 new 42 employees. Through the lens of animateurship, encompassing the role of the animateur and the 43 construct of the process of animation, research can highlight how rural enterprise support 44 contributes to business development, the levelling up agenda and supports the local and 45 national industrial strategy. 46
Applicability to the conference theme: This working paper is applicable to the conference theme as it considers the importance of the emerging concept of the animateur by providing illustrated examples of institution-based animateurship. It places emphasis on the practical aspects of institutional animateurship as well as informing the growing theoretical literature on how innovation ecosystems are positioned and then self-evolve.
Aim: The aim of the research is to examine what practices and processes of animateurship are applicable in institutional business support contexts. This study builds upon a growing interest in novel forms and applications of entrepreneurial activity and knowledge generation.
Methodology: Four sub-cases from successful entrepreneurial start-ups in regenerative agriculture, smart livestock farming, aquaculture and agronomy sectors are examined through an iterative comparative case analysis to provide novel insights into institutional animateurship.
Contribution: The research makes two contributions. Firstly, from a theoretical perspective, it extends the concept of, and literature on, animateurship from the focus primarily on the individual to the positioning of collective animateurship. Secondly, the study enriches our understanding of animateurial practices in the under-researched rural context.
Implications for practice: This research discusses in detail business support processes and pathways, offering practical insights for business support professionals.
Research implications: This study has important implications for business support practice because it adds to a neglected dimension to the literature of business support and has the potential to change how we view the practices and processes of animateurship