• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.47 no.6
• /
• pp.510-517
• /
• 2014

The purpose of this study was to analyze microbial hazards for cultivation environments and personal hygiene of strawberry and tomato farms at the growth and harvesting stage. Samples were collected from thirty strawberry farms and forty tomato farms located in Korea and tested for Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. To investigate the change in the distribution of the S. aureus and B. cereus, a total of 4,284 samples including air born, soil or medium, mulching film, harvest basket, groves and irrigation water etc. were collected from eight strawberry farms and nine tomato farms for one year. As a result, total S. aureus and B. cereus in all samples were detected. Among the total bacteria of strawberry farms, S. aureus (glove: $0{\sim}2.1Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, harvest basket: $0{\sim}3.0Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, soil or culture media: 0~4.1 Log CFU/g, mulching film: $0{\sim}3.8Log\;CFU/100cm^2$), B. cereus (glove: $0{\sim}2.8Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, harvest basket: $0{\sim}4.8Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, soil or culture media: 0~5.3 Log CFU/g, mulching film: $0{\sim}4.5Log\;CFU/100cm^2$) were detected in all samples. The total bacteria of tomato farms, S. aureus (glove: $0{\sim}4.0Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, harvest basket: $0{\sim}5.0Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, soil or culture media: 0~6.1 Log CFU/g, mulching film: $0{\sim}4.0Log\;CFU/100cm^2$), B. cereus (glove: $0{\sim}4.0Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, harvest basket: $0{\sim}4.3Log\;CFU/100cm^2$, soil or culture media: 0~5.9 Log CFU/g, mulching film: $0{\sim}4.7Log\;CFU/100cm^2$) were detected in all samples. The contamination of S. aureus and B. cereus were detected in soil, mulching film and harvest basket from planting until harvest to processing, with the highest count recorded from the soil. But S. aureus and B. cereus were not detected in irrigation water samples. The incidence of S. aureus and B. cereus in hydroponics culture farm were less than those in soil culture. The amount of S. aureus and B. cereus detected in strawberry and tomato farms were less than the minimum amount required to produce a toxin that induces food poisoning. In this way, the degree of contamination of food poisoning bacteria was lower in the production environment of the Korea strawberry and tomato, but problems can be caused by post-harvest management method. These results will be used as fundamental data to create a manual for sanitary agricultural environment management, and post-harvest management should be performed to reduce the contamination of hazardous microorganisms.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.1 s.88
• /
• pp.77-88
• /
• 2006

This study were conducted to investigate the microbial contamination level in 5 tomato farms in Western Gyeongnam. A total of 130 samples was examined for sanitary indicator bacteria, such as aerobic plate count (APC), coliforms, and Escherchia coli, and pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes. APC and coliform count ranged $0\~6.62\;and\;0\~4.52 log_{10}\;CFU/(ml,\;g,\;100\;cm^2,\;hand)$, respectively, and $32.5\%$ were contaminated with E. coli. Especially, most of the samples from employees are high as above $4.0\;log_{10}\;CFU/(ml,\;g,\;100\;cm^2,\;hand)$ in APC. S. aureus, detected at $10.7\%$, was found in employees' hands, irrigation water, and hydroponic solution. whereas E. coli $O157:H7$, Salmonella spp, and L. monocytogenes were not detected. These results will provide fundamental microbiological information for introduction of good agricultural practice (GAP)system in tomato farms.

• Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
• /
• v.49 no.4
• /
• pp.569-579
• /
• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this study is the time series analysis for predicting the yield of crops applicable to each farm using environmental variables measured by smart farms cultivating tomato. In addition, it is intended to confirm the influence of environmental variables using a deep learning model that can be explained to some extent. Methods: A time series analysis was performed to predict production using environmental variables measured at 75 smart farms cultivating tomato in two periods. An LSTM-based encoder-decoder model was used for cases of several farms with similar length. In particular, Dual Attention Mechanism was applied to use environmental variables as exogenous variables and to confirm their influence. Results: As a result of the analysis, Dual Attention LSTM with a window size of 12 weeks showed the best predictive power. It was verified that the environmental variables has a similar effect on prediction through wieghtss extracted from the prediction model, and it was also verified that the previous time point has a greater effect than the time point close to the prediction point. Conclusion: It is expected that it will be possible to attempt various crops as a model that can be explained by supplementing the shortcomings of general deep learning model.

• Advances in Energy Research
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.207-217
• /
• 2017

Energy consumption in agriculture is responsible for greenhouse gas emission but it can be reduced after efficient utilization of energy inputs. Therefore, the present study aims for the estimation of energy efficiency and extent of greenhouse gas reduction after benchmarking of inefficient farms in off-season tomato in Punjab province of Pakistan. Primary data were collected from 70 farmers with simple random sampling. By using data envelopment analysis, the average value of technical, pure technical and scale efficiency was 0.80, 0.92 and 0.87, respectively while increasing, constant and decreasing return to scale was observed in 33, 26 and 11 farmers, respectively. Total input energy was reduced by $12,688.91MJ\;ha^{-1}$ (13.89%) if inefficient farms used the energy inputs according to recommendations or benchmarking. A major portion of energy saving comes from fertilizers (68.79%) followed by diesel (15.70%), chemicals (5.91%), machinery (4.37%) and water (4.00%). Total greenhouse gases reduction was $499.17kg\;CO_2\;eq.ha^{-1}$ (14.57%) as a result of improvement in energy efficiency or benchmarking of inefficient farms. Agricultural extension staff should visit the vegetable farms on regular basis and give necessary information about efficient utilization of energy inputs. The government should create awareness about the optimum use of input through seminars and pamphlets.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.121-127
• /
• 2013

As the worldwide trade of agricultural products became liberalized with the establishment of WTO and FTA, relatively cheaper agricultural products have influenced the Korean domestic market substantially. Fortunately, foreign countries have soften their restrictions on Korean agricultural exports, providing Korean farmers with more opportunities to advance into the world market. This study aims to propose a multiple-criteria decision-making model for selecting an optimal tomato export farm, as the part of an effort to vitalize exports of domestic agricultural products amid the competitive agricultural market worldwide. For this purpose, we are suggesting a 2-step decision-making model which consists of a simple hierarchy decision model that preliminary selects tomato export farms and a detailed hierarchy decision model that chooses the final and optimal tomato export farm. We applied the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to determine the relative importance of the used evaluation factors and to choose the tomato export farms with most potential. Eventually, the systematic and efficient decision-making model proposed in this paper can be applied to determine the optimal export farms for crops other than tomato, and thus it can encourage the competitiveness of Korean agricultural exports.

• Journal of Korean Society of Rural Planning
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.155-169
• /
• 2015

As an essential means to the exploitation of new demands, the export of agri-food has the price-supporting effect on the domestic agri-food and its expansion can be a good way to increase farms' income. Of course, to enhance farms' income under the liberalization of the market, it is necessary to have countermeasures considering various factors. To this end, the study understood the experiences of farms doing exports and looked into ways to improve them by reviewing their motivations to export, difficulties, requirements, etc. In this context, the study conducted the purposive sampling among tomato export farmhouses in Jeongseon-gun in the export enforcement phase and executed the theme analysis. The research findings and suggestions are as follows. First, in order to enhance the level of commercialization of Jeongseon-gun tomatoes and reinforce the trade bargaining power, it is necessary to form the consensus on policy and make the scaling of the site based on the strong organization power. To this end, it requires the active role of agricultural cooperatives that take a big portion of distribution in the site and distribute its profits directly to farmhouses. Second, it is necessary to set clear target markets for Jeongseon-gun tomato export farms and set sales strategies for each target market. That is, in order to expand the export of Jeongseon-gun tomatoes, after clarifying local sales and export sales, export farmhouses should focus on quality management and secure the quantity for export. Third, to expand the export to Japan which already has the foundation for the export of Korean tomatoes, and to new export countries of China, Russia, etc., it is necessary to set the 'Two-Track Strategies for Export Market (particular item for focus and particular area for focus)' through the building of network of tomato export areas in Gangwon-do. In conclusion, to expand the export of Jeongseon-gun tomatoes, agricultural cooperatives and leaders together should build the strong organizational power with farmhouses and secure the quantities for export. And, according to the 'Two-Track Strategies for Export Market (particular item for focus and particular area for focus)', export infrastructure and export operational system should be built and to do so, the solidarity of tomato export farmhouses in Gangwon area should precede.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
• /
• v.63 no.5
• /
• pp.73-81
• /
• 2021

The objective of this study was to analyze the waste nutrient generation loads from hydroponics for three major crops in Gyeongsangnam-do. Study hydroponic farms were selected for the three major crops such as paprika, strawberry, tomato based on the agricultural statistics data and field investigation. The flow amount and water quality for inflow and outflow of study hydroponic farms were monitored and analyzed on a monthly basis. Monitored samples were analyzed in terms of DO, BOD, T-N, T-P, SS, and EC. The generated load of BOD, T-N, and T-P were calculated from the monitored flow and water quality. The monitoring results showed that the drainage ratio for the circular hydroponic farm was lower than the non-circular hydroponic farm because the outflow from the circular hydroponics were much lower than that from the non-circular. The generated load calculation results showed that the BOD tended to have a smaller value than the TMDLs guideline for land, while T-N and T-P showed higher value than that from the TMDLs guideline. In order to effectively manage the pollutant load discharged from the hydroponics farming complex, it is necessary to manage the non-circulating hydroponics farm. To improve water quality, it is necessary to gradually expand the circulating hydroponics farm through policy and economic support.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.49-61
• /
• 2008

The objective of this study is to survey the risk factors of greenhouse vegetables farmers' work-related musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs). To offer the fundamental data for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetable farms, the questionnaire of MSDs and heath condition were carried out. A group of 736 workers(males=492, females=244) in 6 branches constitutes the population and database for the analysis between 2004 and 2005. The sample branch was chosen based on paper are watermelon, strawberry, tomato, melon, cucumber, lettuce. The results are as follows: 1. Smoking rates in cucumber and tomato is the highest. 2. Drinking rates in strawberry, cucumber and lettuce is the highest in males, watermelon and melon are the highest in females. 3. Regular exercise rates in melon are the highest. 4. Physical and mental fatigue in females is higher than that of males in most crops except melon. That of strawberry and tomato is the highest. 5. The prevalence rates of medical diagnosed diseases are higher in order of osteoarthritis, herniated nucleus pulposus(HNP), and hypertension. That of strawberry, melon, and cucumber is high in case of osteoarthritis; Strawberry, melon, and watermelon are high in case of HNP. 6. Prevalence rates of musculoskeletal symptoms among the various pain areas are higher in order of low back, knees, and shoulders. That of tomato and watermelon is high in case of low back; strawberry and tomato are high in case of knees. These results can be used practically for agricultural improvement of greenhouse vegetables farms to prevent MSDs.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.180-185
• /
• 2015

In the present work, a pair of primers specific to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) was designed to allow specific amplification of DNA fragments from any TYLCV isolates using an extensive alignment of the complete genome sequences of TYLCV isolates deposited in the GenBank database. A pair of primers which allows the specific amplification of tomato ${\beta}$-tubulin gene was also analyzed as an internal PCR control. A duplex PCR method with the developed primer sets showed that TYLCV could be directly detected from the leaf crude sap of infected tomato plants. In addition, our developed duplex PCR method could determine PCR errors for TYLCV diagnosis, suggesting that this duplex PCR method with the primer sets is a good tool for specific and sensitive TYLCV diagnosis. The developed duplex PCR method was further verified from tomato samples collected from some farms in Korea, suggesting that this developed PCR method is a simple and reliable tool for rapid and large-scale TYLCV detections in tomato plants.

• Journal of the Korean Data and Information Science Society
• /
• v.28 no.6
• /
• pp.1427-1435
• /
• 2017

The smart farm is a remarkable system because it utilizes information and communication technologies in agriculture to bring high productivity and excellent qualities of crops. It automatically measures the growth environment of the crops and accumulates huge amounts of environmental information in real time growing in smart farms using multi-variable control of environmental factors. The statistical model using the collected big data will be helpful for decision making in order to control optimal growth environment of crops in smart farms. Using data collected from a smart farm of tomato, we carried out multiple regression analysis to determine the relationship between yield and environmental factors and to predict yield of tomato. In this study, appropriate parameter modification was made for environmental factors considering tomato growth. Using these new factors, we fit the model and derived the optimal environmental factors that affect the yields of tomato. Based on this, we could predict the yields of tomato. It is expected that growth environment can be controlled to improve tomato productivities by using statistical model.