Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
numerous automated devices have been introduced to perform various operations
especially drying, threshing, milling, and sorting.
There have been many reports on automation systems and robots in agriculture so
far (Kondo and Ting, 1998; Kondo et al., 2011). Generally speaking, the use of auto-
matic machines and robots has released human operators from heavy, dangerous,
and monotonous operations; enhanced the market values of products; led to produc-
tion of uniform products; allowed farm producers to set up and maintain hygienic/
aseptic production conditions; and gave farmers hope for economic sustainability
especially among small high-value farm operations.
It is, however, considered that automation systems and robots in postharvest oper-
ations play additional important roles due to the utilization of a large number of sens-
ing systems. This setup enables operators to accumulate information on agricultural
products to support decision-making and to ensure consumers' safety and security.
In grading facilities or cooperative facilities, in particular, many kinds and large
amounts of information on products (e.g., quality, size, and quantity data of prod-
ucts, producer information, and field information) are handled and recorded, because
huge volumes of products are collected at these facilities. Sometimes, they also man-
age the producers' operation records for farming guidance in the local region.
Unlike most industrial products, quality inspection of agricultural products
presents specific challenges, because out-of-standard products must be inspected
according to their appearance and internal quality, which are acceptable to custom-
ers only by nondestructive methods. This chapter reviews such automated and robot-
ized systems in post-harvesting technologies in grains, fruits, and vegetables, which
have been used at cooperative facilities in Japan.
14.2
AUTOMATION OF GRAIN PROCESSING
14.2.1 G
RAIN
E
LEVATOR
A grain elevator is an agricultural structure that processes and stores grains such as
rice, wheat, corn, and beans. Farmers transport their raw grain product to a grain
elevator located in their home region after harvesting. The raw grain has a high mois-
ture content and it needs to be dried to preserve quality.
Figure 14.1 shows a flowchart from rough rice receiving to brown rice shipping of
a rice grain elevator, which is usually called a country elevator in Japan. After qual-
ity inspection on receiving of rough rice, farmers dry their raw rough rice by using
a dryer, clean dried rough rice by using a fine cleaning system, store the rough rice
in silos, hull the rough rice to obtain brown rice by using a hulling system, sort the
brown rice to improve quality by using a fine sorting system, and then after qual-
ity inspection, they ship the brown rice product to a milling factory located on the
outskirts of a big city to produce white milled rice, which is the removed embryo
and bran layer from brown rice. The white milled rice is usually used for cooking.
Operators at the grain elevator can observe the reception area and every corner
in the elevator by using TV cameras, and monitor and control the movement of rice
grain on a control board in the operation room. Farmers unload their raw rough rice
at the reception area. Unloaded rough rice is carried to the weighing machine and
