TRAnsforming Cold Food Chains in INdia through Space ScIence and TechNologies - TRANSSITioN

Lead Research Organisation: University of York
Department Name: The York Management School

Abstract

The United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to mobilise global efforts to 'transform our world' (UN, 2017) so as to address major challenges facing global society, such as achieving food security and nutrition for all (SDG 1, 2, 3, 8 &12). We will focus on India where agricultural sector which contributes more than 17.5% to its GDP, employs 250 million people and remains the backbone of India's rural population, which comprises almost 67% of the country's 1.3 billion population. Yet, most of India's farmers still remain under poverty. Merely 4% of India's food is moved through the cold chain compared to 70% in the UK, resulting in as much as 40% wastage, particularly in fresh fruits and vegetables, between farm and market. This reduces farmers' income, which in turn limits their capacity to invest and their incentive to grow more nutritious food. Whilst inadequate cold supply chain infrastructure results in large amount of wastage in fresh produce, inadequate value creation and the impact of climate change on agriculture productivity and food loss has led to increasing number of farmers suicide. Moreover, India has highest number of organic farmers globally but these farmers, who produce most of the country's high-value and high-nutrition foods, have little access to integrated cold chains. Indian farmers simply do not have financial resources to invest in precision agriculture and cold chain infrastructure development. With PM Modi's target of "doubling farmers' income by 2022", India necessitates a stronger case of technological intervention along with innovative business models and effective policies that double the income of farmers and maximise value for every stakeholder in the supply chain.

The project TRANSSITioN will use a food systems approach to identify relevant STFC and indigenous technologies for digitising small-scale agriculture production, connecting farmers to supply chain, reducing food loss and managing food surplus. We will also identify relevant business and supply chain finance models supporting such technological interventions and ways in which different actors across the cold food chain could be engaged to directly and indirectly shape development outcomes. We will create "Sustainable Cold Food Chain Incubator Hub" (TRANSSITioN Hub) in India built on STFC ground breaking technologies from RAL Space (Thermal modelling, remote sensing, drone applications, Infrared Thermography), cryogenics from ASTeC and Cryox, data science capabilities (big data analytics, artifical intelligence) of STFC and IBM Research at Hartree Centre, along with interdisciplinary team from supply chain management, business sustainability, political science, food science, agriculture and material sciences, international research and stakeholder collaboration.

The WPs will be applied to a set of two case studies starting from farms (organic and conventional) to consumption centre, co-identified with in-country partners. Hyderabad and Chennai region have been identified for the pilot project. Being host to companies such as such as Amazon, Flipkart, Jubilant Foods, Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble, this region has become a consumer centric food logistics hub. With an established network of 50,000 organic farmers, processors, technology providers and retailers the selected region strongly aligns with the core competencies of our research agenda. Unfortunately, this region also had the second highest number of farmers suicide in 2016. Project TRANSSITioN, therefore, aims to forge a sustainable framework to meet different economic, social and commercial priorities of varied stakeholders to usher socio-economic change through value maximisation.

Planned Impact

Our approach to transforming food systems is grounded in addressing sustainable livelihood, climate-resilient agriculture productivity, farmers connectivity to supply chain, improving resource efficiency and environmental performance of cold food chains.

Utilising STFC data science expertise in Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and IBM research expertise in decision support tools and apps development, the TRANSSITioN Hub will enable the co-design of evidence-based interventions in farming and supply chain practices. The impact of our engagement with the farming community around Hyderabad and Chennai cities in India will lead to a reduction in the vulnerability of small-scale farmers as well as the overall food system in India to both environmental and social drivers of change e.g. making smallholder household incomes and fresh (cold) food supply in India more resilient to climate change, whilst reducing reliance on the use of chemicals which are harmful to human health while also being the cause of GHG emissions. Smallholders and other marginalised groups will co-produce tools for precision agriculture, better organising crop production with respect to market demands and play a larger role in supply chain decision making processes, leading to improved standards and better market access.

STFC thermal modelling expertise from RAL Space along with cryogenic expertise from STFC ASTeC and Cryox in collaboration with Linde India will enable us to introduce to the Indian food chain state-of-the-art improvements based on cold food chain activities, that will minimize thermal losses and re-direct food surplus production towards value maximisation opportunities. This will be achieved in partnership with small scale farmers and their organisations by co-designing the interventions for minimising the food loss as well as utilising the food surplus. The lessons learnt from this intervention will be utilised for co-designing prototypes with stakeholders and Indian institutes for developing efficient insulation system and interventions for different stages of the chain (e.g. sun shades for on farm insulation, thermal insulated storage boxes or lids utilising sustainable materials for storage and transportation, designing thermal bridges, etc.). Once we have proved the proof of concept, we will also engage with financial institutions from both the private and public sectors to co-define successful business models and policies for large scale adaptations of such technological interventions. Networks of diverse actors (e.g. smallscale farmers, SMEs, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, government agencies and big players like Amazon India) will be able to apply such interventions (technologies with right business/partnership models) in policy, planning and practice.

Legacy & Capacity Building: This project will also: i) Produce on-line educational training material and videos for demonstrating the impact of the proposed interventions; ii) Feed into the development of curricula that support extension agencies to deliver services to smallholder farmers e.g. making new collaboration among IIT-Madras, NIT-Goa, Linde-India and CSA to develop technical training resources for research staff and graduate students across the region on low and high tech interventions for enhancing agriculture productivity and cold chain efficiency; iii) Develop new research skills and leadership training on successful business and public-private partnership models linked to SDGs in collaboration with BIMTech; iv) IP development and knowledge transfer opportunities for STFC community, e.g. new indigenous BIO phasechange material used for efficient thermal insulation that could be used by RAL Space in other thermal modelling projects; v) MoUs with public and private sectors along policy briefs.
 
Description We have successfully published an ABS 3* paper that combines the findings from WP1 on Supply Chain Mapping and WP2c on Sustainable Business Models. We have been able to show the "As is" state of the Food (Tomatoes in our case) Supply Chain in India, map the stakeholders and their activities along with (re-)defining food loss and waste. We proposed how the food loss and waste can be reduced in the system through sustainable business models and agricultural innovation systems (AIS).
Exploitation Route This is being currently discussed with Government of Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to improvise the supply chains.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Government

Democracy and Justice

 
Description This is currently under discussion with governments of three states: Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for further improvising the supply chains.
First Year Of Impact 2024
Sector Agriculture, Food and Drink,Government, Democracy and Justice
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services

 
Description Sustaining Odisha Millets Mission - Policy Gap Analysis
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact The changes are currently been considered as it is an election time. So, after the election the report findings would contribute directly to the changes in policies made by the government. Some of the suggestions have already appeared in their SDGs Policy Report with a proper acknowledgement to the SFN+ team: Sonal Choudhary, Raymond Obayi and Manoj Dora.
URL https://x.com/arvindpadhee/status/1723005286284243293?s=20
 
Description Centre for Sustainable Agriculture - Scoping Project 7 
Organisation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
Country India 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The STFC Food Network+ has funded this research project and will provide further administrative support relating to project management and KE.
Collaborator Contribution The CSA is the lead partner on the multi-disciplinary project.
Impact Anticipated outcomes include publications, follow-on funding and policy impact.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Go4Fresh - Scoping Project 9 
Organisation Go4Fresh, India
Country India 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The STFC Food Network has funded a pump prime project led by this organisation (around £8k) and we have provide further support to help the project engage with new partners and enhance its impact.
Collaborator Contribution The partner is currently in the process of delivering the project with support provided by our network. We maintain regular contact with the project team, and highlight new opportunities to extend their work.
Impact £8k funding provided by STFC Food Network+ to deliver a pump prime project (Virtual marketplace for urban micro enterprises & small farmers growing fresh fruits & vegetables in India). The collaboration involves data scientists and food researchers. The pilot project rolled out a working model with controlled parameters & resulted in development commercially viable marketplace design. By providing access to information and markets to marginal communities improved accuracy in data driven decisions and thereby increasing in income levels, transparency, trust and reduction of food loss. The project also provided a platform to freely & openly interact with ecosystem stakeholders thereby improving knowledge sharing and risk mitigation. The challenge owners like farmers & farmer collectives gained by aligning crop plan with market demand, reduction in cost and higher income levels. Consumers benefitted from availability of fresher & quality produce with traceability while developing data points on buying behaviours & food habits. Even the allied & supporting players like logistics, packaging & cold chain can have a secure and long term business as they have better supply chain visibility and mid/long term commitments thereby allowing them invest wisely and grow positively.
Start Year 2020
 
Description IBM Research 
Organisation IBM
Department IBM Research in the UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution SUMS is leading WP1 in the project TRANSSITioN and ran a workshop with IBM Research for co-designing project TRANSSITioN. We (SUMS) have collected data for WP2a where IBM and STFC Hartree Centre are working for Digital Agriculture and for connecting Indian small-holder farmers to the supply chains.
Collaborator Contribution IBM Research has provided in-kind contribution of £50K worth of geospatial data which is being used for WP2a in this project TRANSSITioN.
Impact We have jointly developed a research paper which is due to be submitted by end of this month.
Start Year 2018
 
Description RAL Space 
Organisation Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution SUMS (Sheffield University Management School) is leading WP1 and contributing to the data collection in India for RAL Space WP (i.e. WP2b) thermal profiling of the material used within the supply chains from farm to retail (and informal market i.e. vegetable hawkers in India), so that they can perform thermal modelling and lab experiments at RAL Space. This collaboration was established in 2018 through STFC Food Network+ scoping project focusing on Role of Space Thermal modelling and Cryogenics to reduce food loss in India.
Collaborator Contribution STFC RAL Space is the lead organization for this collaboration and also provides for the following contributions from RAL Space, ASTEC, and Hartree (i) thermal engineering expertise (ii) cryogenic expertise and (iii) data science expertise (big data analytics, artificial intelligence). RAL Space have participated in field trips (January 2020); gathered material samples and made thermal property measurements; reviewed the current state of the art of thermal supply chains and considered options. Supply chain mapping inputs from WP1 and field trip data collection are used to refine these options. Field trip data collection was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.
Impact This is a multidisciplinary collaboration. We are still in data collection phase. A joint publication is in preparation, working title "Agri-Food Cold supply Chain Vis-a-Vis Cryogen as an Eco friendly Refrigeration under Indian Context" (RAL Space, Jadavpur University, Linde India, IIT Madras).
Start Year 2019
 
Description RAL Space - ECR Scheme 1 
Organisation Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The STFC Food Network+ has funded this research project and will provide further administrative support relating to project management and KE.
Collaborator Contribution RAL Space is the host organization of this Early Career Researcher scheme. The title of the research project is Species identification using sRGB image technology for field based biomonitoring of agricultural ecosystem.
Impact Anticipated outcomes include publications, follow-on funding and policy impact. The project has been successful in creating a dialogue with a few farmers in North India to participate in the project to engage as citizen scientists and contribute to the database of soil fauna images. This database can be used soon to develop a better and more accurate species identification. During the study, farmers were engaged to understand the importance of soil health and soil fauna and how they can beneficial for the crops. The long-term goal of the project is to promote sustainable agricultural practices and ensure the conservation of soil fauna.
Start Year 2022
 
Description STFC Hartree 
Organisation Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC)
Department Hartree Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution SUMS is collecting data for WP2a led by Hartree Centre for Digital Agriculture and Connecting small holder Indian farmers to Supply Chains.
Collaborator Contribution Hartree Centre is leading WP2a and providing valuable inputs for WP1 where we are co-designing the data architecture needed for transforming towards digital supply chains.
Impact We are still working on data analysis.
Start Year 2019
 
Description STFC RAL Space - Scoping Project 14 
Organisation Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Department RAL Space
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The STFC Food Network+ has funded this research project and will provide further administrative support relating to project management and KE.
Collaborator Contribution STFC RAL Space is the lead partner on the multi-disciplinary project - Space technology applications for portable cold food storage in India
Impact Anticipated outcomes include publications, follow-on funding and policy impact. The study has identified options for further development of retrofit insulation products for portable cold storage. This forms the basis of ongoing work to secure funding to develop and test these options. A particular consideration is how locally available (and sustainable) materials might be used to produce these insulation products. The next planned activity is quick and simple tests to assess the defined options. Following this, designs should be come more detailed, and lead into field trials. Small levels of funding are required to enable quick and simple tests. We will seek further SFN funding for this. Once concepts have been demonstrated, we are better placed to secure further funding. If there are clear commercial prospects, STFC proof of concept funding is an option.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Dialogues with Policy makers 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact We had three meetings with different ministries and support groups, such with NABARD, Agricultural department and Banking sector to discuss the future research needs in some of the key areas that project TRANSSITioN worked, such as developing digital platforms for farmers or digital FPO Hub.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Dialogues with Policy makers - Government of Odisha for Role of NGOs in enhancing resilience of Food Systems 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Together with Indian School of Business and Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, SFN+ participated in a panel discussion on the World Food Day, 2023 regarding the roles of NGOs within food systems and how they could help in building resilience. SFN+ suggested to co-develop an online platform for NGOs coordination similar to Zooniverse to keep a track on the different projects, leading to project convergence.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://x.com/sonalchoudhary1/status/1713911082094309391?s=20
 
Description Expert Working Groups Launch Webinar on 31 January 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact SFN+ hosted a webinar on 31 January 2023 to launch its six expert working groups (EWGs), which aim at facilitating knowledge exchange between SFN+ projects and wider audience e.g. funding bodies, industry, and policymakers. SFN+ introduced the objectives, timelines, and potential outcomes of the expert working groups at the webinar. The idea behind these EWGs are that we start preparing the training materials, masterclasses or funding pitch videos by collating the findings from STFC funded projects (SFN+ and TRANSSITioN).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.stfcfoodnetwork.org/expert-working-groups.html
 
Description Field work 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact A final fieldwork was conducted with NGOs and students in a new area (Odisha) to validate some of the findings from Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Game Changing Technology for Agriculture 2023 event on 23 March 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact SFN+ staff members will join the Game Changing Technology for Agriculture 2023 event on 23 March 2023 where they will introduce the network to representatives from the industry.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Interview and Open Public Discussion with NDTV India on our work in SFN and TRANSSITioN to strengthen Indian Food Systems 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact As a part of Science Connect Series at Global Bio India Summit, I was interviewed by NDTV Reporter Ms Gargi Rawat regarding Food Systems in context of India and its implications on our Health (Are we what we Eat?). I presented and discussed some of the key findings from SFN and Project TRANSSITioN. I received many follow up emails and LinkedIn requests from the audiences to further engage in discussions and provided them answers. Many of the college students were really impressed by the discussions and have been taking guidance on the next steps for their career in food systems.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://x.com/GlobalBioIndia/status/1732301235502617015?s=20
 
Description Multistakeholder Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact 30 people attended the workshop for providing feedback on the outputs of project TRANSSTioN and advised on the next stage of the project with the Ministries in Odisha who are very interested in the output of this project, in particular development of Digital FPO Hub.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://transsition.org/
 
Description Multistakeholder Workshop with Policy Makers (Government of Odisha, India) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact SFN+ along with Team TRANSSITioN hosted a multistakeholder dialogue workshop with 150+ participants at the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Government of Odisha on June 2023 for conducting a policy gap analysis on the ongoing Odisha Millets Mission Programme. This workshop was invite only workshop supported directly by the Principal Secretary of the Department. The findings of this workshop was featured in the Department's SDGs indicators report that was launched in Nov 2023 at the International Convention on Millets.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://milletsodisha.com/internationalconvention/
 
Description Policy Report Discussions and Feedback from Policymakers 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact We discussed a 92 pages policy action report for the Government of Odisha on how to sustain successful policy programmes such as Odisha Millets Mission, role of having an integrated data management system and different cutting edge technologies for empowering farmer, self help groups and policy makers. This report was very well received at the Department as well as by the Minister of Agriculture at the International Convention on Millets.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://x.com/sonalchoudhary1/status/1753482594761805960?s=20
 
Description Policy Report Soft Launch by the Minister of Agriculture, Government of Odisha 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment released a summary of policy actions co-developed by the SFN and TRANSSITioN team online at the International Convention on Millets, Nov 2023.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://x.com/sonalchoudhary1/status/1722954489995337739?s=20
 
Description SFN and TRANSSITioN Talk in IIT Dhanbad 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact I delivered the talk at IIT Dhanbad to the PhD and MPhil students on the projects: TRANSSTioN and SFN+ and there were a lot interests and questions related to the presentation and my work. This talk has ignited more collaborative discussions for future projects and external examination of PhD thesis.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL http://ismenvis.nic.in/ViewMajorActivity.aspx?Id=28945
 
Description Scoping projects' case studies online booklets - Sustainable Cold Food Chains and Sensing technologies. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The SFN+ team is working on producing a series of three illustrated case study booklets to showcase the research backed up by the network. Three key topics have been considered: 1) Cold food chain technologies, 2) Monitoring and sensing technologies for safe and nutritious food, and 3) Urban and vertical farming innovations and challenges. The booklets have been developed with an illustrator that has tailored illustrations for the projects' findings, challenges, and future progress. The first booklet is already available for SFN+ members through our members' only section on the network website. The next step for these booklets is to be adapted for printed versions to be distributed widely in engagement events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.stfcfoodnetwork.org/resources.html
 
Description TRANSSITioN Showcase 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact We organised a showcase of the key outputs from the project TRANSSITioN and provided a networking platform for further extending the project into its next phase. We have now been invited to submit TRANSSITioN Phase 2 proposal to Chief Agriculture Secretary of Odisha who may fund the second phase in Odisha on Millets and fresh produce through FICCI.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description World Food Day 2022 - SFN+ webinar series 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Between October 11th and 14th 2022, the SFN+ ran a series of webinars in the build-up to the 2022 World Food Day. In these sessions, SFN+ Champions and Scoping Projects PIs shared their progress, findings, and recent developments around funded projects and ongoing work on four key areas of work for the network. Namely, a) Cold Food Chain, b) Digital marketplaces, c) Innovations in urban and vertical farming, and d) Enhancing food safety and detecting fraud. The sessions took a round table format, facilitated by one or two SFN Champions, and the audience was invited to ask questions and engage with researchers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMZ9FFjarcI&list=PL2Czw6mMvSfr59uQ9kbL-ynD8vDcHj83K
 
Description Writing Retreat Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Third sector organisations
Results and Impact A formal writing retreat workshop for 7 days was held with NGOs to co-develop and submit papers with them. Two papers have been submitted to high impact journals and three papers ABS 4* papers are under development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023