Smart Food Policy for Small Scale Farmers: Understanding the Critical Factors of Food Traceability

注重当地生产者的食品安全和采购政策可以防止食源性疾病的爆发，是健康食品环境的重要组成部分。食品安全政策，如纽约（NY）食品度量标准要求一定的可追溯性，这意味着在整个供应链中披露产品的原产地，位置和生命史的信息和过程。然而，参与可追溯性网络基础设施的成本可能会抵消小农场实施食品安全政策的经济效益。数据和技术要求和能力有可能使那些在收集、记录和共享数据方面能力、时间和资源有限的小型农场边缘化。在与教授加里克莱佩尔和农业生态学和可持续粮食生产的克莱佩尔实验室在生物系在大学在奥尔巴尼（U奥尔巴尼），在政府技术中心的合作，U奥尔巴尼建议建立初步的数据和技术架构，以支持必要的网络基础设施的发展，为整个链的可追溯性系统，适合小农场的数据能力。这项研究的重点是设计适合小型农场能力的数据和技术架构。数据收集将包括一系列深入采访选定的小农户和政府官员在纽约？的首都区和代表的UAlbany，这将作为机构买家。研究团队将使用访谈数据的定性分析来确定为小型农场设计适当技术和数据架构所需的关键因素。此外，研究结果将用于记录从小型农场到机构买家的全链可追溯性所需的政策，组织，治理和技术组件。

Food safety and procurement policies that focus on local producers can prevent foodborne illness outbreaks and are an important component of a healthy food environment. Food safety policies such as the New York (NY) Food Metric require some traceability, meaning the revealing of information and processes of the origin, location, and life history of a product across the supply-chain. However, the costs of participating in a traceability cyber infrastructure could potentially nullify the economic benefits of food safety policy implementation for small farms. Data and technology requirements and capabilities have the potential to marginalize small farms who have restricted capability, time, and resources to collect, record, and share data. In partnership with Professor Gary Kleppel and the Kleppel Lab for Agricultural Ecology and Sustainable Food Production in the Department of Biology at the University at Albany (UAlbany), the Center for Technology in Government, UAlbany proposes to build preliminary data and technology architectures to support the development of the necessary cyber-infrastructure for a whole-chain traceability system that fits with the data capabilities of small farms. The focus of this research is to design data and technology architectures that fit with the capabilities of small farms. Data collection will include a series of in-depth interviews with selected small farmers and government officials in NY?s Capital District and representatives of UAlbany, which will serve as the institutional buyer. The research team will use qualitative analysis of the interview data to identify the critical factors needed to design appropriate technology and data architectures for small farms. In addition, the results will be used to document the policy, organizational, governance, and technical components needed to enable whole-chain traceability from small farms to institutional buyers.