Sugarcane Harvest Research Articles

Design and experiment of monitoring system for feed rate on sugarcane chopper harvester

Real-time monitoring of sugarcane harvester feed rate is great significance for guiding harvesting operation and improving efficiency. In this study, a feed rate monitoring system of sugarcane harvester is designed and developed. The system adopts the proposed iterative wavelet threshold denoising technology to enhance data quality. Compared with Fourier transform and traditional wavelet threshold method, the signal-to-noise ratio of the collected signal is increased by 41.6% and 10.5% respectively, and the root mean square error is reduced by 32.5% and 12% respectively. A nonlinear adjustment particle swarm optimization back propagation neural network (NAPSO-BPNN) is introduced and established with the hydraulic motor outlet pressure of the base cutter, the hydraulic motor outlet pressure of the lower conveyor roller, the displacement of the upper conveyor roller, and the flow rate of the hydraulic motor of the chopper as inputs, and the feed rate as the output. The NAPSO-BPNN demonstrated lower uncertainty in initial weight and threshold settings, with determination coefficients increasing by 0.12 and 0.06, and average relative errors decreasing by 8% and 3.8% compared to traditional BPNN and PSO-BPNN. Finally, the accuracy and reliability of NAPSO-BPNN feed monitoring model were verified in three plots with sugarcane growing well, growing poorly, and seriously lodging. The determination coefficients of NAPSO-BPNN feed monitoring model on three plots are 0.954, 0.93 and 0.911 respectively. The average relative errors are 7.43%, 8.16% and 9.26% respectively, and the root mean square errors are 0.157, 0.223 and 0.247 respectively. Therefore, the monitoring system of feed rate developed in this study is accuracy and reliability in different plots. The outcomes of this study are expected to provide robust technical support for adjusting the operational status of harvesters and optimizing real-time parameters.

Distribution and Movement Characteristics of Airflow and Mixture in Sugarcane Harvester Extractor Based on CFD-DEM

Distribution and Movement Characteristics of Airflow and Mixture in Sugarcane Harvester Extractor Based on CFD-DEM

Laboratory analysis of soluble solids content in sugarcane juice from direct and shredded extraction methods using NIR spectrometer

Most stakeholders, including farmers and sugar millers, are interested in sugarcane quality to plan for harvesting season. However, the impact of different juice extraction methods on juice quality is not clearly understood. While individual factories measure soluble solids content (SSC) to gauge sugar content before harvest, the extraction method significantly affects the measurement. This study was performed to determine and compare the SSC in sugarcane juice extracted by the direct extraction method (DEM) and shredded extraction method (SEM), and to develop a calibration model to monitor SSC in juice using NIR measurement to support harvest planning. A total of 156 sugarcane samples were collected, and the juice was extracted using both DEM and SEM. Their spectra data were acquired using NIR spectrometer (400-2500nm) and uniformly divided into calibration and validation sets. The models were developed using PLS regression. Calibration models developed from short and long wavelengths showed significant prediction, with RMSEP values of 0.27oBrix and 0.11oBrix for independent samples, and biases of 0.05oBrix and 0.00oBrix for DEM and SEM, respectively. These results indicate that the choice of juice extraction methods can significantly influence predictions of sugarcane maturity based on SSC levels. Therefore, farmers and sugar millers should consider their extraction methods when monitoring and predicting sugarcane harvest maturity.

Phenological Monitoring of Irrigated Sugarcane Using Google Earth Engine, Time Series, and TIMESAT in the Brazilian Semi-arid

Monitoring sugarcane phenology is essential since the globalized market requires reliable information on the quantity of raw materials for the industrial production of sugar and alcohol. In this context, the general objective of this study was to evaluate the phenological seasonality of the sugarcane varieties SP 79-1011 and VAP 90-212 observed from the NDVI time series over 19 years (2001–2020) from global databases. In addition, this research had the following specific objectives: (i) to estimate phenological parameters (Start of Season (SOS), End of Season (EOS), Length of Season (LOS), and Peak of Season (POS)) using TIMESAT software in version 3.3 applied to the NDVI time series over 19 years; (ii) to characterize the land use and land cover obtained from the MapBiomas project; (iii) to analyze rainfall variability; and (iv) to validate the sugarcane harvest date (SP 79-1011). This study was carried out in sugarcane growing areas in Juazeiro, Bahia, Brazil. The results showed that the NDVI time series did not follow the rainfall in the region. The sugarcane areas advanced over the savanna formation (Caatinga), reducing them to remnants along the irrigation channels. The comparison of the observed harvest dates of the SP 79-1011 variety to the values estimated with the TIMESAT software showed an excellent fit of 0.99. The mean absolute error in estimating the sugarcane harvest date was approximately ten days, with a performance index of 0.99 and a correlation coefficient of 0.99, significant at a 5% confidence level. The TIMESAT software was able to estimate the phenological parameters of sugarcane using MODIS sensor images processed on the Google Earth Engine platform during the evaluated period (2001 to 2020).

Core Technologies of Sugarcane Chopper Harvester Extractor: A Critical Review

This review has systematically assessed the critical technologies of impurity removal fans in segmental sugarcane harvesters, highlighting their impact on minimizing harvester impurity rates. The analysis was conducted from three perspectives: Firstly, the physical properties of flexible sheet-like materials were thoroughly examined, including the methodologies for material parameter measurement, the utilization of technical approaches, and the constraints of existing methods. Secondly, the operational mechanisms of impurity removal fans were elucidated, encompassing their working principles, research subjects, and technical methodologies, and compared with the mechanisms of analogous fluid machinery. Lastly, a review of the structural design and parameters of impurity removal fans was undertaken, analyzing the interplay between operational modes, structural optimization designs, and aerodynamic characteristics. The review identified key issues in the design and performance of impurity removal fans and recognized the challenges in technological advancement. Through this triadic analytical framework, the review has identified salient design and performance deficiencies within existing impurity expulsion fan technologies and has underscored the formidable challenges confronting technological evolution in this domain. Synthesizing these insights, the review proffered prospective research vectors and avant-garde technological interventions poised to augment the operational efficacy of impurity expulsion fans, with the overarching goal of enhancing the operational proficiency of sugarcane harvesting machinery.

Innovative Design of a Whole-Stem Sugarcane Harveste

The small whole-stem sugarcane harvester is a type of sugarcane harvesting machinery designed for individual farmers. It ensures a complete cutting plane during the harvesting process, resulting in low sugarcane head breakage and reduced sugar loss. The sugarcane harvesters currently developed mainly come in two forms: whole- stem and cut-stem. The cut-stem harvesters are larger in size and more expensive, making them unsuitable for the hilly terrain and small-scale cultivation in China. The whole-stem harvesters have poor adjustability of the cutting platform, leading to uneven stubble and high head breakage rates, making it difficult for farmers to choose the right sugarcane harvesting machinery. Currently, the aforementioned issues have not been effectively addressed. Therefore, this paper designs a low-cost, rationally structured, easy-to-operate, and individual-farmer-friendly small whole-stem sugarcane harvester that can efficiently complete sugarcane harvesting tasks.

Sugarcane harvesting systems in Brazil: Effects on soil carbon stocks and ethanol payback time

AbstractReplacing the burnt sugarcane harvesting system with unburnt sugarcane is important for the sustainability of the sugarcane sector in Brazil. Thus, quantifying the impact of the change in the sugarcane harvesting system on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock in Brazil is necessary, as it will allow the refinement of data on SOC, which is essential for the preparation of the national inventory of emissions and removal of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in addition to contributing to national public policies. We used data from both soil sampling and literature review in this study, resulting in 210 pairs of comparisons: 84 for the conversion from burnt sugarcane to unburnt sugarcane; 95 for the conversion from native vegetation to unburnt sugarcane; and 31 for the conversion from native vegetation to burnt sugarcane (NV–burnt), which we analysed using a mixed linear model. In Brazil and the South‐Centre region, burnt–unburnt conversion results in a progressive increase in SOC stocks over time, in surface and subsurface layers. Over 20 years, the NV–burnt conversion showed SOC losses between 15% and 32%, and the NV–unburnt conversion showed losses between 27% and 35%. SOC change rates showed gains of 0.32 and 0.59 Mg C ha−1 year−1 for burnt–unburnt, and losses ranging from 0.82 to 1.06 Mg C ha−1 year−1 for conversions from native vegetation. The time required to offset the negative carbon balance of the NV–unburnt conversion is 6.4 and 8.2 years, being shorter than the payback time of the NV–burnt conversion, which is 9.9 and 9.2 years, in the 0–30 and 0–50 cm layers, respectively.

Design of an Adaptive Height Control System for Sugarcane Harvester Header

This study addresses the issue of low control accuracy and harvesting efficiency resulting from the manual adjustment of the header height during the sugarcane harvesting process in hilly and mountainous regions. An adaptive header height adjustment system was designed and implemented. A test bench for the sugarcane harvester header was designed and constructed, incorporating a LiDAR to measure the ground height at the sugarcane growth point in front, and a draw-wire displacement sensor to monitor the real-time height of the header. I/O ports were allocated, and the control program was developed in the TIA Portal environment. The PLC control system achieves the precise adjustment of the cutting height based on the collected data. The experimental results indicate that the system can quickly respond and adjust the cutting height under complex terrain conditions. When the cutting height into the soil is 0 mm, the adaptive control system’s average cutting height error is 0.28 cm, and the average response time is 2.3 s. When the cutting depth into the soil is 2 cm, the average cutting height error is 0.21 cm, and the average response time is 2.31 s.

Assessing soil degradation in Brazilian agriculture by a remote sensing approach to monitor bare soil frequency: impact on soil carbon

In countries with extensive agricultural practices, there is a significant risk of soil degradation, making it essential to develop techniques for understanding and detecting these changes. In this study, we used an earth observation system to identify the temporal bare soil frequency and thus, relate it with soil tillage and its impact on soil carbon degradation. The work was performed in two important agricultural states of Brazil, São Paulo and Paraná. For that, historical field and Remote Sensing (RS) data were analyzed to identify the relation between bare soil areas and their degradation. The frequency of bare soil was detected by Landsat images, in the last 36 years using the Geospatial Soil Sensing System (GEOS3). Historical soil surface temperature data was produced using the same images. In addition, legacy pedological and crops (i.e., soil cover) maps were used. Finally, soil texture information was spatialized based on a synthetic soil image (SISY). A total of 28,000 sites with topsoil organic carbon (SOC) were used as the reference for degradation. The soils of the state of Paraná presented significantly lower bare soil areas when compared to the state of São Paulo, mainly due to the wide use of the No-Tillage system. The advancement of sugarcane harvesting technologies together with the "boom" of the commodities after 2000s was responsible for the considerable increases in soil cover conservation. It was noticed that the more exposed the soil remains, the less carbon it has, having a negative correlation (r≈ −0.5). Sandy soils in both states proved to be the ones that were subject to the highest exposure rates and thus, more degraded. This fact is of concern, given that sandy soils are more susceptible to degradation factors, such as erosion. We observed important historical public policies related to the temporal tillage systems adopted by agro-community, which had a significant impact on carbon dynamics. The remote technique was able to infer how the soil has been managed. This information is crucial as it provides a solid basis for developing future public policies aimed at sustainable production.

SEASONAL MIGRATION IN THE HARVEST OF SUGARCANE IN BRAZIL

It is known that there are challenges faced by seasonal migrant workers in the harvest of sugarcane in Brazil, highlighting issues related to human rights and social justice. In this study, precarious working conditions, health impacts and limited access to fundamental labor rights faced by these workers are exploited. In addition, existing government policies and gaps in the legal protection of these workers are discussed, emphasizing the need for measures to promote a safer, more dignified and fair migration. There are also the following research questions that have moved the search in this study: What are the main causes of seasonal migration in sugarcane harvesting? What are the main challenges faced by workers? How is social justice impacted by migration? What policies and practices were innovative to protect rights? Thus, this study aimed to reflect on the theme of seasonal migration in the harvest of sugarcane and its implications for social justice and the human rights of these people. This study is a bibliographic revision of the narrative, qualitative type; which was built from the following steps: definition of the problem; Review planning; Choose databases; Definition of keywords; Selection of inclusion and exclusion criteria; Search in literature; Selection of studies and finally, critical analysis, which will allow a synthesis of the results found. Studies published in the last 10 years have been used on the subject, which have been organized in a single framework and compared in the textual discussion. Therefore, this article provided the reflection on this theme, verifying that the instability caused by migration can lead to problems in the family, educational, emotional, social, economic area, within others. It was possible to highlight that the fact that it seeks to develop programs that allow the creation of public policies that guarantee social justice, and minimization of social iniquities, are necessary.

Implication of the root growth and soil macropores distribution on sugarcane yield in Takalar, Indonesia

This study examined the relationship between the decline in sugarcane productivity and the distribution of macropores and depth of root penetration in sugarcane plantations in Takalar during one planting period (October 2021-September 2022). There were five observation points (P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5) in one hectare of land to measure the distribution of soil macropores using methylene blue solution. Cross-sections of the soil were made to observe the presence of plant roots at a depth of 0-40 cm with a width of 60 cm. In each plot, disturbed soil samples were collected to measure soil texture, soil organic matter (SOM), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) contents. Other measurement parameters were the infiltration rate and plant productivity. The results indicated that SOM and NPK levels at the research location were deficient, serving as the first indicators of problematic soil. Macropore observations revealed that macropores were distributed only at a less than 10 cm soil depth. This distribution limited the penetration of plant roots to a depth of 0-40 cm. The root length density (RLD) value indicated the absence of roots at depths of 30-40 cm in plots P2 and P3. The field findings explained why sugarcane production in Takalar only achieved 50%, around 40 t ha-1 from the first ratoon sugarcane harvest, instead of the expected 70-80 t ha-1.

Risk assessment of soil compaction due to machinery traffic used in infield transportation of sugarcane during mechanized harvesting

Soil stress imposed by tire-soil contact from transshipment vehicles used in mechanized sugarcane harvesting results in increase in the degree of compactness. In this study we aimed to: (i) estimate the magnitude and propagation of vertical stress into soil caused by sugarcane transshipment wheeling; and (ii) assess the risk and occurrence of soil compaction in an Oxisol of southeastern Brazil. Three tractor-trailers with a carrying capacity of 10, 21, and 30 Mg, and an autonomous truck-trailer with a carrying capacity of 20 Mg were evaluated as field traffic treatments. For each treatment, magnitude and distribution of vertical soil stress (σz) and soil strength (precompression stress, σp) were predicted by modeling estimation and risk of compaction was assessed by σp/σz relationship. The occurrence of soil compaction was evaluated based on measured changes in the bulk density and macroporosity (equivalent pore diameter > 50 μm) up to 0.70 m deep after wheeling. Estimates indicated that the autonomous truck applied stresses that reached 595 kPa at the soil surface beneath the centerline of the tire, imposing the greatest risk of compaction up to a depth of 0.35 m depth. The stresses at the soil surface beneath the centerline from the tractor-towed trailer tires ranged from 275 to 279 kPa, imposing a risk of compaction that did not exceed 0.29 m depth. All assessed transshipment configurations promoted soil compaction, detected by increases in the soil bulk density and decreases in the macroporosity, even at greater depths where risk prediction had not alerted to the soil compaction. The most significant impact on soil compaction was observed for the autonomous truck-trailer and the tractor-towed trailer with a carrying capacity of 30 Mg, also affecting subsoil, as evidenced by a relative increase in soil bulk density of 5 % and 7 % in the 0.30−0.50 m and 0.50−0.70 m layers, respectively, and a relative reduction in macroporosity of 40 % and 50 % in these same soil layers.

Implementation of a first-mill cane-feeding control strategy based on a cane-harvest system

The analysis of the extraction performance of three Colombian sugarcane factories revealed large variations in milling operations. Because more than 70% of the extraction occurs in the first mill, the chute level behavior was evaluated, and the coefficient of variation (CV) values were greater than 55%. This was mainly caused by the control strategy not being capable of mitigating the effect of processing different densities of sugarcane. This variability resulted from the frequent change between manual and mechanically harvested sugarcane. An in-line indicator was designed to determine the type of sugarcane; this was based on the electric current drawn by the cane leveller. In collaboration with factory A, a control strategy was designed that changes the velocity relationship of the conveyor belts depending on the sugarcane harvest type. The control strategy was also applied in the second factory (B), with only a 1.5 m high first-mill chute, which affects feeding stability, but dynamic current protection was added. This was based on PID controllers that manipulate conveyor velocity proportionally, reducing the chance that it would come to a halt, protecting the cane knives and shredder from electrical overload, and providing a more constant mill feed. The evaluation of the new control strategy was compared with the old control loops, increasing the overall extraction of 0.40 and 0.68% for factories A and B, respectively. Better stability was achieved in the first mill chute with a CV of approximately 30%, which was also reflected in the chute levels of the following mills. The new control strategy used the instruments and actuators already installed without any additional investments and can greatly improve the milling performance and, as a result, profitability.

Sugarcane Burning: Why?

The sugarcane harvesting practices of farmers pose a recurring problem of burning the sugarcane fields every year, leading to the release of PM 2.5, which is hazardous to health and a matter of concern for all parties involved. The objective of this research is to investigate the causes of sugarcane burning by farmers. Data is collected through participatory observation methods and group discussions with a sample group of farmers in the provinces with the highest incidents of sugarcane field fires, namely Nakhon Ratchasima, Kalasin, and Khon Kaen in the northeastern region of Thailand during the 2021/2022 production season. Content analysis techniques are employed to identify the reasons behind the behavior of burning sugarcane. The findings reveal that sugarcane burning has been a long-standing practice among farmers, and the prevalence of burning has increased due to a shortage of labor for sugarcane cutting. The available machinery for sugarcane cutting is insufficient and unsuitable for the farmers' fields. Farmers who burn sugarcane fields are aware of the health impacts and have benefited from the government's measures to address the issue of sugarcane field fires. However, it is observed that the quantity of burnt sugarcane still exceeds the government's target, because burning sugarcane is a cost-effective, convenient, and rapid method. It is found that penalizing farmers at a rate of 30 Baht per ton of burnt sugarcane and providing assistance at a rate of 120 Baht per ton of fresh-cut sugarcane does not sufficiently motivate farmers to change their sugarcane burning behavior.

Convolutional neural networks to classify human stress that occurs during in‐field sugarcane harvesting: A case study

AbstractAssessing human stress in agriculture proves to be a complex and time‐intensive endeavor within the field of ergonomics, particularly for the development of agricultural systems. This methodology involves the utilization of instrumentation and the establishment of a dedicated laboratory setup. The complexity arises from the need to capture and analyze various physiological and psychological indicators, such as heart rate (HR), muscle activity, and subjective feedback to comprehensively assess the impact of farm operations on subjects. The instrumentation typically includes wearable devices, sensors, and monitoring equipment to gather real‐time data of subject during the performance of farm operations. Deep learning (DL) models currently achieve human performance levels on real‐world face recognition tasks. In this study, we went beyond face recognition and experimented with the recognition of human stress based on facial features during the drudgery‐prone agricultural operation of sugarcane harvesting. This is the first research study for deploying artificial intelligence‐driven DL techniques to identify human stress in agriculture instead of monitoring several ergonomic characteristics. A total of 20 (10 each for male and female) subjects comprising 4300 augmented RGB images (215 per subject) were acquired during sugarcane harvesting seasons and then these images were deployed for training (80%) and validation (20%). Human stress and nonstress states were determined based on four ergonomic physiological parameters: heart rate (ΔHR), oxygen consumption rate (OCR), energy expenditure rate (EER), and acceptable workload (AWL). Stress was defined when ΔHR, OCR, EER, and AWL reached or exceeded certain standard threshold values. Four convolutional neural network‐based DL models (1) DarkNet53, (2) InceptionV3, (3) MobileNetV2 and (4) ResNet50 were selected due to their remarkable feature extraction abilities, simple and effective implementation to edge computation devices. In all four DL models, training performance results delivered training accuracy ranging from 73.8% to 99.1% at combinations of two mini‐batch sizes and four levels of epochs. The maximum training accuracies were 99.1%, 99.0%, 97.7%, and 95.4% at the combination of mini‐batch size 16 and 25 epochs for DarkNet53, InceptionV3, ResNet50, and MobileNetV2, respectively. Due to the best performance, DarkNet53 was tested further on an independent data set of 100 images and found 89.8%–93.3% confident to classify stressed images for female subjects while 92.2%–94.5% for male subjects, though it was trained on the integrated data set. The comparative classification of the developed model and ergonomic measurements for stress classification was carried out with a net accuracy of 88% where there were few instances of wrong classifications.

Height estimation of sugarcane tip cutting position based on multimodal alignment and depth image fusion

Sugarcane tip cutting is essential to reducing the rate of impurities in the harvest. To achieve adaptive regulation of the tip-cutting position by a sugarcane harvester, we propose a method for estimating the height of the tip-cutting position of sugarcane. The RGB and Binocular depth cameras are aligned to process the sugarcane tip region image. This involves threshold segmentation, morphological operations, and contour detection to identify the tip-cutting position and upper boundary contours. The depth image is segmented using contour pixel information and merged to form a colour depth image of the sugarcane's tip. This image is then transformed using depth data and triangular parallax principles to determine the height of the sugarcane tip-cutting position. The proposed method was evaluated in various sugarcane plantation environments. Comparative analysis between the proposed method and manual measurements of actual cutting position heights revealed that the RMSE ranged from 1.22 cm to 1.78 cm, and R2 varied between 0.79 and 0.86. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in accurately extracting the height information of sugarcane tip-cutting positions, which has a specific application value for the adaptive adjustment of the tip-cutting device of the sugarcane harvester.

Automated system for the detection of risk in agricultural sugarcane harvesting using digital image processing and deep learning

In recent years, significant changes have been presented in the climatological trends due to climatic change, originating negative impacts on the agricultural production, diminishing mainly the harvest efficiency. The following research proposes the optimization of the agricultural risk identification method for the prediction of the variables: temperature and precipitation; the risk identification method was developed through the Digital Image Processing technique (DIP) and Deep Learning (DL); Subsequently, with the processed images, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN's) were developed for the detection of areas where there is a potential risk in the sugar cane crop harvest in the southeast of Veracruz in Mexico. The efficiency of CNN detects temperatures over 38ºC and the levels of precipitation under 70 millimeters. The efficiency of network detection is 0.9716 and 0.9948 for predicting the temperatures and precipitation variables, which represent a solid basis for detecting zones that depict a risk for the sugarcane harvest.

Transient spaces, temporary alliances: harvesting breathing spaces in India’s sugarcane fields

ABSTRACT Marathwada is a historically drought-affected and caste-ridden region in Maharashtra, and a reflection of India’s story of exclusionary economic growth. Poor rainfall, extractive agrarian practices, and social exclusion have forced nearly one million marginal farm families and landless communities to harvest sugarcane in neighbouring districts. They are recruited in pairs, as a koyta, almost universally comprising husband and wife, and live and work on different sugarcane fields for six months a year. This article first describes the asymmetrical power relations and day-to-day practices of gendered public space that shape the lives of female cane harvesters as women, wives, and migrant labourers. It then illustrates the temporary friendships and inter-generational alliances that have emerged in these shared life/work spaces, referred to as ‘breathing spaces’: on their co-ordinated walks to complete morning ablutions in the open fields, in their shared kitchens outside their makeshift homes, and on the tractor-trailers that ferry them from one sugarcane field to another. Here, they express themselves and engage in both casual banter and serious discussion about their alcoholic husbands and abusive labour contractors, sexual and reproductive health problems, and even anxieties and dreams. It is in and through such smaller, transitory spaces within the larger spaces – in the absence of men – that the article presents the myriad ways in which the female koyta workers (re)produce social relations and reclaim their own little pockets of freedom to ensure safety, relief, and recovery. The article is based on a multi-sited ethnographic study, including inter-generational conversations, focus group discussions, stakeholder interviews, and thick field notes documented between October 2020 and August 2021.

A Comparative Study on the Operational Efficiency of Joystick and Touch Screen Control Methods for Sugarcane Harvesters

Reducing cumbersome mechanical control components is one of the trends of modern agricultural machinery towards a high degree of automation. Whether the control components of sugarcane harvesters can gradually be replaced by central control screens, similar to car cabins, is an unresolved question. At the level of human machine interaction, this involves comparing the efficiency between joystick and touch screen control. This paper conducts a simulated experiment to compare and study the efficiency and user experience of joystick and touch screen control in adjusting the topper and base cutter heights of sugarcane harvesters, aiming to provide a reasonable basis for the design of control interfaces in sugarcane harvester cabins. The electromyographic signals, experiment duration, and subjective cognitive evaluations of participants in both the topper and base cutter groups were analyzed. The results showed that the efficiency, learnability, and ease of use of different control methods varied under different operational tasks. For the topper that corresponds to the operating behavior and height transformation in real time, joystick control demonstrated superior ease of use and operational efficiency compared to touch screen control, with weaker learnability. There was no discernible difference in muscle activation levels between the two control methods. Consequently, joystick control is deemed more suitable for the height adjustment of the topper. Regarding the base cutter with non-real-time mapping of operating behavior and height changes, no significant disparity in ease of use and learnability was observed between the two control methods. Touch screen control yielded lower muscle activation levels and garners higher overall subjective cognitive scale ratings. Thus, touch screen control is considered more suitable for base cutter height adjustment. Lastly, the paper proposes the optimal combination of software and hardware for control components in sugarcane harvester cabins, and provides an objective and multidimensional experimental analysis method for future research on similar human machine interaction interfaces.

Reframing the wicked problem of pre-harvest burning: A case study of Thailand's sugarcane

Pre-harvest sugarcane burning persists in many countries though there are policies prohibiting the practice. As problems related to sugarcane harvesting are complex, a thorough understanding of the problems for policy formulation is required. The objective of this study was to reanalyze or reframe problems of sugarcane harvesting and pre-harvest sugarcane burning. Concepts of wicked problems, practical reasoning and policy reframing were applied. The study used a participatory modeling approach to illustrate the case of Thailand. Wickedness was shown by complexity and uncertainties of factors intertwining with values related to adoption of harvesting methods; green mechanical, green manual and burnt manual. As timeliness of harvest was the top priority, the burnt method was considered more efficient. It was easier, faster, cheaper and more suitable under unfavorable circumstances for the green methods. The policy to reduce burnt-harvested sugarcane was not so effective and also led to the undesired ‘green but unclean’ method. To frame harvesting problems based on emissions of fine particulates (PM2.5) from sugarcane burning was not a good choice. Incomplete problem sense-making and poor problem frame were indicated. Most farmers were unable to associate sugarcane burning with environmental problems of PM2.5 (and also global warming/climate change) and livelihood impacts. Nevertheless, a larger concern over climate variations was perceived by a majority of farmers. Farmers who adapted relied primarily on green harvesting and the use of residues as trash blankets. Through policy reframing, inefficient green harvesting was seen as a better frame. The new frame enabled farmers linking agricultural practices to sustainability of environment, productivity and livelihoods in the context of climate change. Using participatory modeling for reframing policy problems in general and wicked problems in particular was shown to be powerful and contributing to originality.