National Program 306 -- Quality & Utilization of Agricultural Products

Assessment Report

March 4-5, 2008

Harrison Ashley, Robert Dorsch,John Finley,Jerry Levy, Barry Swanson,

Daryl Lund (chair), Jerry Levy, Ron Madl, John Massingill

The NP 306 Assessment Review Team (Team) assembled March 4-5, 2008 at
the Marriott Residence Inn-Greenbelt to assess the impacts and relevance
of the National Program. The Team analyzed 162 accomplishment reports in
this two-component program. Seven problem areas containing a total of 23
objectives were reviewed. Each problem area was rated for relevance and
impact and comments were directed at each of the 23 objectives.

The Team wishes to thank the ARS staff for assembling the information in
a form that was easily utilized. To begin, the Team offers some comments
regarding the overall process of retrospective accomplishment review,
then general comments on the NP 306 National Program, and finally
specific comments on each of the seven program areas.

Before the Team offers specific comments on the accomplishment reports
it examined, the Team was impressed with the productivity of the
National Program. Clearly the opportunity to transform research into
economic activity is evidenced by the large number of CRADAs generated
in this National Program. Finally, the Team compliments the National
Program for its efforts to engage stakeholders in defining the research
program that should be supported with public funding through ARS.

**Comments on the Assessment Review Process:**

1.  The Team assessed not only the impact of each accomplishment but
    also chose to rank the relevance of the project. A ranking scheme of
    high, moderate and low relevance was used based on what the Review
    Team felt was the importance of the research to the respective
    stakeholders and to the knowledge base in the area. The ranking was
    translated into a numerical score with 5 indicating high relevance
    and 1 indicating low relevance. The Team suggests that in future
    assessment reviews the Review Team be asked to assess the relevance
    of the research to the area.

2.  The Team suggests that a standard reporting format be developed and
    strictly implemented for principle investigators so that the
    accomplishment reports have some consistency of data and information
    for the Assessment Team. Such a template would request information
    on: (1) relationship to the objective(s) of the program area, (2)
    clear statement of the problem being addressed by the research, (3)
    role of stakeholders in identifying the research needs, (4)
    accomplishments of the research in terms of the science, and (5)
    accomplishments of the research in adoption and commercialization of
    the science and/or technology.

3.  Accomplishments were presented using an organization around the
    seven problem areas. There are other ways to view the research
    e.g. (1) commodity (e.g. citrus, dairy, meat, soybeans, corn,
    cotton, leather, etc.), (2) technology (e.g. Near Infrared
    Spectroscopy), and (3) stakeholder group. Listing the
    accomplishments around some of these topics could be useful to the
    Team.

4.  The accomplishment reports should indicate where there is
    collaboration between ARS scientists at different locations working
    on related commodities (e.g. working on citrus related problems).

5.  When a method is the accomplishment of the research, there should be
    a detailed description of the method, especially the basis, so that
    the significance of the research can be assessed. Data should
    include a statistical comparison to existing methods.

6.  When the accomplishment reports an improvement over existing
    technology, data need to be sufficiently inclusive so that a
    comparison can be made between existing and new technology. For
    example, reporting a 26% improvement in yield of a particular
    component may not be significant if the yield increases from 1% to
    1.26%. However, it could be very significant if the yield increases
    from 10% to 12.6%.

7.  When the accomplishment has resulted in a change within the
    industry, where possible a financial value to producers or consumers
    should be placed on the improvement.

8.  In a report where a technology has been adopted, there should be a
    statement as to the current and continued use and adoption of the
    technology.

    **Comments on NP-306:**

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1.  It was obvious from the accomplishments reports that the leather and
    cotton industry stakeholders were heavily involved in identifying
    the research agenda. The method of obtaining this industry input
    into the research priorities could be emulated by other commodity
    groups because it was evident that such research in general had high
    relevance and high impact.

2.  The Team was encouraged that in 2003 the program arranged a Planning
    and Coordination Workshop for ARS scientists working on the same
    commodities. The purpose of the workshop was to review and
    coordinate the research program. In the accomplishments reports
    dealing with a particular commodity area, it would be appropriate to
    have evidence that the ARS scientists have met to discuss the total
    research effort toward that commodity.

3.  There are several accomplishment reports related to the dairy
    industry. It was not evident that the research was a high priority
    for the dairy industry. We are encouraged that ARS and Dairy
    Management Inc are partnering to establish a National Dairy Research
    program. For dairy research, indicating the source of funding from
    the dairy industry would attest to the relevance and interest of the
    industry in the research.

4.  When there are several accomplishments on the same commodity
    (especially with the protection of intellectual property), ARS
    should consider bring together all the technologies and research
    applicable to that commodity to promote the research and
    intellectual property *in toto*. This would encourage the private
    sector to evaluate the value of the total package of research and
    intellectual property applicable to that commodity.

    **COMPONENT 1. Quality Characterization, Preservation, and
    Enhancement**

    **Problem Area 1a. Definition and Basis for Quality**

*Objectives:*

1.  Identify attributes that define quality of agricultural products.

2.  Develop better understanding of relationships between composition
    and component molecular structure and end-use quality and function
    and sensory characteristics.

3.  Assess quality trends and needs of agricultural products in global
    markets.

    ***Review Team Rating:***

The mean rating of accomplishments defining quality of agricultural
commodities is **Medium-Low Impact** (2.4) with **Medium Relevance**
(2.9). The individual accomplishment reports are of variable quality,
with many describing interesting research with little realistic
commercial application or economic advantage. The review team believes
the accomplishments reported within the Problem Area "Definition and
basis for quality" generally contribute little impact or relevance to
ARS National Program 306, Quality and Utilization of Agricultural
Products, and is of low priority in future funding decisions.

***Review Team Assessment:***

**Objective 1 -** Although several of the accomplishments identify
attributes or specific constituents such as triterpenoids in almonds,
limonoid glucosides in citrus crops, pterostilbenes in blueberries,
organic acids in pickled vegetables, serine endoproteinases in barley,
and moisture in cotton that define the quality of the agricultural
commodities, the impacts and relevance of the selected attributes are
not clearly presented. Clear comparisons of innovative and traditional
approaches to relating selected constituents to end use quality,
functionality, and sensory characteristics are necessary. Accomplishment
reports directed to specific flavor compounds in tomatoes, wound-healing
in potatoes, lycopene in watermelon, soy saponins as analytical
standards, and predictions of cotton quality based on the shape of
cellulose were perceived as inconsequential with little potential impact
or relevance to agricultural productivity or profitability.

**Objective 2 -**The Team observed that the health promoting potential
of citrus limonoids, molecular modeling of collagen in tanning, organic
acids and sour flavors, the molecular-genetic basis for wheat kernel
texture, and the effect of moisture on cotton functionality are good
examples of accomplishments designed to develop a better understanding
of relationships between composition and end-use quality, function and
sensory characteristics. Evidence of economic advantages and examples of
successful commercial applications resulting from the identifying the
relationships between constituents of agricultural commodities and their
end-use quality would be beneficial.

**Objective 3 -** The accomplishments addressing wheat kernel quality as
one of the primary classifications for world trade is the only obvious
accomplishment report addressing the objective to assess quality trends
and needs of agricultural products in global markets.

**Problem Area 1b. Methods to Evaluate and Predict Quality**

***Objectives:***

**1 -** Develop rapid, non-destructive methods for detection and
measurement of physical/chemical quality attributes and quality defects.

**2 -** Develop automated, high-throughput on-line grading, sorting, and
packaging systems for agricultural products.

**3 -** Develop methods to evaluate the performance of sampling plans to
measure quality characteristics of agricultural commodities shipped in
bulk.

**4 -** Develop and utilize multispectral techniques, imaging and image
analysis, and methods incorporating information technology and
artificial intelligence for further improvement of processing and
grading.

***Review Team Rating:***

The mean rating of accomplishments for methods to evaluate and predict
quality of agricultural commodities is **Medium Impact** (3.3) with
**Medium/High Relevance** (4.1). The individual accomplishment reports
range from having little to great impact, as well as little to great
relevance to methods to evaluate and predict quality of agricultural
products. The success rate for this problem area was very good. The team
felt that this problem area needs continued investment to address issues
relevant to the stakeholders.

***Review Team Assessment:***

**Objective 1-** Methods were developed for rapid, mostly
non-destructive, methods for detection and measurement of delayed
bitterness in citrus, fruit firmness, sugarcane deterioration, coating
permeability, nutrition content, moisture in grains, malting quality of
barley, boundary friction of oils, grain quality, FFA in oilseeds,
polyphenol oxidase in wheat, objective methods for flax quality, sticky
cotton, white specks in cotton fiber, and cotton short fiber content. .

**Objective 2** -- Methods for automated high-throughput on-line
grading, sorting, and packaging systems were developed for agricultural
products. Applications included detection of pits in prunes (patent),
closed shell pistachios (patent and license), catfish off-flavor
indicators, defects in leather, insects in wheat kernels, single kernel
specific traits, fungi infected grain, red wheat, cotton lint trash
(patent, license), and moisture in cotton bales (patent, license).

**Objective 3** - A model was developed to evaluate the performance of
sampling plans to reduce almond lot aflatoxin rejection in the EU, to
detect quality attributes such as GMA, FM in peanuts, and discolored
peanuts, to detect fumonisin in corn, and to detect TCK in export wheat
shipments.

**Objective 4** -- Methods were developed for improvement of processing
and grading using NIR, machine vision, acoustic emission, microwave,
electrical conductance, and computer models.

**Problem Area 1c. Factors and Processes that Affect Quality**

*Objectives:*

**1** - Determine influence of pre-harvest factors on quality, including
genetics, production practices and environment.

**2** - Determine influence of post-harvest factors on quality,
including storage, handling, grading, and processing.

**3** - Evaluate effects of safety and environmental protocols on
quality of foods.

***Review Team Rating:***

The mean rating of the accomplishments, factors and processes that
affect quality of agricultural commodities, is **Medium Impact** (3.2)
with **Medium Relevancy** (3.6). The ratings ranged from having low (1)
to high (5) impact as well as low (1) to high (5) relevancy.

Histogram

***Review Team Assessment:***

**Objective 1 --** Two accomplishments reviewed clearly relate and have
a positive impact on pre-harvest factors on quality. These include the
cause of apple physiological disorder and the quality assessment of
wheat breeding lines. In both cases, the review team commented on the
importance of this well-done research and rated both accomplishments as
high impact with high relevancy.

**Objective 2 --** It was the assessment of the review team that one of
the accomplishments reviewed, the quality evaluation of new fruit
genotypes, had both low impact and low relevance in terms of
post-harvest factors on quality, storage, handling, grading, and
processing. It is the review team's assessment that this accomplishment
is not research and that it questioned ARS's involvement. While a medium
low impact and relevance was given to the accomplishment, cheese whey
protein enhanced snacks, the same concerns were expressed. Molecular
level and the development of cultivars is research, but the marketing of
a commercially released product is not.

The review team found that while there is medium relevancy to the
accomplishment of flavor changes due to infection by HLB disease, there
is low impact. The recommendation given to address HLB was considered
not appropriate. The review team determined that the processes affecting
leather quality, improved rice milling, peanut curing decision support
system development, identity preserved (IP) grain handling, expeller
pressed soybean oils, peanut blanching, roasting peanut allergenicity,
acceptable restored moisture levels for cotton, and deterioration of
cotton quality during storage have medium to high impact and relevancy
and are good examples of post-harvest factors on quality, including
storage, handling, grading, and processing.

**Objective 3 --** The review team questioned whether comparing organic
to conventionally grown crops is appropriate research. The two
accomplishments that fall under this objective make this comparison, and
they both received low impact and low relevancy.

It should be noted that it was the assessment panel's opinion that
specific programs should be linked, and there needs to be a larger
stakeholder involvement in ARS research programs.

**Problem Area 1d. Preservation and/or Enhancement of Quality and
Marketability**

*Objectives:*

**1:** Develop strategies to enhance intrinsic product quality and
consistency.

**2:** Improve storage technologies which maintain quality and nutrition
and increase shelf life.

**3:** Enhance nutritional value of agricultural products.

**4:** Investigate use of antagonistic yeasts and bacteria for
antimicrobial effects to enhance safety and reduce spoilage.

**5:** Develop environmentally friendly strategies for plant and animal
pathogen control.

**6:** Minimize effects of pest infestation and food-borne risks on
trade of agricultural products.

***Review Team Rating:*** Mean rating of 11 accomplishments defining
preservation and/or enhancement of quality and marketability is
**Medium-High (4.2) for Impact** and **Medium (3.6) for Relevance**.
![](media/image1.wmf){width="6.882638888888889in"
height="3.238888888888889in"}

***Review Team Assessment:***

***General:*** Given the distribution of accomplishments, consideration
should be given to consolidating Problem Area 1d into 1c. It is
reasonable to assume from the distribution of ratings (histograms) that
projects in both these areas of research are well-aligned to stakeholder
interest and input.

**Objective 1-** Just over half of the accomplishments fell under this
objective and all but one -- its write-up lacking in details \-- rated
HIGH for IMPACT and between MED and HIGH for RELEVANCE. These high
ratings encompassed a variety of project themes, ranging from meat
tenderization to roller ginning of cotton to fruit quality and indicate
a broad emphasis on product quality and consistency.

**Objective 2-** None of the accomplishments fell into this category.

**Objective 3-** Two accomplishments, both rated HIGH for both IMPACT
and RELEVANCE (Improved phytonutrient contents in melons; potassium to
improve cantelope quality).

**Objectives 4, 5-** None of the accomplishments fell into this
category.

**Objective 6-** An accomplishment rated HIGH for IMPACT (Post-harvest
treatments adopted by CA fruit industry) appeared to have good
generality but was somewhat sketchy on details. Another accomplishment
rated MEDIUM for IMPACT and LOW for RELEVANCE was aimed at an
organic-compatible sanitization using peroxyacetic acid.

**Component 2. New Processes, New Uses and Value Added Foods and
Biobased Products.**

**Problem 2a. New Product Technology**

***Fruits, Vegetables, Tree Nuts and Sugar Crops:***

*Objectives*

**1 -** Identify and characterize functional compounds and components in
agricultural commodities and their byproducts

**2:** Improve understanding of relationship between composition,
molecular structure, and physical state and end-use functionality of
these compounds and components.

**3:** Use new knowledge of product properties and component
interactions to develop functional intermediates or products

**Review Team Rating:** The mean rating of accomplishments of new
product technology **impact** is **slightly below medium** (2.8) with a
slightly **above medium** **relevance** (3.2).

The distribution determined that 12 projects were rated low and 9 were
scored high. In term of relevance 12 were rated highly relevant and 6
were rated with low relevance. The high number of low impact may reflect
the early stage in development of the projects. The result is a bimodal
distribution of the impact of this section. Because of the bimodal
distribution a number of the projects were highly relevant and
delivering high impact. Others were low impact and need careful review.

**Objective 1-** A considerable amount of the effort in objective 1 was
the discovery of new or unique ingredients and byproducts. The isolation
and pilot scale preparation of citrus limonoids is leading to a pilot
scale production. Similarly the polymethoxylated flavones form orange
juice processing represents an additional byproduct from the commodity.
As with other products such as corn and corn bran products multiple
value added by-products of high value are being identified. It is not
clear from the write ups that these projects are being coordinated. If
they are the cumulative effect would be far more significant.

Much of the effort in this objective was around carbohydrates and new or
unique applications of by-products or new materials. Although it is
early the work on pectin as a matrix for bone repair is interesting and
appears to be good science. A concern is that it is not a likely to be a
major use of any agricultural product. The development of new polymers
from sugar to produce gum Arabic replacements could be of major impact
in the food industry if the new polymers will match the performance of
gum Arabic.

Some reports in this section were too brief to be able to assess
properly specifically the work on low glycemic ingredients and cyclic
polysaccharides were of little value. More detailed descriptions are
needed to assess the projects and their contribution to the objectives.

The research on new lipid products particularly those for industrial
uses exhibit considerable promise. The work on estolides is exciting
particularly if a non-castor or ricin free castor source of fatty acids
is available.

**Objective 2 -** Understanding molecular interactions and is key to the
development of new technology. The development of Fantesk through jet
cooking is an example of apply basic molecular understanding with
processing to develop unique chemical interactions that result in new
and useful ingredients and delivery systems. The modification of lipids
to basic ingredients for polyester manufacture offers good promise and
new application of oils. Research on structured lipids for caloric
control represents excellent chemistry but the ultimate utility of the
products is questioned by the panel. The development of active wound
dressings from cotton was considered of great significance.

**Objective 3 -** Several of the reports indicted good progress toward
end use functionality of the materials being studied. The development of
the guayale based latex is the culmination of several years of work.
There is very likely a market for the product. The biobased fungicide
work is one of the highlights of the objectives. If this can be brought
to fruition it will impact a new paradigm in protection of foods and
agricultural products will emerge. Similarly the use of soy in the
development of rubber based products represents a new outlet for soy.

Several projects have reported CRADAs and industrial partnerships
reflecting commercial interest. There are also cases of successful
commercialization. It is frequently difficult to measure the extent of
commercial interest.

In some instances the projects are severely limited because the ultimate
cost of production is too high. More consideration needs to be given to
cost of production of ingredients or products including how costs fit in
the balance of materials. When two or more products are recovered the
potential for sharing cost of production can be advantageous.

The panel was concerned that there were several projects in this section
that would be considered technology and may not be appropriate to the
mission and objectives. Specifically the continuous casting technology
for fruit and vegetable wraps and the fruit bars were successful in that
the technologies were used by industry but the panel questioned the
importance to ARS. Similar concerns were expressed about extruded snacks
from whey.

Generally most of the projects are reaching the objectives as stated.
The panel would like to see more evidence of coordination between
projects that appear to be reported separately.

**Problem Area 2b. New Uses for Agricultural By-products**

*Objectives:*

1.  Identify and characterize by-product components for potential
    value-added products.

2.  Convert low value agricultural residues into higher value products.

*Review Team Rating:*

Problem Area 2b was represented by only 12 accomplishment reports. The
Team assessed **Impact** as having a **Medium** rating (2.9) and
**Relevance** as having a **Medium-High** rating (4.0). One third of
Impact ratings were below Medium and only one Relevance rating was below
Medium as reflected in the Histogram below.

![](media/image2.wmf){width="5.9534722222222225in"
height="3.4409722222222223in"}

*Review Team Assessment:*

85% of the Problem Area 2b were directed at Objective 2) above: two of
these are very advanced toward commercialization (cotton-based
Hydromulch and ion exchange materials from plant byproducts) while the
remaining eight are at earlier (sometimes much earlier) research and
development stages. These are targeted programs are at very early stages
and therefore have low ratings.

Area 2b does not make up much of the NP306 effort and the projects are
by definition opportunistic. The two successes are assessed as having
High Relevance because they utilize otherwise ignored waste materials
that would have simply become a waste disposal problem rather than a
commercial opportunity.

These waste streams are smaller volume or truly difficult to utilize,
the implicit assumption is that very large streams of more accessible
materials will flow to lignocellulosic biofuels.

**Problem Area 2c. New and Improved Processes and Feedstocks**

*Objectives:*

1.  Develop improved and new techniques and technologies to convert
    agricultural products into value-added foods and biobased products.

2.  Improve/develop processes and technologies that are environmentally
    benign.

***Review Team Rating:*** The mean accomplishment ratings for new and
improved processes and feedstocks were **Medium Impact** (3.6) and
**Medium-High Relevance** (4.1). By commodity type, projects were
predominately in the Cereals, Oilseeds, and Novel Crops category. The
number of development projects versus process improvement projects was
nearly equal. Relevance ratings tended to be somewhat higher than
impact, reflecting the panel's view that while most projects targeted
relevant issues, impacts were not yet demonstrated or were not
communicated sufficiently in the reports.

While the success rate was relatively good for this problem area,
questions were raised about the proper role of ARS in developing new
products or improving existing processes. This role was accepted by the
review panel when there was strong industry support and evidence of
commercialization or strong potential towards commercialization.
However, product development in absence of strong commercial draw is
more difficult to justify for future resource priority.

Accuracy of the assessment was affected by the inconsistency of
information quality provided by the reports. Decisions were often made
by drawing on panel member's indirect knowledge of the area. The high
ratings have good confidence from the review panel, whereas medium and
low ratings may be influenced by absence of knowledge from the reports.

***Review Team Assessment:***

**Objective 1 --** The highest rated accomplishments tended to solve
long-standing, recognized issues in their industry, demonstrated strong
industry collaboration, and/or provided commercialization opportunities
when economics become more favorable. Examples include modifying wool to
remove skin irritation and shrinkage to reach new consumer markets;
developing a series of biobased home products with improved ecological
footprint and economics for industry partner; converting agricultural
residues into packaging materials; processes for producing new
rice-based ingredients and products with CRADA partners; a new phytase
with enhanced activity to improve nutrient efficiency and decrease
environmental impact; healthy grain-based food ingredients;
commercialization of biobased lubricants from soy; new skincare products
from vegetable oil; multiple commercial applications of a
starch-vegetable oil dispersion; and cotton/flax blends that provide
enhanced fiber characteristics and a competitive advantage in the global
textile market. Examples that didn't demonstrate linkage to industry
support or economic benefits were "green" plasticizers from oxygenated
vegetables oils and high phytosterol corn fiber oil.

**Objective 2 --** Process improvements with environmental benefits also
tended to have strong industry support or recognized industry need.
Examples include an effective dehairing system that improves hide
quality, reduces pathogen potential in meat, and reduces chemical and
time requirements for leather tanning; utilizing soapstock for
conversion to oleo-chemicals, reducing a major underutilized by-product;
developing an effective economic model for the corn wet milling process
that can be applied universally to improve process efficiency; and
effective pretreatments that improve "union dyeing" of wool-cotton
blends to increase utilization of these textiles. An examples that did
not connect with industry need was application of infrared technology to
fruit/vegetable preservation.

Histogram of the Program's Accomplishments:

Histogram of Component 2