Foreword
Today’s world is subject to important changes from the environmental point of
view. Based on this, it is valid to assume that the way we produce foods must
necessarily evolve to the generation of systems that consider the aspect of
‘‘sustainability.’’ Thus, for future production systems, food production with these
features (Biosystems) should be the most suitable option to support the worldwide
growth of the population in an environmentally friendly way. Biosystems, in order
to be a real alternative in food production, should consider including basic studies
of various disciplines with the production of plants, animals, microorganisms,
among others. These efforts must be related to aspects of Production Control
Engineering as well as recycling systems and waste inputs.
The study of Biosystems Engineering is emerging worldwide focusing on issues
such as agricultural production, livestock and aquaculture, amalgamating aspects
of basic biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and engineering in searching
for strategies for sustainable food production in protected environments. Some
important research fields regarding Biosystems Engineering for food production
are new production strategies of plants with high content of beneficial compounds
for human health, development of electronic instrumentation for monitoring
production at different levels, recycling agroindustry residues, environmentally
friendly approaches for food production, among others.
As an example of the aforementioned, it is clearly a global trend (especially in
Europe) toward ‘‘healthy eating,’’ rich in compounds with activity called ‘‘nutraceutical,’’ due to the presence of specific secondary metabolites. Agricultural
production systems that have documented significant nutraceutical compounds are
called ‘‘organic.’’ While these systems produce functional (nutraceutical) food of
high quality and reduce pollution effects in the process, it cannot generate enough
yields to support the global growth and thus, are of high economic cost and hardly
accessible for most of the population. On the other hand, conventional extensive
agriculture has produced the food needed to sustain the population growth
worldwide. However, this achievement is reached using components given by the
Green Revolution and incorporates some elements of biotechnology. This type of
agriculture has the peculiarity that the food produced is not as high in nutraceuticals as organic products. Additionally, conventional systems are accused of
having associated environmental problems.
v
Today’s world is subject to important changes from the environmental point of
view. Based on this, it is valid to assume that the way we produce foods must
necessarily evolve to the generation of systems that consider the aspect of
‘‘sustainability.’’ Thus, for future production systems, food production with these
features (Biosystems) should be the most suitable option to support the worldwide
growth of the population in an environmentally friendly way. Biosystems, in order
to be a real alternative in food production, should consider including basic studies
of various disciplines with the production of plants, animals, microorganisms,
among others. These efforts must be related to aspects of Production Control
Engineering as well as recycling systems and waste inputs.
The study of Biosystems Engineering is emerging worldwide focusing on issues
such as agricultural production, livestock and aquaculture, amalgamating aspects
of basic biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and engineering in searching
for strategies for sustainable food production in protected environments. Some
important research fields regarding Biosystems Engineering for food production
are new production strategies of plants with high content of beneficial compounds
for human health, development of electronic instrumentation for monitoring
production at different levels, recycling agroindustry residues, environmentally
friendly approaches for food production, among others.
As an example of the aforementioned, it is clearly a global trend (especially in
Europe) toward ‘‘healthy eating,’’ rich in compounds with activity called ‘‘nutraceutical,’’ due to the presence of specific secondary metabolites. Agricultural
production systems that have documented significant nutraceutical compounds are
called ‘‘organic.’’ While these systems produce functional (nutraceutical) food of
high quality and reduce pollution effects in the process, it cannot generate enough
yields to support the global growth and thus, are of high economic cost and hardly
accessible for most of the population. On the other hand, conventional extensive
agriculture has produced the food needed to sustain the population growth
worldwide. However, this achievement is reached using components given by the
Green Revolution and incorporates some elements of biotechnology. This type of
agriculture has the peculiarity that the food produced is not as high in nutraceuticals as organic products. Additionally, conventional systems are accused of
having associated environmental problems.
v