GB2365165A - Computer based produce transaction system - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for preventing environmental contamination by providing for direct transactions of products of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields is disclosed. Data concerning additives used in the production of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, and data relating to production backgrounds and distribution of primary and secondary industries, may be searched by means of a registration operation S2000 as an inputting means, an output operation (S3000, Fig 3b) as an outputting means and other operations (S4000, Fig 3c) of a database sewer. The registration operation S2000 includes registering basic data S2100 and business data S2200. The output operation (S3000) includes a business output table (S3100) and an administration output table (S3200). Thus, without the consumers entering the producers region and vice versa, products can be transacted directly based on the above-mentioned data at a neutral area of the Internet from the database server. This helps exclude intermediate sellers profit margins. In this manner, the procurement of environmentally clean products is promoted, whilst the procurement of environmentally damaging products can be inhibited, and so the contamination of the environment can be prevented, or at least reduced.

Description

2365165 A Method for Preventing Environmental Contamination Connected with

Direct Transactions of Agricultural, Livestock, Fishery, and Forestry Produce The present invention relates to a method for preventing, or reducing, environmental contamination associated with direct transactions of, in particular, agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, data elements connected with the production of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, and data concerning the production background and distribution of the primary and secondary products of said produce are input into a database. The products are transacted in a neutral zone of an Internet 'cyberspace' environment through a database server based on the said input data, (which is regarded as reliable) without the need for a consumer to visit the producer's region or for a producer to visit the consumer's region. This is achieved through direct transactions between the supplier and the consumer, thereby eliminating intermediate distributors and their associated mark- ups. This method of direct transaction through a cyberspace environment, between the supplier and the consumer, promotes distribution of cleaner produce with environmental affinity, and bars or at least reduces, environment-contaminating products, leading ultimately to increased opportunities for consumers to purchase safer foods, which are uncontaminated or less contaminated and so to prevent environmental contamination.

Up to now, producers have been reluctant to open their production enviromnent and their production background to consumers. Indeed, producers have not wanted consumers to enter into their regions, whilst also consumers do not want producers to enter into their own regions.

Accordingly, producers only provide information relevant for maximising their profit, and consumers, in general, believe in the provided information when buying the products from the producers. Due to such production and distribution customs, and due 2 to consequent ill-effects the safety of the products, particularly the safety of food products, are being gradually threatened.

According to the 1998 Environment Standard Report for the OECD nations, among the 29 nations covered, Korea uses 14 times the level of agricultural chemicals used in the United States, 28 tim6s the level used in Canada, and 48 times the level used in New Zealand. Therefore, Korea is designated as a nation which uses agricultural chemicals excessively. In terms of use by area, this is equivalent to 1,295 kg per square km in Japan, and 1,205 kg per square km in Korea. The use of the agricultural chemicals has increased since 1975, and in the case of chemical fertiliser, Korea used 230 tons in 1998, with the result that contamination of the soil and water has become a serious issue. This increasing trend is ongoing.

Factors which cause environmental contamination by the productions in the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, are primarily the production background and secondarily the transaction customs.

Examples of the primary factors (the production background), are agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, feed stuffs, livestock faeces, anti-disaster chemicals, over-spreading of toxic chemicals, discarding of toxic drug bottles, burying of toxic materials, and their combustion.

Examples of secondary factors (the transaction customs), are unhygienic food, pollution-inducing products, and fraudulent quality expression. Accordingly, in spite of unlawful transactions, income is ensured, this being the current transaction trend.

Further, in carrying out transactions, intermediate sellers are interposed between the producers and the consumers, with the result that an intermediate margin increases the final retail price. Conventionally, if producers and consumers carry out direct transactions, intrusions into each other's regions cannot be avoided. Further, all the information relating to products is provided only for the sake of the producers, and, therefore, precise and fair information is not available to the consumers.

3 Conventionally, transaction systems between the producers and consumers include the following disadvantages and problems:- (1) When a consumer views a data window for a product, the information available to him has been prepared for the convenience of the supplier only. Accordingly, information which the consumer may wish to see, such as that relating to excessive use of agricultural chemicals and fertilisers, the contamination degrees of the soil, water and the air, and the use of the feeding stuffs exposed to the environment hormones, cannot be found.

(2) The consumer cannot know how enviromnent-contaminating fatal production factors are connected and distributed in the production sites of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields. Environmentcontaminating fatal production factors means agricultural chemicals, vinyl sheets, other chemicals, feeding stuffs, soil quality, water quality and air quality.

(3) The distribution of the above-mentioned production additives and factors is not made clear, and therefore, employees and executives of the agricultural, livestock, 20. fishery and forestry industries, the food processing industries, and their distribution companies may be seriously harmed, or subjected to the risk of environmental accidents.

(4) In view of current Intemet technology, even if a serious event does happen due to, say agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, contaminated feeding stuffs and contaminated fish farms, consumers do not know who is the cause of the contamination, and the degree of the environmental contamination. Further, consumers do not know how much they themselves may be affected by the contamination. Therefore, the consumers rights are compromised, and active involvement in environment campaigns can also be made difficult.

4 (5) The hardware and software of government and public organisations are programmed for their own convenience. Accordingly, a sudden accident which may occur in a real time form in the above mentioned production fields cannot be tackled effectively.

(6) The software which is used by producers of the agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, other chemicals and feeding stuffs concentrates only on production and sales. Further, data management of the secondary manufacturers using the products of the agricultural and the other fields mentioned is also organised for themselves only. Thus, there is no connection between the primary producers and the secondary manufacturers, and therefore, if an environmental accident occurs, an essential understanding on the core issues cannot be realised.

(7) The purpose of the software which is used by government and research centres 15 is to furnish statistical reports, whilst that which is used by companies and individuals is for production management and sales time management. Accordingly, important information on the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, such as overall harvest, the cattle raising situation, the fishing amount, prices, selling and buying and the like, cannot be provided in a real time form. Furthermore, there is no software relating to sales situations, i.e. for systematic and scientific marketing, and therefore, the producers are unable to establish rational production policies.

(8) There are no databases or software which directly connect producers with consumers. Accordingly, consumers purchase products which have not been inspected or certified, believing in the fidelity of the distributors. Even in the case where unhygienic quality is suspected, consumers cannot request open data. Consequently, there have been problems of insufficient food safety and environmental contamination.

The present invention is directed at overcoming or mitigating the above described disadvantages of the conventional techniques.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for preventing or reducing environmental contamination connected with direct transactions of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, wherein, data connected with the production of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce and data concerning production activities of primary and secondary producers are input and stored by means of a main operation selection comprising the steps of. a registration operation which registers data: an output operation which outputs registered data; and other operations which are shared by both the producer and a consumer, wherein direct transactions are made in a neutral zone of the Intemet by means of a database server, thereby to eliminate or reduce the need for a consumer to enter a producer's region, or for a producer to enter a consumer's region, promoting distribution of products of affinity with environment, barring transactions of enviromnent-contaminating products, thus helping to safeguard the safety of foods and prevent environmental contamination.

According to a second aspect of the inventio ni, there is provided a computer-based produce transaction system comprising a central server system and a plurality of remote buyer computers connectable to the server system by means of Internet links, wherein the server system includes (a) a data storage device storing merchant-provided produce data including environment data relating to environment-affecting conditions under which produce to which the produce data relates was produced or harvested, (b) program means providing buyer computer access to the stored produce data via the said Internet links, and (c) program means providing direct transactions between a merchant and a buyer for the supply of the produce by the merchant to the buyer, the said transaction being performed remotely from the merchant and the buyer.

The method allows environment contamination to be reduced by realising direct transactions of products, in which, if a consumer looks into a window of a database server, then data such as the desired product, its production background, its consumer situation, and the like, can be obtained. The consumer's rights can be protected from the profit pursuit of the suppliers, and the distribution of environmentally contaminating materials can be reduced, inhibited, and/or blocked, thereby improving production 6 backgrounds and distribution customs, and also preventing or reducing environmental contamination, as well as ensuring food safety.

Further, the method may prevent environmental contamination by realising direct transactions of products, in which the information on products and processed products of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, is transparently open to governments, to public organisations, to industries, and to consumers, so that an active effort can be made against an accident, so that the health of consumers can be ensured, so that the price of the product is able to be reduced, and so that environmental contamination can be prevented or reduced.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method for preventing environmental contamination includes a main operation selection consisting of. an input means for going through a registration operation consisting of a basic data and a business data; an output means for going through an output operation consisting of a business output table and an administration output table and other operations, provided by a database server regarding all data for production (in the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields), primary and secondary producers' production activity data, consumer trend data, environmental contamination factors in distribution route, and environmental contamination factors in consumption routes of products, wherein the data are registered.

The registered data may be classified into: open data and non-open data. This data is flu-nished to governments, to the public organisations and to consumers. Accordingly, if a consumer looks into the window of the database server, then all sets of information relating to the product to be procured such as the production background, and the distribution route, can be obtained, thereby making it possible to form a judgement on the proposed procurement at a glance.

Without the consumers entering into the regions of producers, and vice versa, product transactions can be performed directly based on the abovementioned creditable data at the neutral area of the Internet space of the database server, thereby excluding 7 intermediate sellers and their profits. This means that the procurement of environmentally clean products can be promoted, and producers of these environmentally clean products are ensured sufficient profit.

The transactions of envirownentally contaminating and unhygienic products are inhibited and blocked, resulting in the producers of the environmentally contaminating products having disadvantages. That is, in this manner, the production background and transaction customs of the products of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields are improved, thereby contributing to food safety and to the prevention of envirom-nental contamination.

The products can be directly transacted based on the above mentioned 'creditable data' at the neutral area of the Internet space of a database server. Therefore, consumers need not directly enter into the producer's region to confirm the production environment, whilst the producer need not show a disappointing production environment to the consumer.

The term "direct transaction" which is used in the following description is defined as follows. The term is different from the conventional action where a consumer enters, say the factory or another region of the producer to procure a product, or that the producer directly meets the consumer to sell the product. The term refers to the action whereby direct transactions are realised at a neutral or distinct area of Internet space. Therefore, there is no direct meeting between the producer and the consumer, and only the product is transacted directly. This transaction should be distinguished from an electronic transaction in which products are introduced by an intermediary.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a computer screen outputs directly all the data of a database server to a consumer who may want to from the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields. That is, the data relates to the product and includes: fertilisers, other chemicals, the feed-stuffs, the soil quality, the water quality, the air quality, the time and use, amount and ingredients of the other used materials, the contamination degrees of the soil and water and air, their proceeding, 8 their alteration, and actions taken for them, and the influence given to the human bodies and the like.

Owing to the software used the consumer can easily and clearly see how the above cited factors are connected to the product in producing it. The producers of the additives, such as the agricultural chemicals, the fertilisers, the vinyl sheets, the other chemicals and the feed-stuffs, show the distribution routes, i.e. from shipping to the delivery to the final producers (the producers of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry industries) based on the software of the material flow table.

If an environmental accident occurs, an immediate measure to be taken, may be presented to governments and to consumers, so that based on the software, governments or public organisations can take immediate and effective action, thereby preventing possible social damage and loss.

Production additive manufacturing companies and processed food manufacturing companies can exchange date with each other, so that abuse of additives can be prevented. Further, the overall agricultural harvest, the raising of cattle, fishery information, distribution information, the demanding entity, and the demand quantity can be displayed to. the primary and secondary producers in a real time form. Therefore, producers can show consumers all sets of information such as a proper production plan, the shipping time, the price, and the like. The producers can further show the production background, the use rate of the agricultural chemicals, the fertilisers, the vinyl sheets, other chemical and the feeding stuffs, the contamination degree and the contamination cause of the soil and water and air, and the kind and time and the dangerousness of them. In this manner, products of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields can be directly transacted.

Further, consumers can use the support of software to collect nationwide information on producers. In this manner, producers who have observed envirortmental standards can be distinguished from those producers who have not, i.e. those who have used excessive agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, other chemicals and contaminated feeding 9 stuffs. Thus producers who have taken envirom-nentally damaging actions may be deprived of profit, which may thereby contribute to food safety and to prevention of the environmental contamination.

Ultimately, only honest and faithful producers can survive.

The invention will now be explained, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagram of a system in which a method for preventing enviromnental contamination is provided by realising direct transactions of products of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields;

Figure 2 is a data flow chart; 15 Figure 3a is a diagram illustrating the levels of the data registration operations; Figure 3b is a diagram which shows the levels of a data output operation; Figure 3c is a diagram showing the system levels of other operations; Figure 4 is a diagram showing a producer's data inputting window; Figure 5 is a diagram showing a consumer's data inputting window; 25 Figure 6 is a diagram showing a consumer/producer price information viewing window; Figure 7 is a diagram showing a food (product) safety and environmental contamination management confirming window; 30 Figure 8 is a diagram showing a window for looking at the flow route map for a gene-modified product (food); Figure 9 is a diagram showing a window for looking at a livestock faeces treatment information; Figure 10 is a diagram showing a producer information window; and Figure 11 is a diagram showing a production background viewing window.

Referring to Figure 1, a preferred system in accordance with the invention includes:

staff managed clients 10, a database server (non-open server) 20, a backup server 3 0, a W^ server (open server) 40, and external user clients 50. For the staff managed clients 10, a user Graphical User Interface (GUI) is programmed with a general 4GI, client development frame such as Delphi, Power Builder or the like. 15 The database server 20 is a non-open server, and forms a server system with a general relation type Database Management System (DBMS) or an Object Oriented Database Management System (OODBMS). The contents stored in the server are of a non-open type, and users who have been acknowledged by the staff managed clients 10 can 20 access the non-open server information. The backup server 30 stores certain contents so that the data within the database server 20 is made reliable and stable. 25 The W^ server is an open server, to which an external user client 50 is able to access in order to obtain open data. An external user client 50 is unable to access the non-open data. Referring to the data flow chart of Figure 2., if managing staff of the staff managed 30 clients 10 inputs data (1), (step S 1), the data is stored in the database server 20 (2), (step S2). If the data is of a non-opefi type, a backup copy is transferred from the database server 20 to the backup server 30 to be stored there (3), (step S3). If the data is of an 11 open type, the data is transferred from the database server 20 to the WWW server 40 (4), (step S4). If the external user client 50 sends a request for a data reference to the W^ server 40 through the Intemet (5), (step S5), the W^ server 40 checks on the existence of the data (step S6). If the data is present, the result is outputted to the external user client 50 (step S10). If there is no such data, the W^ server 40 requests data transmission to the database server 20 (6), (S7). The database server 20 then looks at a secrecy grade associated with the data (7), and judges whether the data is open data (step S8). If it is open data, then the data is transmitted (8), (step S9), and the reference result is outputted to the external user client 50 (step S 10).

If the data is not open, the database server 20 transmits an electronic message (e-mail) stating the non-open status of the data, to the external user client 50.

The operation levels of inputting and outputting the data begin from a main operation selection S1000, which main operation selection S1000 is classified into: a registration operation step S2000, an output operation step S3000, and other operations S4000, as shown in Figures 3a to 3c.

As shown in Figure 3a., the registration operation step S2000 includes: basic data S2 100 and business data S2200.

The basic data S2100 includes: product data registration S2101 for registering the details of sold and returned products; a transactor registration S2102 for registering producers, wholesalers, retailers, and agents; a mail data registration S2103 for registering mail data for a whole country and its regions; a consumer data registration S2104 for registering consumer data for different management districts; a warehouse data registration S2105 for registering the custody of recycling materials and for registering warehouses; a district data registration S2106 for distinguishing different districts so as to efficiently manage orders and the outgoing of products; an individuals (producing workers) data registration S2107; a growth data registration S2108; a manufactured product registration S21.09; a basic production data registration S21 10 for registering the search data on the alterations of soil, water and air; a production activity 12 data registration S2111 for registering alterations of the data on seeding, growth and harvest; and a production result data registration S2112 for registering the average harvest and the daily harvest.

The business data S2200 includes: a product order registration S221 0 for requesting the shipping of ordered products; a products shipping registration S2220 for printing bar codes and for delivering products; a recycling material recovery registration S2230 for registering recycling materials and the keeping of them in a warehouse; and a recycling material disposal registration S2240. 10 The product order registration S221 0 includes a consumer data search S221 1. The products shipping registration S2220 includes: an order data search S2221; a transactor data search S2222; and a product data search S2223. The recycling material recovery registration S2230 includes: a warehouse data search S223 1, a consumer data search 15 S2232, a product data search S2233, and a company data search S2234. The recycling material disposal registration S2240 includes: a recovery data search S2241, and a company data search S2242. Referring to Figure 3b, the output operation step S3000 includes outputting: a business 20 output table S3 100 and an administration output table S3200. The business output table S3 100 includes: a product order slip output S31 10 received from the producer; a by-district/by- date/by-item order and shipping status statement S3120; a by-district/by- datelby-item return statement S3130, including consumer 25 details; a by- warehouse product status statement S3140, showing the accumulation status of the recycling materials under non-disposal; and a discarding status statement S3150. The administration output table S3200 includes: an ordered and non-shipped status 30 S3201; and a shipped and non-returned status S3202.

13 The order and shipping status statement S3120 includes: by-district S3121, by-date S3122, and by-item S3123 details. The return statement S3130 includes: by-district S3131, by-date S3132, and by-item S3133 details. The discarding status statement S3150 includes: by-district S3151, by- date S3152, and by-item S3153 details.

Referring to Figure 3c, the other operations S4000 includes: a user registration S4001, a data keeping operation S4002, a data restoration operation S4003, a user help operation S4004, a preparation information operation S4005, a view calendar operation S4006, a product serial number allocation/ certification confirmation operation S4007, a food (processed products) safety/environmental contamination management instant confirmation operation S4008, a consumer/producer price information search operation S40 10, a consumer/producer price information operation S401 1, transaction registration and electronic certification operation S4012, a production background viewing window operation S4013, a helper operation S4014, and a termination operation S4015.

Various changes and modifications can be made to the embodiment described above without departing from the scope of the present invention which will be defined in the appended claims. Further, whilst agricultural and fishery products and processed food products have been referred to in the description, it should be apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art that the invention can be applied generally to other industrial products without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Actual cases will now be described, applied to the outline of the preferred embodiment described above.

(1) The inputting of data requires a registration by means of the registration operation S2000 of the main operation selection S1000 of the database. The registration operation S2000 includes the basic data S2100 and the business data S2200, and further includes: registration steps S2101 - S2112, S2210 - S2240 and S2211 S2242. Under this condition, the data is inputted using the window display shown in Figure 4.

14 1) The basic data S2100 includes: area, name, resident registration number, driver's license number, mailing area code, address, telephone number, FAX ID, occupation (agriculture, livestock or forestry), names and resident registration numbers of family employees, details of house ownership, facility type, rest rooms, kind of tilling field, amount of owned tilling field, address of the tilling field, crop code, seeding date, expected harvest date, product grade and the like.

2) The culture environment, facility culture and general culture data includes: use of agricultural chemicals, organic culture, non-use of fertiliser, low fertiliser, general culture, livestock code, unit, grade, male or female, number of months, gestation, expected date for giving birth, sellers and product codes of agricultural chemicals and fertilisers and vinyl sheets and other chemicals, their serial numbers, their procured amounts and receipts, issuance of product flow route slip, used amount, code, used date, used site, crop details, residue, recovery details, recovery date, recovery company, person in charge, issuance of certificate, quantity, amount of payment, payment'details and the like.

3) Agricultural equipment includes: tiller, tractor, transplanting machine, seeding machine, their kind and number, amount paid, cash or other means, credit sale or other form, number of deferred payment months, new or used ones, privately owning, commonly owning, maker, procured year, repair details, repair expense, repaired shop, AS satisfaction and the like.

4) Vehicle owning data includes: passenger car or truck, number of vehicles, vehicle number, maker, procurement date, new or used, cash paid or not, credit sale or not, number of months, procured amount, private or common owning, year of procurement, insurance subscribed or not, insurance company, insurance installment, validity period, vehicle repair details, repair expense, repair shop, AS satisfaction degree and the like.

5) Private culture experience: citations awarded, area of fields, analysisof subterranean water (first or second or third grade water), contamination degree and other details, nutrition state, residual chemicals, heavy metals, environment hormones, air pollution degree, distance from an industrial estate and the like.

6) Regional characteristics, advantages of the particular plant, and fit items: price and quantity of vegetables and products of agricultural and other fields and processed food products, buyers of the products, their names and companies, car numbers, and their business sites.

7) Direct transaction details, items, quantity and price: items handle by direct sales stores. owning of warehouse, renting a warehouse, freezing and refrigerating warehouse, the owner's environment, owning of computers, possession of communication ID, and the like. Search items: individual resident registration number and area.

(2) Details to be inputted by the producer about agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, feeding stuffs, and other chemicals.

This category includes: manufacturer code, company name, business entity number, manufacture permission number, representative, mailing area code, business site and address, kind of business, items produced, user ID, product code, permission number for each product, mother group number, name of product, ingredients of product, efficiency applicable range, usable place. standard use amount, validity period, product price, decision of unit price including labour cost, produced quantity, shipped quantity, export quantity, governmental purchase for assisting the North Korea. its major details and items, imported chemical code, its product name, its kind, its ingredients, its efficiency, its usable range and place, its standard use amount, its expiry date, its import date, its export company name, its product producer, transportation method, cautions to be exercised in use, its residual period, transportation method for all the agricultural chemicals, owing of warehouses, direct sale sites, sales details, telephone numbers, head office, branch offices, facsimile, persons in charge, other employees, and owning of vehicles.

16 (3) Matters to be inputted by intermediate distributors, agents, wholesalers, retailers, the agricultural co-operative, and the livestock co-operative.

This category includes: company code, company name, business entity number, representatives, mailing area code, address, kind of business, items, user 11D, telephone number, Tax, person in charge, employees, owing of vehicles (if business use, vehicle number of vehicles), incoming details, outgoing details, residue, operator environment, use of computers, its model number and the like.

(4) Matters to be inputted by government and regional self-goveming bodies.

1) General items: code, names of governmental departments and organisations, product code, date of procurement, quantity procured, amount paid, department, purpose, date of use, quantity used, department of the use, sprayed person, person in charge of the spray, final person in charge, area sprayed, notification about spraying to persons nearby, chemical residue period, responsible person, telephone number, Tax, expected addition use date and area, product code, quantity used, campaign to make it known, expected date, method of the campaign, number of rounds of the campaign and the like.

2) Environmental items: soil and subterranean water and air of each region, contamination degrees for different fields, regional contamination degrees for different seasons, environmental contamination degrees for different weathers, alteration of the ground configuration after construction of dams or building or industrial estates, immigration of population, alteration of harvest or alteration of soil or rivers or subterranean water or sea cost and air, biological system, environmental contamination, alteration of environment or private fields or subterranean water or other agricultural water, nutrition status, air quality of the site, that is, all the inspected data on the natural biological system, and the inspection result emphasised on consumers.

3) Matters open: environment, weather, agriculture, livestock, forestry, marketing, instant buying, distribution, export, health, child care, education, books, government, 17 finance, insurance, automobiles, travel, traffic, tax, legal system, intra-nation communication, Internet, used goods exchange, indent house, consumer protection centre, human rights committee, and other well known matters such as subscription and matter to be known. 5 (5) Management of basic data by the database server.

1) Producer: common matters of farmers, and environment analysis results carried out by the environment managing official.

2) Manufacturer: agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, feeding stuffs, other producer's common matters, special matters, and management of firms based on collected data.

is 3) Selling store: the collected data on suppliers are managed for different firms separately.

4) Environment managing department and organisations: all the requested matters are managed separately for individuals, items, ground configurations and other items.

Thus the producers and consumers can search all the data through the Internet, by means of a PC by registering and then viewing the outputted data. The outputting operation S3000 includes: a business output table S3100 and an administration output table S3200. The business output table S3100 includes: a product order output S3110, an order/shipping status S3120, a recovery status S3130, a warehouse waste material status S3140, and a waste material disposal status S3150. The administration output table S3200 includes: aN ordered-and-waiting-for-shipment status S3210, and post shipping non-recovery status S3220.

The other operations S4000 include: operation steps S4001 - S4015.

18 Accordingly, if a consumer inputs data on a desired item by utilising the database window connected to the Internet, as shown in Figure 5, as soon as it is clicked (selected), the consumer is able to know how production has been carried out in relation to the product. Furthermore, material flow table software is provided to each of the producers of the additives, such as agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets and feeding stuffs. Therefore, the material flow routes of the additives, between the additive producers and the producers of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, can be known.

Through the window of Figure 7, consumers can immediately know details concerning food safety and environmental contamination. If the window of Figure 8 is opened, the flow route of gene manipulated food can be checked. If the window of Figure 9 is opened, information concerning livestock faeces treatment can be.known. If the window of Figure 11 is opened, the production background can be known in one view.

Accordingly, if an environmental accident or an environmental contamination incident occurs, due to the production additives, measures against this can be presented to the government and to consumers. Further, by making consumers, producers and the government use the described software, quick judgement and therefore a decision can be made, thereby minimising any consequent loss. Further, through data exchange between additive producers and producers of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, abuse of the additives can be prevented/reduced.

Further, by means of the window of Figure 6, the factory costs and consumer prices can 25 be known. If the window of Figure 11 is opened, consumer procurement information can be obtained.

Accordingly, information on the harvest and on livestock raising can be provided to producers of the primary and secondary industries in real time form. Further, the demanding entities and the demanding quantity of the whole country, and also for different districts, can be simultaneously outputted, and thus, producers can decide production plans, shipping times, and prices. Further, the producers input the 19 production background, and details concerning the use of agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, and other chemicals. Further, they input information details concerning the contamination degrees of the soil, water and sir, contamination details, contamination causes, the contamination time, and the contamination kind, so as to 5 show all these details to consumers in a transparent form.

Further, consumers are assisted by the software in that they can collect the nationwide producer information in a speedy and easy manner, and they can compare more desh able producers with less desirable producers.

For example, the commodities can be subjected to a code system in relation to environmental contamination in the following manner.

Origin of production: 0,0,0; gene manipulated: I-yes, 2-no, 3-not confirmed; food safety: 1-suitable, 2-not suitable, 3-not confirmed; environmental contamination management: 1-excellent, 2-upper grade, 3-intermediate grade, 4-lower grade, 5-no good, 6-not confirmed.

The production envirom-nent (for food): l-natural culture, 2- nonfacility culture, Macility culture, 4-not confirmed; production method: Porganic fertiliser, 2non-chemicals, 3-chemicals used, 6-not confirmed; production time: 1- Jan., 2-Feb....... 9-Sep., O-Oct., N-Nov., D-Dec.

The above can be coded, as shown, in the following table.

Example:

088 1 1 1 1 1 4 H2 Korea Gene Mani Siutbl ExcII Naturl Organic Apr Shippg ser. No Overall result: serial No. 088111114H2 In carrying out a transaction between a consumer and a product, after confirming the contamination prevention in the case where the consumer makes an order, after searching the commodity information site in which the producer has transparently shown the food safety, the payment is not directly made to the producer but is deposited to a neutral region of the site. Accordingly, the producer and the consumer can confirm the deposition. After the deposition, the producer or the supplier delivers the commodity to the consumer. After delivering the commodity, the consumer checks the commodity quality based on the commodity quality standard, and if satisfied, the consumer accepts the commodity, and transmits a payment signal to a payment approval site (e.g. gree153.com.), thereby paying the producer or to the supplier. On the other hand, if the delivered commodity does not correspond to the information of the site, and thus if the consumer does not want to accept the delivered commodity, then the commodity may be returned, and the deposited money is recovered back. This is important for the sake of safety in the transactions.

Accordingly, as described above, the final consumers of products of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, can immediately know, through their computer, information concerning the use of agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, other chemicals, contamination degrees of soil, water and air, the contamination details, the contamination cause, the contamination time, and the contamination kind, its proceedings, its alteration, and its toxicity to the human body.

Further, consumers can know how production additives are connected with production of the relevant product. Further, producers of additives such as agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, and other chemicals, can know about their flow routes from shipping to production and consumption, based on the software of the material flow table.

Further, if an environmental accident or an environmental contamination, due to 30 production additives occurs, measures against this can be presented to governments and to the consumers. Further, by making consumers, producers, and governments use the 21 software, a quick judgement and decision can be made, thereby minimising consequent loss.

Further, through data exchanges between additive producers and producers of the agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry fields, abuse of additives can be prevented.

Accordingly, information on the harvest and on livestock raising can be provided to producers of the primary and secondary industries, in a real time form. Further, the demanding entity and the demanding quantity of a whole country, and its different districts can be simultaneously outputted, and thus, producers can decide on their production plan, the shipping time, and prices. Further, the producers input details of the production background, and details of the use of agricultural chemicals, fertilisers, vinyl sheets, and other chemicals. Further, they input details of the contamination degrees of soil, water and air, the contamination details, the contamination cause, the contamination time, and the contamination kind, so as to show these to consumers in a transparent form.

Further, consumers are assisted by the software so that they can collect nationwide producer information in a quick and easy manner, and that they are able to compare desirable producers with undesirable producers. Thus the consumer's rights can be protected from the unilateral profit pursuit of suppliers, and the distribution of environmentally contaminating materials can be inhibited, blocked or reduced, thereby ultimately improving production backgrounds, distribution customs, and preventing environmental contamination, as well as ensuring food safety. In this manner, the procurement of environmentally clean products can be promoted, while the procurement of environment harmful products can be inhibited, and also contamination of the environment can be prevented or reduced.

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Claims (14)

Claims

1. A method for preventing or reducing envirom-nental contamination connected with direct transactions of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, wherein, data connected with the production of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce and data concerning production activities of primary and secondary producers are input and stored by means of a main operation selection comprising the steps of. a registration operation which registers data: an output operation which outputs registered data; and other operations which are shared by both the producer and a consumer, wherein direct transactions are made in a neutral zone of the Internet by means of a database server, thereby to eliminate or reduce the need for a consumer to enter a producer's region, or for a producer to enter a consumer's region, promoting distribution of products of affinity with environment, barring transactions of environment-contaminating products, thus helping to safeguard the safety of foods and prevent environmental contamination.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the registration operation comprises: registering basic data and business data connected with distribution; the basic data comprising: a product data registration; a transactor data registration; a mail address data registration; consumer data registration; warehouse data registration; district data registration; individuals (producer) data registration; growth data registration; manufactured product registration; basic production data registration; a production activity data registration; and production result data registration.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the registration operation comprises registering basic data and business data; the business data comprising a product order registration, a products shipping registration, a recycling material recovery registration, and a recycling material disposal registration; the product order registration comprising a consumer data search; the products shipping registration comprising an order data search, a transactor data search, and a product data search; the recycling material recovery registration comprising a warehouse data 23 search, a consumer data search, a product data search, and a company data search; and the recycling material disposal registration comprising a recovery data search and a company data search.

4. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein the output operation comprises a business output table and an administration output table; the business output table comprising a product order output, an order/shipping status, a recovery status, a warehouse waste material status, and a waste material disposal status; and the administration output table comprising an ordered-and-waiting-for-shipment 10 status; and a post shipping non-recovery status.

5. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein the said other operations comprise a user registration, a data keeping, a data restoration, a user help, preparation information, a view calendar, a product serial number 15 allocation/certification/confliTnation, a food (processed products) safety/ environmental contamination management instant confirmation, a consumer goods data input, a consumer/producer price information search, a consumer production price information, a transaction registration and electronic certification, a production background viewing window, a helper, and a termination. 20

6. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein there is provided a server system in which all data relating to the production and distribution of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, and the processed foods thereof, are registered with a database server through the registration operation, the output 25 operation, and the other operations of the main operation selection; wherein all the data registered is input and stored in a backup server, and data classified as non-open is stored in the database server, such that only authorised ID holders may access the non-open data; and data classified as open data is transmitted to an Intemet server 40 so that external users search the data as they wish. 30

7. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein producers and consumers of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, and processed foods 24 thereof, can perform direct transactions of the produce and processed foods at lower prices in a neutral zone of the Internet using the database server, thereby eliminating intermediate mark-ups by intermediate distributors.

8. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein producers of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, and processed foods thereof, provide data concerning production backgrounds through a database for end-users, including consumers, governmental and non- govemmental organisations. 10

9. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein by means of the data input by the producer, food safety and prevention of environinental contamination are made possible by promoting purchase of clean produce, and products of affinity with environment to the consumer, and by barring transactions of enviromnent- contaminating foods. 15

10. A method in accordance with any preceding claim, wherein producers and consumers of agricultural, livestock, fishery and forestry produce, and the processed foods thereof, exchange data bilaterally and communicate with each other in a neutral zone of the Internet using the database server, thereby promoting transactions having 20 affinity with the environment.

11. A computer-based produce transaction system comprising a central server system and a plurality of remote buyer computers connectable to the server system by means of Internet links, wherein the server system includes (a) a data storage device 25 storing merchant-provided produce data including environment data relating to environnient-affecting conditions under which produce to which the produce data relates was produced or harvested, (b) program means providing buyer computer access to the stored produce data via the said Internet links, and (c) program means providing direct transactions between a merchant and a buyer for the supply of the produce by the 30 merchant to the buyer, the said transaction being performed remotely from the merchant and the buyer.

12. A computer-based produce transaction system according to claim 11, wherein the server includes a storage area storing a reference set of environment- contarnination conditions, and program means arranged to compare the environment data in the merchant-provided produce data with the reference set and, in response to the comparison, to inhibit transactions relating to produce for which the related environment data falls within the said set.

13. A method for preventing or reducing environmental contamination, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings.

14. A computer-based produce transaction system, constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and shown with reference to the drawings.