Agritech: Tracking system for the food chain

Fruit harvesting does not take place in a single phase, but in several steps. In each one, only the product at the right point of ripeness should be collected and any overripe product discarded. If performed correctly, this procedure allows an important reduction in waste. After being collected, the product is delivered to the warehouses that provide for cooling and all subsequent processing after an initial evaluation and possible sorting. Harvesting in the countryside that is not carried out correctly requires long sorting times in the warehouse, which leads to an increase in costs, a delay for the subsequent processing phases, and a lowering of the overall quality and risk of returns.

Here we try to innovate the company and the fruit supply chain by using new technologies that allow managing in detail the harvesting of the fruit by the farm and the traceability of the products inside the supply chain starting from the production phase. We are developing a smarter technological system whose use will allow to know in a capillary way the history of the product to protect and enhance the entire fruit supply chain.

The development of wireless and low-cost technologies will enable the possibility to know the origin and the quality of the crop during the entire food chain. The farms' workers will be equipped with specific hardware that will enable them to link different information with the product: each box will hold harvest time, location, and who performed the harvesting.

ERC Sector:

  • PE7_4 (Micro and nano) systems engineering
  • PE7_8 Networks (communication networks, networks of sensors, robots...)

Keywords:

  • Agricultural engineering
  • Wireless sensor networks
  • Precision agriculture
  • Food tracking

Persone di riferimento