The Ag Journal | 18 October

We don’t see enough supply chain focused AgTech but BlakBear out of the UK is looking to change the way we do use by dates.

IN THIS EPISODE:

🦠 FOOD SAFETY PACKAGING REDUCING FOOD WASTE

AI POWERED AGRONOMY 🤖

🌱 YOU MIGHT NEED TO KNOCK YOUR PLANTS AROUND

INTELEGENT FOOD SAFETY PACKAGING

A UK based firm is using smart packaging to indicate food deterioration, avoiding inaccurate use-by dates and reducing food waste.

BlakBear uses sensors within the packaging to measure the actual spoilage of the produce. The sensors use temperature data as well as gas sensors to measure product deterioration and bacterial growth.

The sensor data has been used to train an AI model which can make predictions of bacteria counts and odor scores that can predict the spoilage of individual packs.

In a case study in spinach, the technology extended the shelf life of spinach 7 days past the use by date, reducing waste by 70% and saving around $109m USD annually in food waste.

AI POWERED AGRONOMY

Syngenta has partnered with Taranis to collaborate on AI driven agronomic products.

The partnership over a 3 year period will be aimed at supporting agriculture retailers in the adoption of AI powered agronomic platforms.

The platforms in question involve leaf level remote scouting and generative AI agronomic recommendations. This collaboration is designed to incorporate AI into retail workflows to optimise on farm decision making.

The model of creating AgriAI expertise in the existing agronomic supply chains offers the potential to accelerate on farm impact of AI tools without forcing all growers to become AI experts.

The open question for growers is who is ultimately benefiting from the AI wave and how do we allow growers to capture the most value in the transition into AI assisted agriculture.

YOU MIGHT NEED TO KNOCK YOUR PLANTS AROUND

Research from Man-Qun Wang and colleagues explored how mechanical stimulation of tomato plants with water droplets impacts their growth.

The researchers sprayed tomato crops with differing sized water droplets and observed that plants that were sprayed with larger water droplets were shorter and had significant changes in hormones involved in plant defense, resulting in an increased resistance to predation and mold.

The research suggests that knocking your plants around a bit might make them healthier!

That’s a wrap, make sure you share with your mates!

ST