Research and development combined with market research has made it clear that growers and packers of root crops require greater insights into disease and defect detection at the earliest point possible .
The team has also shipped a TuberSense system to a sweet potato supplier in North America for further testing , as the project looks to expand the breadth of crop the technology can be compatible with . Sweet potatoes can be even more susceptible to disease and defects , especially considering long shipping times , and therefore there is a higher rate of crop wastage .
To better understand the demand from growers , the research team embarked on a 12-week Scaling the Edge project funded by with UKRI . Three quarters of the growers faced disease and defect problems with their crop , and the majority of these are keen that a gas sensing system for early detection is made available .
With the first phase of the project now nearly completed , the team is starting to develop the second iteration to feature an improved gas sensor , with aims to commence testing with units by the end of the year .
Barbara added : “ Research and development combined with market research has made it clear that growers and packers of root crops require greater insights into disease and defect detection at the earliest point possible .
“ While we have made some great breakthroughs during the first phase of the project , we have a lot of confidence from our ongoing analysis to trial a 2.0 iteration - that will extract even more insights into using volatile markers for gas sensing in stored crop .
“ By undertaking detailed data analysis , we believe that we can detect some
tuber diseases and defects more accurately through further refinements to the underlying technology , and we are working through making those changes .
“ We are also exploring technology from other partners . This includes graphenebased sensors from Altered Carbon , who we have partnered with recently , alongside our own bespoke sensor array to see how much we can push the limits of sensitivity of the system .
“ By the end of the project , we want to be in a position where our findings can inform the production of commercial detection systems for the industry .”
If you would like to support the project , the TuberSense team is asking different players of the fresh produce industry to contribute with their views by filling in the following questionnaire below ( which should take 5-10 minutes to complete ) to help it achieve the highest impact for its R & D efforts : https : / survey . sogolytics . com / r / K3Vfy1
www . b-hiveinnovations . co . uk
FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk 9