The initiative is a collaboration between Agromanager, Munckhof and five fruit growers
A joint study by Agromanager, Munckhof Fruit Tech Innovators and five fruit growers aims to determine whether printing, sticking and replacing thousands of labels during the harvest could soon be a thing of the past. The partners are testing permanent RFID tags on fruit crates that last for at least ten years and can be automatically read during every harvest.
For food safety, certification and traceability, fruit crates must be provided with a unique identifier during the harvest. Many businesses still use paper barcodes for this purpose, which have to be reapplied every season. This is time-consuming and prone to errors. Stickers can peel off, get wet, become soiled or damaged, resulting in information being lost or becoming unreadable. According to the researchers, these manual processes represent a bottleneck in harvest logistics. It is precisely during the busy picking period that there is a need for a system that is less labour-intensive and operates more reliably.
In the study, picking crates are being fitted with a permanent RFID label featuring an integrated QR code. The label is applied to the crate once, costs around €0.75 each and comes with a ten-year guarantee. The expected service life is even longer. The difference compared with a traditional barcode is that an RFID chip can be read automatically and wirelessly. A barcode must be visible and scanned manually. Thanks to the integrated QR code, crates can also always be identified manually using a smartphone whenever necessary.
Pluk-O-Trak as a link in automatic registration
Netherlands-based Munckhof’s Pluk-O-Trak plays a key role in the research. This harvesting platform is already widely used to increase labour efficiency and minimise damage to fruit. Via the M-Connect communication system, the machine collects data via GPS, cameras and counting systems and exchanges this with fruit management systems such as Agromanager.
By equipping the Pluk-O-Trak with an RFID reader, it is possible to automatically record which crate is on the machine at any given time. This information is directly linked to the plot, location, date, time and fruit variety. This enables automatic registration without the need to apply stickers or manually scan codes.
A step towards the digital orchard
The research forms part of the move towards precision fruit growing, in which machines, sensors and management software are becoming increasingly interconnected. If the field trials prove successful, permanent RFID tags could put an end to the annual application of thousands of crate stickers.
For fruit growers, this means less administrative work, a lower risk of errors and more reliable recording of traceability, harvest and plot data. As a result, the simple fruit crate could become a permanent digital link in the orchard of the future.
