Approximately 1/3 of the agricultural production ends up in landfills, unfortunately confirming the second law of thermodynamics, which, in simple terms, says that every energy transformation is followed by an energy loss. As it is explained in the Agrimax Project website, a big percentage of this loss is due to the industrialization of the agricultural food products. Examining especially the part of the food chain that is related to storage and shipping, we find out that the loss accounts for 17% of global production. This is because while transported or stored in silos, the grain is exposed to microbes and insects which find the ideal environment to grow. IoT and AI can help with this global problem and effectively assist to reduce waste.
How IoT and AI technology becomes a part of the solution in reducing waste
IoT and AI technology attempts to offer solutions that improve the supply chain as it uses a wide variety of sensors, some of them with very high precision measurements and machine learning algorithms for Big Data analysis.
These sensors record temperature and humidity fluctuations, which are very much likely to pose serious threats to the stored crops. The accuracy of prediction increases with measurements of oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations. In addition, a phosphine sensor facilitates the safe use of insect pesticides in the silo and makes sure that the insect elimination is in a good way. Exactly the same sensors systems are able to monitor the crops during transportation, covering all the links starting with harvesting till delivering the product to the manufacturer or the retailer’s premises.
After the sensors have finished their job, machine learning algorithms, take over-analysis on data and then predict dangers and consult the auditor to prevent product deterioration or to accelerate the process of sending it to the market shelves in perfect condition.
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