Logo of the Information System for Agriculture and Food Research

Information System for Agriculture and Food Research

Information platform of the Federal and State Governments

Collaborative project: Management and optimization of apple harvesting and storage by means of data based prognosis models to enhance fruit quality and reduce storage losses - subproject 1

Project


Project code: 2815703115
Contract period: 11.05.2016 - 10.09.2019
Budget: 370,705 Euro
Purpose of research: Conferences and Meetings

In Germany, fruit quality losses and rots occurring from harvest to consumption are estimated to be up to 18%. In addition to the direct loss of food for human consumption there are also considerable losses of natural resources and human labour. Other important factors are the environmental costs, the high energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with fruit storage. The proposed project provides promising starting points for a sustainable, resource and energy efficient apple production chain adapted to the fruit growing region and season. The objectives of the project are: •Development of an apple production chain management system from the field to the consumer •Energy savings to reduce the quantity and quality losses by means of a customized product and optimized harvesting and fruit storage •Improved fruit quality production and quality maintenance for the benefit of consumers •Strengthening the competitiveness of the German fruit growing and marketing organisations Thanks to modern sensor technology as well as meteorological and site-specific measurements large amounts of data are available from apple orchards whose economic potential is not fully exploited. The project will systematically collect and intelligently link large amounts of data from the orchard, fruit harvesting and storage trials using sensors and develop models and predictions for harvest dates and keepability of apples. Project data will be available in a databank. Based on the results of storage trial outcomes the model predictions will be validated and tested in practice.

show more show less

Subjects

Advanced Search