AgroFresh Solutions, Inc., a company focused on providing solutions to maintain produce freshness and quality after harvest, has announced two new partnerships aimed at enhancing its FreshCloud digital platform. These collaborations with Rubens Technologies and Escavox bring new sensor integrations and advanced data analytics to the platform, improving real-time decision-making across the entire produce value chain.
FreshCloud, AgroFresh’s digital ecosystem, helps stakeholders in the produce supply chain, from growers to retailers, track and optimize fruit quality using data. With the latest integrations, FreshCloud will provide more comprehensive insights at key stages of the supply chain, including harvesting, storage, transit and retail distribution.
“With the addition of Rubens Technologies and Escavox solutions, the FreshCloud digital ecosystem is now informed by near real-time data at each crucial step in the produce supply chain: at the grower, in production, in storage, at retail distribution, and during transit. These collaborations enable FreshCloud to provide a fully integrated monitoring system, empowering growers, packers, marketers, and shippers to make critical business decisions to improve fruit quality and profitability.”
Rubens Technologies Brings Harvest Analytics to FreshCloud
AgroFresh’s FreshCloud Harvest module now integrates data from Rubens Technologies, a company specializing in handheld spectral scanning technology. This device allows growers to measure key indicators of fruit quality, such as brix, firmness and starch levels, which are important for determining the optimal harvest time.
The Rubens Technologies hand-held scanner utilizes spectral sensing combined with proprietary algorithms to gather accurate, near real-time data, replacing traditional manual methods that are time-consuming and can damage the produce. This integration helps growers make more informed decisions about harvest timing, improving efficiency and reducing waste.
The Rubens Technologies scanner offers the following benefits:
- Better Harvest Timing: Helps growers predict the best time for picking fruit, leading to higher quality produce and less waste.
- Accurate Measurements: Increases sample size for improved accuracy, ensuring top-quality fruit reaches the market.
- Cost Savings: Automates data collection and integrates results into the FreshCloud platform, cutting down testing and grading costs.
“This collaboration combines Rubens Technologies’ innovation with AgroFresh’s expertise in pre- and post-harvest solutions to deliver a unique value proposition, improving fruit quality, reducing waste and offering greater profitability for all stakeholders.”
Escavox Enhances FreshCloud with In-Transit Monitoring
Escavox, an Australian agrotech company specializing in supply chain tracking technology for fresh food products, has integrated its technology into the FreshCloud Transit module. This integration provides users with real-time data on the condition of produce while it is in transit, helping to maintain quality and reduce waste during the shipping process.
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The Escavox system uses autonomous Blue Box Trackers to capture detailed shipping and product data, such as temperature, humidity, and other environmental conditions that may affect the produce. This data is sent back to the FreshCloud platform, where it is analyzed and presented in intuitive dashboards. Stakeholders can use these insights to make informed decisions, improve supply chain efficiency, and reduce spoilage and waste.
Key features of the Escavox integration include:
- Real-Time Product and Shipping Data: The Blue Box Trackers capture product conditions and shipping data, providing immediate insights.
- Actionable Insights: Dashboards deliver detailed information to stakeholders, helping them identify inefficiencies and optimize the supply chain.
- Automated Reporting: Streamlines tracking and analysis, enabling seamless supply chain management.
- Waste Reduction and Cost Savings: By providing greater visibility into the entire supply chain, Escavox helps reduce food waste and optimize logistics.
“Harvest quality, minus the impact of the journey, equals consumer quality. We take a unique approach with a focus on the food, not the assets that move it. By blending quality and commercial metrics into one place, we can expose problems and opportunities other solutions cannot see, let alone optimize.”
Strengthening FreshCloud’s Capabilities Across the Supply Chain
With these two new integrations, FreshCloud now offers a more comprehensive solution for monitoring and managing produce quality at every stage of the supply chain. The addition of real-time harvest data and in-transit monitoring enhances FreshCloud’s ability to reduce food waste, improve product quality, and contribute to sustainability efforts across the entire value chain.
By leveraging these advanced technologies, AgroFresh aims to continue providing valuable tools for the produce industry, helping all stakeholders—from growers to consumers—make better, data-driven decisions that enhance both product quality and profitability.