Driving on-farm productivity with augmented technologies for fruit growers (AS23002)
What is it all about?
This program is leveraging the latest augmented reality technology to drive on-farm productivity for berry and table grape growers.
Challenge
Securing skilled labour continues to be a challenge for the horticulture sector, along with the need to increase efficiency and productivity. The use of augmented technology could be an effective tool in shaping the future of labour for the horticulture industry.
Response
The program is implementing two advanced types of technology within the berry and table grape industries: augmented, virtual and mixed reality innovations (such as augmented reality headsets, smart phone applications or specialised cameras) applied to mobile devices, and artificial intelligence (such as machine learning models for tasks like real-time image processing, pattern recognition, and data processing)
The project is working with two cutting-edge technology providers:
- Clarifuit are standardising the way fruit quality is evaluated to reduce rejections and food waste along the supply chain. The standardisation process will be enabled by fully automating quality control and removing human judgement from the process. This will be done by providing quality inspectors with AI-powered augmented reality technology along the supply chain.
- Think.digital are partnering with growers and agronomists to identify what data and information are essential for real-time decision-making, with the aim of developing an augmented reality data visualisation tool that can be used to expedite decision making, augment human behaviour and improve comprehension of complex data.
Benefit
This project will help berry and table grape growers boost their profitability through adopting technology that can improve their fruit picking, automate their quality control processes, improve their training approaches and enhance the way they make on-farm decisions.
While this program is focused on berry and table grape growers, there is scope to scale the same solutions to other crops in the future.