Future-Proof Your Quality: How to Harness the Power of Spectroscopy in Commercial Agriculture – Part 1

Request a Quote | Schedule a Consultation Welcome to the first installment in our webinar series on spectroscopy in agriculture! This 6-part series will cover the A-Z of internal quality assessment, spectroscopy, chemometrics, model building, model validation, and optimization in a commercial agriculture setting. In Part 1: Intro to NIR Spectroscopy and Chemometrics, Director of… Continue reading…

Precision Techniques can make Horticulture Sustainable

Precision horticulture can increase yields with fewer inputs.  These techniques optimize growing conditions by improving decision-making based on analyzed data to maximize fresh produce quality and yield.  Monitoring quality in all stages is crucial for horticulture crops.  Precision horticulture techniques are suitable for outdoor and indoor farms.  Precision horticulture is becoming attractive as it reduces… Continue reading…

Value Addition to Reduce Post-Harvest Losses

 We need to increase our food production to feed a growing population without using more land and water resources.  One way of improving food security is to reduce food loss in developed and developing countries by value addition.  Food value-addition initiatives exist at small scales around the globe, some of which have export potential.  Maintaining… Continue reading…

How Warmer Nights Change Dry Matter Accumulation in Apples

Dry matter is the total of all solids in fruit, starch, sugars, lipids, pigments, acids, etc. We know farm management practices can influence dry matter accumulation in apples. There are also regional dissimilarities due to weather and soil differences. New findings indicate nocturnal temperature variations can also change dry matter. So how would dry matter accumulation… Continue reading…

NIR Applications in Agriculture – Everything You Need to Know for 2023

A Guide to NIR Applications in Agriculture for 2023   Explore the “what,” “why,” and “how” of NIR spectroscopy in agriculture. From quality control to sustainable farming, breeding programs to disease detection, dive into all your questions about NIR as we look toward 2023 and beyond.   Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy using data collected by scanners… Continue reading…

Ethylene Measurement & Rootstock Influence in Apple

How Rootstocks Influence Apple Fruit Quality and Yield   Besides influencing tree growth and yield of scion cultivars, rootstocks also affect fruit maturity in apples. The experiment found a climacteric pattern, where ethylene production, respiration rates, and oxygen consumption peaked after 5–7 days in fruits produced from all rootstocks. The 17 rootstocks have significant differences… Continue reading…

Advancing apple quality assessment with the Felix Produce Quality Meter

 Developing an accurate predictive apple quality model is no easy task, but Bart Nicolai and his research team at KU Leuven are cracking the code using the F-750 Produce Quality Meter. In over 20 years of research employing near-infrared technology, Mr. Nicolai has used or profiled nearly every NIR tool on the market. His… Continue reading…

The 5 Most Important Parameters in Produce Quality Control

Quality control throughout the process of precision horticulture is vital to maximizing efficient food production. Five quality parameters are regularly relied upon for the most accurate assessment of produce quality: dry matter, soluble sugars, titrable acidity, color, and firmness. These parameters act as maturity index and can optimize quality and yield in the supply chain… Continue reading…

Guide to Fresh Fruit Quality Control

Quality control is essential because fruits are perishable and delicate and can be affected by handling, storage conditions, weather, pests and diseases, internal changes, and genetics. Accurate fruit quality assessment is critical on the farm, as well as during packaging, storage, transport, artificial ripening, retailing, and research. Internal fruit quality, ripening gas analysis in storage… Continue reading…

Building stackable models for high-efficiency breeding

Plant Geneticist Alberto De Marcos and his team at Semillas Fito are using in-depth NIRS data from the F-750 Produce Quality Meter to build and stack models of quality traits to breed better varieties of nightshade and gourd crops.