AgroFresh expands FreshCloud™ digital ecosystem with new sensor integrations for real-time quality control across the produce value chain

AgroFresh Solutions, Inc., a global leader in post-harvest produce freshness and quality solutions, announces two groundbreaking collaborations with Rubens Technologies and Escavox that will enhance AgroFresh’s FreshCloud digital platform, a comprehensive data-backed solution that empowers the produce supply chain to make real-time decisions informed by data. These collaborations underscore AgroFresh’s commitment to innovation, as FreshCloud leverages more advanced analytics, monitoring tools and data to extend freshness and reduce food waste from farm to shelf.

″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,″ says Bradford Warner, AgroFresh Global Head of Digital and Data. ″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.″

Make Informed Harvest Decisions with Rubens Technologies

FreshCloud Harvest now integrates data from Rubens Technologies’ hand-held spectral scanner that enables growers to quickly and easily collect fruit quality indicators to help them predict the optimal time for picking and assess fruit quality, without damaging the produce. Using spectral sensing combined with proprietary algorithms, the scanner measures brix, firmness and starch in apples, replacing time-consuming, subjective manual checks with near real-time data.

″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,″ says Daniel Pelliccia, Founder and CEO of Rubens Technologies.

The handheld Rubens Technologies scanner:

• Helps the grower better predict optimum harvest timing and reduces waste by eliminating damaging testing methods.

  
  

• Enables larger sample size for improved accuracy, ensuring top-quality fruit reaches the market.

  
  

• Cuts testing and grading costs by automating data collection and displaying it within the FreshCloud platform.

Monitor Produce Quality in Transit with Escavox 

Escavox delivers a unique, comprehensive, in-transit monitoring solution, capturing and reporting multiple layers of produce and shipping data while the product is in transit. With the integration into a new FreshCloud Transit module, wherever users or their products are, they can receive actionable insights from the Escavox technology to improve the quality and efficiency of fresh food logistics, including calculating predictive shelf life for best use, less rejection and reduced waste.

″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,″ says Luke Wood, Founder and CEO of Escavox. ″By blending quality and commercial metrics into one place, we can expose problems and opportunities other solutions cannot see, let alone optimize. By using data to eradicate waste related to transit, everyone wins.″

Escavox data solution:

• Captures near real-time product and shipping conditions through autonomous Escavox Blue Box Trackers, delivering immediate insights into product conditions.

  
  

• Empowers stakeholders with actionable insights through intuitive dashboards that reveal inefficiencies and support data driven decisions to improve supply chain performance.

  
  

• Streamlines tracking and analysis with automated reporting for seamless supply chain management.

  
  

• Drives waste reduction and cost savings by offering detailed visibility across the supply chain. 

With the integration of Rubens Technologies and Escavox solutions into FreshCloud, AgroFresh strengthens its leadership in leveraging data and technology to achieve optimal produce freshness and quality. By adding advanced quality measurement and real-time transit monitoring, FreshCloud becomes an even more powerful tool in reducing food waste, enhancing product quality and increasing sustainability across the entire value chain.