Experience Day, technologies for agroindustry. 

In the first Experience Day Reddi of the year, we created synergy between businesses and inventors to drive innovation in the agro-industry sector. Learn more about what we experienced at the event.

Agroindustry refers to the industry around the transformation of products from agriculture, forestry and fishing. From the definition of agroindustry, it is evident the need for technologies that support the operational function and management of the processes of production, conservation, transformation, use of by-products and commercialization of raw materials of biological origin, with food and non-food applications.

Climate change, overpopulation, low agricultural production in some countries, economic effects on the cost of living and food, among other factors, have a direct impact on agribusiness, which faces new challenges every day. This is where technological innovation becomes vitally important for the technification of agribusiness in order to avoid or prevent the effects caused by the aforementioned factors. 

Some of the applications of technology in agribusiness lead to an improvement in the food production process, for example:

1. Automation and robotics: development of machinery that allows an increase in productivity. Examples are autonomous tractors.
2. Big data: Analysis of autonomously acquired data for decision making, for example in irrigation systems, soil nutrients, pest control, analysis of results of applied actions, etc.
3. Biotechnology: Research and development for food production under extreme conditions or less vulnerable to pests, with less water and sunlight consumption, among others.
4. E-Commerce & Intelligent Systems: support in the commercialization of any product through the internet or other platforms, but also research in new processes / forms of cultivation, for example the ‘vertical farms’ of certain plants that allow us not only to save space but also to increase production.

Technology paves the way for the adoption of new ways of working, application and development of knowledge, since agribusiness and technology have a necessary and unlimited relationship. This was the theme of our first ‘Experience Day’ of 2022, where we talked about Technologies for Agribusiness.

Victor Adolfo Romero, Mechatronic Engineer from the University Autónoma de Occidente, Master in Electrical Engineering from University of São Paulo and Ph.D. in Robotics from the University of Sydney, opened the event with a lecture entitled “Robotic Systems for Agribusiness”. He currently teaches at the Faculty of Engineering of the University Autónoma de Occidente and is part of the research group in Remote Control and Distributed Control Systems – GITCoD, whose main lines of research are Robotics, perception, artificial intelligence and machine learning. 

In this event, held on Thursday, May 12th, 2022, we managed to present different technologies to companies that bet on innovation to achieve the results they want.

Get to know them!

Phenoagro: Phenotyping for crops: Mobile and terrestrial robotics, intelligent agriculture for high yield crops (ÓMICAS Program – Javeriana Cali University)

Phenoagro is a new platform of geo-referenced IOT equipment on the ground and software for cloud integration of tasks associated with the characterization of the state of a cultivar, its phenotypic traits at the atmosphere, soil and plant level, its response to physical or biological stresses, or its general evolution for making decisions on irrigation, nutrition, cutting and harvesting.

Nandi: Real-time livestock tracking software (Nandi LTD – Embassy of Israel) 

Technology that generates data on the real behavior of bulls and cows, helps to digitize the cattle data entry process automatically from the conception of the animal until its sale, generates alerts in case of situations that may cause death or disease of cattle, and optimizes the entire herd management.

It combines Israel’s technological potential with the potential of LatAm’s agricultural and livestock market. 

Biodegradable bag for seedlings (UNICAUCA):

The biodegradable seedling bag is made from a flexible film obtained from mixtures of cassava starch, plasticizer, polylactic acid (PLA), which incorporate a novel color concentrate or biodegradable masterbatch. Its purpose is to contain the substrate on which seedlings of various crops are planted, generally for a period of 1 to 4 months, until they reach an adequate stage of development prior to transplanting.

Mobile Cooling System (UNIQUINDIO/SJTP3):

The mobile cooling system for milk and other fluids is an equipment that allows rapid cooling of the milk after milking, lowering the temperature from 35 to 4°C. The system is made up of 3 subassemblies: 

a conventional 1 HP condensing unit that operates with 110V current, as an expansion system an expansion valve with nozzle is used. the condensing unit is protected by a stainless steel cubic structure, which has wheels for its displacement. 

• A heat exchanger is a bundle of sanitary grade stainless steel tubes, packed inside a sanitary steel tube, the liquid to be cooled flows inside the tubes and the refrigerant flows outside each tube; it can be adapted to the cooled milk storage tank or to a canteen and the milk storage tank to be cooled. The angle of inclination can be adjusted to adjust the speed and temperature of the fluid.
• A conical storage tank (optional) to maintain frequent passage of the liquid to be cooled.
• The system is joined together with sanitary clam-type unions (sanitary grade stainless steel ferrules and clamps and Teflon gaskets). This makes the equipment dismountable and has no accumulation points. The tubes are visible from side to side, allowing for proper cleaning and disinfection.
• The current state of development of the technology is TRL 5, and there is a prototype that is being evaluated.

Highly digestible vegetable protein to replace animal protein in rations (UNIVALLE):

This technology is a protein source based on a mixture of biotechnologically processed mycelium and fermented vegetable protein. It is a new category and a new alternative to animal protein. The interesting thing is that this protein source contains all essential amino acids and a high protein digestibility (very similar to animal protein profile). Heura Foods-type vegetable sources of protein (from soy concentrate) are considered incomplete, so we could say that our protein is a better quality and healthier alternative.” 

Through solid fermentation (SF) with filamentous fungi, we have been able to elaborate rations with the 21 free amino acids from soybean (Glycine max) as well as fermented flours from sorghum and coffee pulp.

It offers highly digestible protein of vegetable origin as an alternative to the dependence and importation of lower cost animal protein, for local companies: poultry, pig and fish farmers mainly. Pets are also included.

Wireless Ecosystem for the monitoring and control of dissolved oxygen and temperature in fish farming under artificial pond conditions (UNIQUINDIO/SJTP3):

The technology is composed of 3 sections remotely connected through a wireless communications network (Zigbee standard) using a 2.4 GHz radio link where its power consumption is relatively low, increasing the battery life cycle and allowing long distance connections. The functionality of each station involved in the application of the technology is described below: 

Sensor station: contains all sensors for reading the most representative physicochemical variables (dissolved oxygen, water temperature, pH, turbidity, air temperature inside the system). Powered by solar panels. In addition, it has a datalogger or information storage system that provides a backup to the information presented to the fish farmer. This section is permanently located in the pond and is kept afloat thanks to a system of floats strategically placed on the structure. 

Actuator station: allows the activation and deactivation of the air pumping unit to manipulate the levels of dissolved oxygen in the pond. Recirculation of water from an auxiliary pond to control water temperature and compensate for the variation of dissolved oxygen. This node is powered by solar panels with sufficient power for the energy consumption of the main actuators (compressor, motor pump, etc.).

Base station: it is in charge of collecting the information from the two mentioned stations and presenting them in a user interface. Likewise, this node has the possibility of connecting to a server through an embedded unit with which all the information can be stored in databases and be accessed by the different devices (cell phones, computers, tablets, etc.) handled directly by the fish farmer.

On the other hand, it is important to mention that the technology has a platform developed in Processing (open software), which allows providing information of the ponds and production in real time, to analyze the behavior of the physical-chemical variables against the current environmental conditions through graphs and data tables, as well as to control the levels of dissolved oxygen in the ponds, manually or automatically. The platform also allows the calibration of the dissolved oxygen sensor when it is connected to the system for the first time. The platform also has a data storage system, generating a history of information for tracking and historical monitoring of production. 

CFIS Technology, Wastewater Treatment and Recovery, High Purity Green Hydrogen Generation, Low Carbon Footprint (Innovatech Sciences and Engineering SAS):

CFIS technology allows the generation of high purity green hydrogen during the wastewater treatment process. The technology turns the entire wastewater treatment process into an environmentally sustainable circular economy project, the solid waste or primary sludge is converted into organic fertilizers for the agricultural sector, and the secondary sludge into activated carbon for the industry, converting them into additional business units. It also reduces the generation of odors and foams in the wastewater treatment process. The production of hydrogen allows the technology to be implemented for the distributed generation of electric energy in remote areas, as well as its use as a complement to domestic and industrial gas, allowing progress in the processes of decarbonization of the industry, the reduction of CO2 and GHG emissions to the atmosphere, and the recovery of water resources.