Five Examples Of How IoT Is Supporting The Food Supply Chain

As the Internet of Things (IoT) gets underway, _ previously ‘dumb’ devices irons, dumbbells, cups yes, really) are becoming digitally intelligent.

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While the consumer market struggles to find uses for the technology, the manufacturing industry looks set to enter a fourth industrial revolution’, with factories becoming early adopters of IoT to gain a competitive edge over their rivals. In the food sector, the data from IoT, once analysed, can be used to provide insights into food contamination, levels of pest infestations and hygiene compliance standards.

Here are five examples of how IoT is supporting the food supply chain.

Monitoring crops using drones

Drones are already being used to check on how the crops look to the human eye when they are damaged by storms or pests. However, drones could potentially be fitted with hyper spectral systems in which in built cameras would be able to see’ across a broader range of wavelengths to gauge the health of crops by looking at how their leaves appear through infrared.

Drones will also be able to deliver highly targeted fertilisers and weed killers to limit the damage their overuse could do to crops and soil. Drones could also be used to deploy pest monitoring and treatment systems, particularly on large farms.

2: Auditing logistical progress of food items