The use of RFID in agriculture
RFID in Agriculture
The agricultural sector has long been one of the leading sectors to embrace innovation and gain efficiency and traceability through the adoption of technology; to ensure all processes related to the production and sale of agricultural goods operate at optimised capacity.
An emerging technology widely used in the retail sector and adopted by the agricultural industry for improving efficiencies and accuracy is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). RFID tags can be used to track and monitor produce harvest and packaging, livestock, and other agricultural assets; for management purposes, traceability, security and automation. The concept of paddock to plate, or farm to fridge is not a new concept, however the seamlessness at which this now occurs continues to grow.
RFID is especially beneficial for the monitoring of livestock because it can be used to quickly and accurately determine location and alert farmers of any anomalies. RFID tags can be integrated as part of an automation system to improve welfare, being able to automatically divert livestock through veterinary check areas and specialised feeding areas ensuring no livestock miss these important functions.
At 4id, we have only just started to scratch the surface to provide solutions for the agricultural industry. Our capabilities and competencies have been demonstrated over the last two years, manufacturing tags for Deer Industry New Zealand.
Deer Industry New Zealand is responsible for promoting and assisting the development of the New Zealand deer industry. They use the platform VelTrak; a fully electronic, cloud-based system that enables deer velvet to be tracked from farm to market.
This unique project combines high resolution variable data printing and UHF RFID to produce a secure tagging solution which allows:
Proof of integrity from farm to market
Eliminates manual recording of tag numbers, dates and paperwork
Greatly reduces the risk of human error
Provides cloud-based data security
Enables every registered user (and auditors) to rapidly retrieve data for a ‘business’
Enables data on velvet transactions and inventory movements.
Provides buyers and packhouses with an efficient inventory management system
Reference: Deer NZ Veltrak
Harnessing the power of RFID to achieve the benefits listed above can easily be applied to other agricultural industries and businesses. RFID technology can open up many possibilities when it comes to this innovative and forward thinking sector. Its accuracy and efficiency benefits alone make it an invaluable tool for farmers in many different fields.
Does RFID technology have a place in your agricultural business to help improve your day to day processes and operations?
Contact us today via orders@4idsolutions.com or call on +61 (02) 4394 0333 for more information or to quote your needs for your unique RFID application.
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