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Fruit traceability app modernising aus ag industry
Elizabeth Gracie
The University of Tasmania (UTAS) has been awarded $455,000 by the Federal Government to develop an app that can be used to both promote and trace Australia’s fruit exports as part of a Government Grant program designed to modernise Australia’s agriculture industry.
The University of Tasmania is one of just 16 to be funded from the original 168 applicants.
Currently, more than 70 per cent of Australia’s horticultural products are exported, a significant proportion of which is exported to China.
“Food quality, safety, freshness and taste are paramount in the minds of China’s burgeoning middle class, and Tasmania’s clean, green brand has our horticultural sector well positioned to help meet that growing demand,” said research team member Professor Dugald Close from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.
According to Associate Professor Jiangang Fei from the Australian Maritime College who secured the federal funding as part of the Australian Government’s $7m Traceability Grants Program, the app will allow both retailers and consumers to check the authenticity of any exported package.
“This will be achieved through the unique identity device attached to each package. The application allows a mobile device such as a smartphone to retrieve identity information of the package through Bluetooth technology” said Fei.
“Consumers can then check the provenance of the product they are purchasing through the unique ID given to the package. The application can serve as a digital marketing tool to promote the provenance story of the product and other products that may be of interest”.
Associate Professor Stephen Cahoon said that “routinely recorded data, including the pre-harvest seasonal conditions, production details such as agrichemical use, and fruit variety, quantity, quality, location and time of packing, will be uploaded to the cloud-based data management centre”.
Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries, Jonathan Duniam noted that the app was an example of innovation that both reinforced and promoted Australia’s reputation as a producer of clean, green and safe food.
“The cloud-based technology will allow easy tracing of Australian produce along the supply chain, making it simpler to extract information that supports its authenticity and compliance,” said Duniam.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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