New system to trace Australia's horticultural exports to China

A new supply chain traceability system hopes to boost Australia’s horticultural exports to China.

The cloud-based system — to be developed by The University of Tasmania — will allow two-way tracing of horticultural products along the supply chain, providing for streamlined extraction of information for compliance, food safety, and proof of provenance and authenticity. The project will be funded through a Commonwealth-funded grant worth $455,000 aimed at modernising agricultural trade. The university’s application was one of just 16 to be funded from a total of 168 applications.

“The Department [of Agriculture, Water and the Environment] has outlined that improvements in the traceability of Australian horticultural products are critical due to the significant growth of production and exports in this sector and the increasing pressure from importing countries for traceability,” said Jiangang (Johnny) Fei, Associate Professor from the Australian Maritime College.

More than 70% of Australian horticultural products are exported, with China a key market. Australian fruit, vegetable and nut exports to China jumped in value by nearly 180% from 2015 to 2017, according to Austrade.

“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.

Image caption: How the proposed new traceability system will work. Image credit: UTAS.

The growing export market for Tasmanian cherries, valued at $39m in 2017–18, is just one area that will benefit from this new system. The UTAS research team also includes Associate Professor Laurie Bonney from Sense-T and Dr Saideepa Kumar from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture.

“Routinely recorded data, including the pre-harvest seasonal conditions, production details such as agri-chemical use and fruit variety, quantity, quality, location and time of packing, will be uploaded to the cloud-based data management centre,” said Sense-T’s Associate Professor Stephen Cahoon.

“Access will be provided to supply-chain participants to upload and retrieve this information to generate reports as needed and appropriate. These participants would include growers, local and international transport providers, freight forwarders and government agencies responsible for quarantine and customs clearance.”

Associate Professor Fei said, “The system will be modular with scalability and applicability in mind to ensure relevance to other Australian fresh produce supply chains with minimal modification.”

A small electronic device attached to each package will provide a unique identity. For each pallet, a sensor is attached with which all individual electronic devices can communicate via sensor nodes and gateways.

The sensor will measure temperature, humidity and other required information along the entire supply chain. It will also record event data such as arrival at a depot or change of transport mode. It will communicate with the cloud-based data management centre and upload supply chain information in predetermined intervals. This data will be made available to all supply chain participants and other stakeholders. “The end-user application has three main functions,” Fei said. It allows retailers and consumers to check the authenticity of the package. Consumers can check the provenance of the product they are purchasing through the unique ID given to the package. And 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.

Top image caption: Pictured at Hansen Orchards, Grove (from left) — Howard Hansen, Vice-President of Fruit Growers Tasmania; research team members Professor Dugald Close and Associate Professor Stephen Cahoon; and Liberal Senator for Tasmania Jonno Duniam. Image credit: UTAS.