GrainCare

Innovative solutions for grain spoilage using IoT and AI

nquiringminds is working on smart technologies in an Indo-UK collaboration funded by the Newton Fund to monitor and correct problems with grain spoilage. The project is a collaboration with is working with the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology (IIFPT) and Indian partners Marketing Yard, and the Brunel Innovation Centre.

India produces about 263.3 million tons of food grains per year. Annual post production losses are 15 million tons of food grains – enough to feed one third of India’s poor.

nquiringminds, together with its partners, are building low cost sensor and mobile apps for complete monitoring and corrective measure for grain storage to help prevent loss and spoilage of grain in India. The cutting edge technology uses nquiringminds’ sensors and secure data sharing to cut down on post-harvest spoilage and maintain the quality of the stored and dried grain.

nquiringminds’ GrainCare technology will apply modern low cost sensing and advanced analytics to the drying and storage process. Open APIs and interfaces allow sensing and control systems to be applied to the widest range of drying equipment and drying processes. One of the hurdles in the company’s work has been the time taken to test and improve the sensor prototypes and to build a low cost solution that will work in extreme heat and not fail.

Advanced machine learning control systems optimise crop yield, moisture levels for storage, energy use and labour time. A key development has been the simple user interfaces to ensure that the technology can be used easily by the Indian farmers.