Low cost sensors to reduce storage losses

The world population is expected to grow to over 9 billion people by 20401 and food production will

need to increase by more than 50% to cope with the expected demand. Improving yields from existing

agricultural surface is critical to deliver this deficit as land suitable for conversion to agriculture is

dwindling. Crop loss during storage is a significant loss-route in the UK and internationally. By

leveraging on our expertise in Printed electronics, CDT Ltd and the University of Manchester will

collaborate with NIAB to explore the feasibility of using a low-cost printed electronics based sensor

array for the detection of early onset of disease in stored onion crops allowing action to be taken to

prevent loss. This cross-sector team will develop methodologies to assess the technical and market

viability of this application and to identify the end-user requirements for the technology.