The Valencian company Citrosol has presented the world's first automatic control system for fungicide treatments, the CATsystem®, at the 6th conference on technology for the agri-food sector from the Universitat Politécnica de València (UPV). It is a pioneering system that can contribute to reducing food waste.
CATsystem®, whose development started in 2017, makes it possible to keep the concentration of fungicides, disinfectants and food additives used in post-harvest treatments constant, within a defined range of values.
There isn't anything similar system on the market, so it is a groundbreaking innovation in post-harvest treatment application.
Citrosol has several objectives with the launch of CATsystem®: remaining at the forefront of innovation and development in the post-harvest; automating and monitoring the treatments in real time, detecting doser malfunctions and any human errors from the operators; taking rotting control to a higher level; improving the financial standing of the client by reducing wastage and preventing claims; implementing resistance control when using a single active material; and lastly, offering greater peace of mind to the client.
At the aforementioned conference, Doctor Xavi Parra, R&D&I director at Citrosol, gave the lecture "Precision post-harvest: 4.0 technologies for the application of treatments with recycled ingredients."
The presentation focused on explaining the impact that this technological innovation from CATsystem® has for the agricultural sector.
Parra spoke about the current situation of food waste, which affects almost a third of all food produced for human consumption: 1.3 billion tons per year. According to FAO data, which Parra mentioned in his lecture, waste rates are much higher for fruit and vegetables, or for roots and tubers, than for any other foodstuff. About 45% of the production, nearly half of the total, ends up in the garbage bin.
44% of the total is lost in the field, while the consumer is responsible for 27% and retailers for 16%. The remaining 13% is lost during the post-harvest, the link in the chain in which the system developed by Citrosol, based on precision post-harvest methods, can make a difference. It compiles and processes data, which allows for better decision-making and minimizes physiopathies and rotting.
During the post-harvest, an insufficient concentration of fungicide can lead to rot, while an excess can cause MRLs to be exceeded. Thanks to CATsystem®, fungicide concentrations can be kept constant, with real-time analyses and corrections, so that rot control is optimized. This also prevents the generation of resistances, which is essential, especially when using a single active ingredient.
For more information:
Citrosol
Partida Alameda Parc. C.
46721 Potries (Valencia), Spain
Tel.: +34 96 280 05 12
[email protected]
www.citrosol.com