Objective Fresh’ fruits for the consumer market can only be sold as such if they are shown to be a certain standard of ‘ripeness’, as judged by the sugar content and firmness. There is great commercial pressure on producers to provide produce which is of the appropriate standard. Apples which do not meet this standard can be sold to the wholesale market or juiced with losses to market value of 50% and 95% respectively, but apples & citrus fruits which are destructively tested are sold as animal feed, composted or sent to landfill. As a result, fruits are tested many times during the production cycle, both in harvesting and distribution. Unfortunately, the most widely used tests for both are destructive tests. This leads to the destruction of between 6 – 8% of harvested apples and approximately 5% of citrus fruits for testing purposes. Worldwide, this would amount to 4.6 – 6.1 million tonnes of apples and 6.6 million tonnes of citrus fruit annually. At average European prices, this represents a combined economic loss of €6.3 – 7.2 billion every year. Ripesense is an innovative solution to this problem. The objective of our project is to develop and produce an automated system capable of non-destructively testing both the firmness and sugar content of fruits, initially apples and citrus fruits.The main benefits of these performance objectives are to provide a system that can:• Replace destructive test methods with non-destructive ‘Ripesense’, reducing waste fruit going to landfill by 50%• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by waste fruit sent to landfill • Reduce customer complaints 30% by using Ripesense frequently to minimise risk of overripe fruit reaching consumer• Reduce time & labour testing fruits for ripeness, enabling a 50% reduction in QC staff for more advantageous deployment • Allow fruits to be optimally distributed to retailers with different quality criteria, further increasing yield efficiency by ~10% apples Fields of science engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systemsagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growingengineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesagricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandryanimal feed Programme(s) H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy Main Programme H2020-EU.2.3.1. - Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument Topic(s) SFS-08-2014-1 - Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing Call for proposal H2020-SMEInst-2014-2015 See other projects for this call Sub call H2020-SMEINST-1-2014 Funding Scheme SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1 Coordinator NORTH COURT FRUIT FARM Net EU contribution € 50 000,00 Address NORTH COURT FARM CHILHAM CT4 8AU CANTERBURY United Kingdom See on map SME The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed. Yes Region South East (England) Kent Mid Kent Activity type Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 71 429,00