Smart solutions for fruit growers

Purpose and goal

The project, “Smart solutions for fruit growers” made Swedish fruit growers more competitive by giving access to models that leading to high quality fruit. Ms. Tuyet Bui applied the knowledge and results of at previous project in Belgium to the conditions in Sweden. She coordinated the project, served to bridge the knowledge gap between the growers’ cooperative (Äppelriket) and a small Swedish enterprise (In Situ). She transferred the knowledge from Belgium to Sweden and provides a foundation for developing smart information technology (IT) during the three years as a VINNMER Fellow.

Expected results and effects

The project, in which Ms. Bui is the Project Leader, built on her knowledge and results from a previous 4-year project in Belgium. Her research demonstrated that sun, rain and the balance in soil moisture are the most important weather factors for apple quality. Soil quality in the orchard affects the quality of the apples, since fruit from different orchards vary in quality. The data is used to generate models enabling fruit growers to predict fruit quality and make harvest decisions, based on the climate at the orchard. At the end of the project, Ms. Bui is close to obtain her PhD degree.

Planned approach and implementation

The knowledge base in Sweden was created through the mobility of Ms Bui from Belgium to the Univ. of Gävle. Ms. Bui tested apples from Swedish orchards with different local climates in Skåne for resistance to grey mould and collected weather data from those orchards. A small Swedish enterprise and the growers’ cooperative are participating in the project. Research groups at K.U. Leuven supported with expert experience in postharvest knowledge and biology. In Situ provided Ms. Bui with knowledge of weather station. The long-term aim is to extend the models to other pathogens for apples.