GrainSense, the hand-held device with cloud services for instant grain quality measurements
Case - Published 5.12.2019
The GrainSense analyser is designed for measuring the moisture, protein, oil and carbohydrates in cereals and other crops. By using a small sample size, it can be used even in the field before harvesting.
Protein is one of the key components in cereals and other crops. Usually, the crop analysis is done in a laboratory and is time and labour consuming. GrainSense has developed a portable device for analysing the quality of the grains. Now all the grain and livestock farmers, along with others working with grains and other crops, have the possibility to measure quality parameters whenever, wherever.
In the pig and poultry industry it is essential to optimise the growth of the animals. This is important for the environment, for the welfare of the animals and for profits. For the livestock farmer it is usually most economical to grow as much of the crops used as animal feed as possible. For the optimal growth of the animals it is vital to make sure that the protein content of the feed mix is correct for that particular animal species and production stage. With GrainSense, the farmer can optimise the feed mix based on the measuring data without compromising the growth of the animals.
For an arable farmer GrainSense offers the possibility to save money and time during harvesting. The farmer can measure the quality of the crops in the field, sector by sector, and plan the harvesting based on the measuring data along with saved GPS-coordinates. The feed and the food quality can be harvested separately, and the dryer use can be optimised based on the quality of the crops. Field measurements can even be used to adjust fertilisers for the next growing season.
Patented technology
The GrainSense-solution includes the near-infrared device, a smartphone application and cloud services. The cloud services can be accessed from a computer as well. At the moment, the device supports calibrations for wheat, barley, oat, rye and rapeseed. In 2020, there will also be support for corn and soybean in selected areas.
Only 3 grams of grains or kernels are needed when measuring with the device. After measuring, the results will transfer wirelessly via bluetooth on to the smartphone. The application tags GPS-coordinates with the results. The cloud services can be accessed via the phone application or computer. The results are then presented on an interactive map. The service is easy to use for example for calculating averages of certain results or sharing and exporting the numbers.
For more information and contact:
Edvard Krogius, Head of Commercial. +358 50 322 9392, edvard.krogius@grainsense.com
The article was written by Katarina Partti, Grainsense Oy
GrainSense is a Finnish startup-company that was founded on an innovation from the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland. The commercial product has been on the market from Spring 2018 and in 2019 it is already available internationally. More information at: www.grainsense.com
Agenda 2030
GrainSense advances the UN Sustainable Development goals:
SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure – The company was founded on a Finnish innovation, and the devices are manufactured in Finland. We have a research and development unit where develop new innovations like a mobile corn and soybean grinder that will be made available in 2020.
SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production – By using the GrainSense measuring data, it is possible to reduce the environmental stress caused by agriculture by using less fuel, electricity, excessive fertilizers and protein feed supplements. Precise feeding of animals prevents nutrient loss via faecal matter.
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