The key issue Daniel started to explore solving was how to make fruit quality assessments a far less intrusive, timely process on farm.

“At the moment most of the fruit quality determinations are invasive and so it's a destructive process that typically means taking a piece of fruit and squeezing some juice out or poking the fruit to measure how firm it is, among other things,” he explained.

“It’s normally done in the industry as a quality assessment step but obviously cannot be done on too many fruits. Plus, it’s time consuming, it’s messy and the data is not digitised in most cases. But it still needs to be collected eventually."

“When I was talking with the scientists and then starting to talk with growers, I could see there was a need to have some technology that would be easy to use and quick to respond and wouldn’t require a large amount of work from the grower or the user.”

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Daniel said to-date, collecting the initial data has been the major roadblock for the adoption of this type of technology because that’s where specialised knowledge was required.

“The use of spectrometers to assess fruit quality isn’t anything new, but the processes aren’t straightforward and can require a lot of work. I could see that the process had to simplified and streamlined if we want to have it applied for everyday use.”

"It depends on the type of crop that we are measuring but it may read things like the sugar content or the firmness of that fruit or other parameters that relate to the quality downstream of the supply chain.

“It’s completely non-destructive for the fruit and offers that array of quality measurements on the spot so there’s no need to do multiple testings with different systems. The other big advantage is the data is instantly digitised so it can be downloaded by the user from their smartphone and shared with their agent immediately.”

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For the year ending June 2020, Australia exported $3 billion worth of horticultural products – fresh fruit accounting for the largest value export group at 49% of all horticultural commodities sent overseas.

With a value of nearly $1.5 billion it’s a sector that relies on optimal harvest timing and a rock-solid guarantee that the quality of fruit provided for export is nothing less than perfect – and Daniel Pelliccia said that’s where the device developed by Rubens Technologies truly shines.    

“Growers can receive information on what is the optimal time to pick that fruit and how long the fruit is expected to travel for any given condition of transport or refrigeration,” he said.

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“Based on that information, the farmer or distributor will have predictions on the fruit quality, to be able to choose the optimal target market to have fruit in very good condition at the end destination.

“This sort of information doesn't exist at the moment, and we’re bringing it to the market so that growers can make more informed decisions around harvest time, and they can target their fruit to the best market.”         

Daniel said the feedback received from growers trialling the device in various pilot programs including with Summerfruit Australia and coconut and pineapple growers in Southeast Asia – has been that it’s easy to use and is a considerable time saver.

“This device replaces the array of other measuring devices that are currently used, and we are seeing that the people most interested is especially the exporters,” he said.

“That ability to not only read the quality of the fruit now but also how it's going to be in a few weeks addresses the issue of major potential losses for exporters.”           

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Daniel Pelliccia is also one of nine successful agritech founders chosen to take part in the evoke^AG. 2021 Startup Network Program.

He said it’s been an incredible opportunity to garner fresh insights into agriculture and the Australian startup ecosystem.                                                                  

“It was really good for me to see the community and get in touch with the other startups and I found the program very interesting,” he said.

“We had guests and experts that would talk to us about different aspects, so it was really useful for me to have more networking opportunities outside of Victoria also.”

He said the support of likeminded founders has helped him curate his vision for the future.

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“We have learnt with COVID-19 that things can change so quickly but I hope to see Rubens Technologies growing over the next five to 10 years to the level of offering fruit intelligence for food quality assessment in Australia and overseas as a service,” he said.

“We are open to collaborate with existing providers and with existing data platforms to integrate our data together, so we’re excited for the journey ahead at Rubens Technologies.”

For more information on trialling the device, or investment opportunities, enquire here.^

 ^{^This investment opportunity is only for professional and sophisticated investors as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The content of this opportunity is intended for use by persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments and must not be acted or relied upon by any other person including, without limitation, retail clients.}