A collaborative pilot project in the Netherlands is putting RFID technology to the test in fruit orchards, aiming to replace the thousands of paper labels that growers currently stick onto picking crates every harvest season.
Agromanager, Munckhof Fruit Tech Innovators, and five Dutch fruit growers have joined forces to trial permanent UHF RFID tags on harvesting crates. The goal is straightforward: do away with the repetitive, error-prone process of printing, applying, and replacing adhesive labels that are central to food safety and traceability compliance.
Anyone who has spent time around a packhouse will recognise the problem. Paper stickers peel off in wet conditions, get caked in soil, or simply fall apart after a few uses. Each time a label fails, someone has to print and apply a replacement, and that is time and money lost during the busiest weeks of the year.
The RFID labels being tested cost roughly €0.75 each and carry a ten-year warranty, though their actual service life could stretch well beyond that. Each tag combines a passive UHF RFID inlay with a printed QR code, giving growers two identification methods on a single label. Automated UHF readers can interrogate the tags wirelessly at speed, while workers in the field can fall back on a smartphone and the QR code for quick manual checks.
Integration with existing harvesting machinery is a key part of the trial. Munckhof’s Pluk-O-Trak harvesting platform already collects GPS coordinates, camera imagery, and fruit count data through its M-Connect communication system. By fitting an RFID reader to the platform, each crate is automatically identified the moment it passes through the machine. That read event is linked to the plot location, harvest date, time, and fruit variety without a single sticker being applied by hand.
The benefits extend beyond convenience. Automating crate identification at the point of harvest reduces the risk of data entry errors that can compromise traceability records. For growers supplying supermarkets and exporters with strict documentation requirements, reliable traceability data is not optional. A misread or missing label can trigger costly rejections and recalls.
From a broader perspective, the pilot fits into a growing trend toward precision fruit growing, where sensors, machinery, and farm management software are expected to work together as a single integrated system rather than as disconnected tools. RFID-tagged crates become another data point in that ecosystem, feeding information back to platforms like Agromanager for analysis and reporting.
While the trial is still in its early stages, the economics look promising. A durable RFID tag at €0.75 that lasts a decade compares favourably against the cumulative cost of printing and applying disposable labels season after season. If the pilot delivers on its promise, it could set a template for fruit growers across Europe looking to modernise their harvest logistics.
Read more at https://www.munckhof.org/en/news/rfid-pilot-scheme-aims-to-eliminate-the-need-for-manual-labelling-of-picking-crates/
