Australia is lucky to be free of many of the world's most damaging plant diseases. In fact, the cost to the national horticulture industry from the world's most invasive pests could be as high as $27.9 billion (Department of Agriculture) without the current biosecurity measures taken to address these issues.

But despite these impressive efforts, there is still more that can be done to prevent waste in this sector – without quality assurance equipment and measurement solutions, crop yields can be blighted by contamination and quality can be hamstrung. Let's take a look at why measurement solutions and quality assurance equipment are key to combating agricultural losses.

Challenging avoidable damage to Australian agriculture

There are a number of pests that can affect crop yield nationwide, including:

• Insect outbreaks, such as wheat aphids; these can lead to crop losses of up to 75 per cent of total yield according to Plant Health Australia.
• Disease contaminants, like barley rust; this can affect up to 80 per cent of Australia's valuable barley supply, as of the same source.
• The Department of the Environment estimates weeds cost Australian farmers $1.5 billion a year in control activities and a further $2.5 billion annually in lost agricultural production.

Using accurate measurement equipment and quality-control solutions should be priority for agricultural businesses.

Insect contamination can cost farmers and horticulturalists thousands in waste.

How can measurement solutions help boost Australian agriculture resilience?

The National Measurement Institute emphasises the importance of using the right tools to measure your output, claiming the precision and accuracy of measurements can impact the profitability of everyone in the agriculture supply chain. Measurement solutions help with quality assurance in the following ways:

• Measurement solutions help to detect contaminants by comparing average yield rates to check for potentially rotten crops.
• Identifying outbreaks early on means you can address these issues before they spread more widely and cost you even more in lost production.
• Using accurate measurement solutions can also help you to record contaminant outbreaks and analyse wider patterns that may be plaguing your business.

The value of crops are generally measured by density, so ensuring you have the right measurement solutions is vital to an accurately valued yield.

SRO's measurement solutions

At SRO Technology, we are experienced at partnering with agricultural businesses to provide industry-leading measurement solutions. These include:

• Feeders to help control how much product enters equipment – this can help you isolate contaminated batches.
• Belt weighers to accurately measure the exact amount of each product at each stage of production for quality control.
• Level measurement tools, which help calculate silo capacities for data logging. Using this, operations managers can use yield data to check for contaminant patterns that may be affecting their wider operations. 

For more information on the range of measurement solutions we supply to help quality assurance and protect against agricultural losses, contact the SRO Technology team today by clicking the image.