AgNext — cultivating tech to analyse farm produce quality in 30 seconds!
January 24, 2021
Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, founder and CEO of AgNext×
Start-up hopes to revolutionise food testing with an ‘MRI-like scanner’
Among the many problems that beset Indian agriculture is the absence of quality standards in the proverbial farm-to-fork food chain.
While matters of productivity and better market access for farmers often get precedence, the lack of standards disincentivises innovative farmers who try to produce qualitatively better food — and takes away from the consumer the option of buying better.
Even globally, ascertaining the quality of farm produce is a largely subjective exercise, often involving conjecture. Usually, farm commodities are put though physical parameter tests using touch-and-feel, visual appeal, smell and taste. As a result, the ability of farmers who grow higher quality, or pesticide and chemical-free produce, to command a premium is rather limited.