A three-year project commenced in March 2024 to help growers meet the minimum maturity standards that were set by the Australian melon industry in 2023.
The Melon quality improvement program (VM23002) project will build on the previous project Quality Improvements in the Melon Supply Chain (VM21001), which developed minimum maturity standards for rock melons, watermelon and honeydew. This new project is led by Delytics Ltd in partnership with Melons Australia and Rudge Produce Systems and is funded by Hort Innovation using the melon research and development levy and funds from the Australian Government.
Project Objective
One of the key objectives is to develop tools and processes that will help growers and other key members of the Australian melon supply chain consistently meet the new minimum maturity standards. The standards are:
· Seedless Watermelon - ≥ 80% of fruit in a representative sample have Brix ≥ 10°
· Rockmelon - ≥ 80% of fruit in a representative sample have Brix ≥ 10°
· Honeydew - ≥ 70% of fruit in a representative sample have Brix ≥ 11°
Intended Outcome
The intended outcome of this project is to improve the quality of melons available to consumers at wholesale and retail over the life of the project, with monitoring against the new standards showing increased consumer acceptability. This will lead to increased consumption and demand, which Delytics has proved in other fruit industries.
In addition to making sure melons meet the taste expectations of Australian consumers, the project is also aiming to ensure the condition of the melons is acceptable to consumers as well.
Key Project Activities
· Wholesale & Retail Monitoring – The first focus of the new project when it started in March 2024 was to recommence the wholesale and retail monitoring that was started in the previous project: Quality Improvements in the Melon Supply Chain VM21001. This has provided a continuation of data from August 2022, which has enabled the project team to benchmark the quality of the fruit in the market and track the improvements.
· On-Farm Monitoring – has been underway since April and will continue throughout the project. This has provided the project team with a greater understanding of how melons mature on farm and what measurement tools will work well in the field. This information has been used to develop a sampling and measurement protocol. As part of the on-farm monitoring, the project team have also been collecting additional data to determine if Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to predict harvest dates. The Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Waikato have been sub-contracted to the project to assist with this initiative.
· Transport monitoring – started in September 2024 to assess the impact of both temperature and vibration on melon condition. The data collected will help the project team understand the accelerations on fruit during the journey from the harvesting paddock to the packhouse and the effects of acceleration and temperature between the packhouse and distribution centre. The project team will use the research findings to develop guidelines about the maximum safe accelerations and temperatures to help protect fruit during transport.
· Melon Inspection Reports - The next phase of the wholesale and retail monitoring started in late November 2024 with the regular circulation of the melon inspection reports to growers. These are designed to provide feedback for growers and will be sent to growers until the end of the project in March 2027.
· Investigating Non-Destructive Measurement Technologies – The project team are also investigating a range of non-destructive fruit maturity measurement technologies. Their goal is to provide the industry with viable monitoring options that can be used on-farm, in the packing shed and at the distribution centres to reduce the amount of food waste created by traditional destructive technologies.
Available Support
Growers wanting support with systems and tools, or want to discuss their inspection reports are invited to contact the project leader: mark.loeffen@delytics.com
Get up to date 'live' data on the Melon Quality Project by clicking the button below.
The data collected and presented via the button below is focused on:
- Brix
- Brix Compliance
- Firmness and Weight
