Dive Brief:

• The University of Vermont Extension Service created a system that allows farmers who cannot afford high-tech refrigeration to monitor conditions in warehouses via their smartphones. They can adjust temperature and humidity to ensure optimal storage conditions. Currently, tests are only going on in the Northeast. 
• "Since last winter, the system reduced the rates of vegetables that needed to be thrown out or culled by 30 to 50 percent — adding an average of $10,000 in revenue to each farm," according to Phys.org.
• Small farms and rural farms often lack Internet connection. The price of a monitoring system like this is generally more suitable for the budgets of corporate farming entities. Vermont was able to deliver this system for about $1,000. 

Dive Insight:

Before he had the system, Pete Johnson, owner of Pete's Greens lost about $25,000 of potatoes when temperatures in his warehouse dropped. For the small farmer, that's likely too many spuds to recoup. Farmers can eliminate waste, eliminate the time needed to go to each storage location to check conditions, and they can store more food, keeping it fresher for longer periods of time. A nationwide rollout of the system would allow small and rural farmers 24-hour monitoring of warehouse conditions.

Food Dive also reported on the pros and cons of consumers potentially using smartphones as monitors for GMOs.