RFID tags for identifying and verifying agrochemicals in food traceability systems

The objective of this paper is to identify what data should be stored in an automatic recording system to trace the use of agrochemicals. RFID tags are proposed as the most appropriate storage systems. The essential information to store on an RFID tag is as follows: country of registration, chemical type, unique registration number of an agrochemical, container size, specific gravity, unit of measure, and a digital signature. Digital signatures address issues of verification of data integrity and security—a major concern of the agrochemical industry. Detailed data will be drawn from publicly available databases of approved pesticides. Encoding schemes have been designed which can record all of the essential information on commonly available cheap RFID labels. A prototype system to record and transfer data in a traceability system is developed, including hardware and software aspects. The user interface of the system is presented with a sample sequence of user screens to assist the loading of a full pack of agrochemical tagged with an RFID transponder. An experimental trial with practicing agrochemical professionals was undertaken. The user interface proved effective and acceptable. During the trial, more than 250 product identification cycles with RFID were carried out without failure.