Smart microneedle sensing systems for security in agriculture, food and the environment (SAFE)

Agriculture and food constitute a hugely significant element of the Irish economy in terms of jobs and exports, and its long-term competitiveness and sustainability is a priority concern of national policy. The continuous development and application of new knowledge and new technologies is crucial to the realisation of national policy objectives for the sector. Nanotechnology has emerged as a technological advancement with the potential to develop and transform the entire agri-food sector, offering opportunities to increase global food production, in addition to improving its' nutritional value, quality and safety, as well as reducing waste. Nano/micro system technology has the potential to enable significant developments in food production and next generation farming practice through the provision of real time data from smart sensing systems. This paper describes the development of the Tyndall smart sensing system for Security in Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (SAFE) based on low power consumption, smart microneedles and wireless communications embedded systems. Described in this paper are first generation microneedle based electrochemical sensors, which have been developed to investigate nitrate levels in soils as the priority chemical of interest in precision agriculture applications. These have been integrated into a wireless transducer interface platform for deployment in the field.