Optimised moisture management also lowers environmental impact. (Image credit: Hydronix)

Grain is a natural product, and its moisture content varies due to growing conditions, weather during harvest, threshing, and storage.

Once harvested, grain is processed in mills where it is flaked, rolled, or ground into flour.

Moisture affects every stage of milling influencing machinery performance, material flow, and product consistency. Achieving the right moisture content prevents spoilage, ensures stable storage, and extends shelf life. By accurately measuring and controlling moisture throughout the process, mills can optimise performance, reduce energy use, and cut costs. Consistent control leads to higher yields, improved quality, and less waste.

Where to Measure

Installing sensors at key points maximises return on investment:

1. Raw material intake
2. Raw material drying
3. Transfer points
4. Conditioning
5. Milling
6. Post-milling stages

Why Measure Moisture?

Traditional laboratory testing involves sampling material from the process flow. While accurate for that moment, it is slow and cannot reflect real-time variations.

Continuous, online measurement provides instant feedback, enabling automatic process adjustments. Continuously measuring the moisture content maintains optimal conditions, ensures consistent product quality, and prevents material losses during processing or storage.

Case Study

Manual control can be inconsistent and slow, often achieving moisture accuracy only within ±1%.

By installing sensors directly into the dryer, mills can achieve precision control of ±0.5% of the target moisture. This accuracy is primarily limited by the laboratory reference method used to verify readings rather than the sensor technology itself.

In one Hydronix customer’s rice mill, integrating moisture sensors into the dryer reduced broken rice by 2.5%, producing an additional 400 kg of usable product per 16-tonne batch - a significant gain in yield and profitability.

Conclusion

Online moisture measurement enables immediate, automatic adjustment to process conditions. Real-time control improves yield, reduces energy consumption, and ensures consistent quality. Optimised moisture management also lowers environmental impact.

Adding Hydronix sensors to existing systems is straightforward and offers a fast, measurable return on investment.

Speak to a Hydronix expert to learn how accurate moisture control can transform your milling process.

Benefits of regenerative agriculture for small farms.

In a move set to transform small-scale farming, Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) and the Market Gardener Institute (MGI) have joined forces to deliver regenerative agriculture solutions tailored specifically for market gardeners and smallholder farmers

This farmer-focused partnership aims to make proven ecological practices more accessible, empowering growers to improve soil health, crop quality, and overall farm resilience.

“I’m thrilled to announce a new collaboration between AEA and the Market Gardener Institute,” said MGI founder Jean-Martin Fortier. “After years of conversations with John Kempf, we both feel our organizations have reached a moment where we must join forces to empower the next generation of small-scale organic growers with cutting-edge knowledge, tools, and science. Together, we’re launching new research trials that will help refine and share regenerative practices for the farms of tomorrow. The future is now.”

AEA, known for its regenerative agriculture protocols and plant nutrition expertise, is working alongside MGI’s globally respected training programmes. The result is a practical, science-backed initiative that aims to benefit growers from the ground up. Field trials are already underway to test soil-building methods and boost crop resilience across various garden systems, delivering insights that small farmers can immediately put into practice.

With many African farmers facing rising input costs and degraded soils, regenerative agriculture offers a sustainable alternative. This partnership seeks to lower the barriers for adopting eco-friendly farming by co-developing a new product line tailored to small growers' unique needs. Available now for pre-sale, these tools are designed to support healthier soils, pest-resistant plants, and more abundant, nutrient-rich harvests. MGI students will also benefit from exclusive discounts, making high-impact tools more affordable.

“Regional and local food production is absolutely critical for a food-secure future,” said AEA founder John Kempf. “AEA’s regenerative toolkit will be a game-changer for market gardeners and small growers. Together with the Market Gardener Institute, we’ll be able to revolutionize the way market gardeners approach plant nutrition, bringing them pest-resistant crops, and bountiful harvests of nutrient-dense, marketable produce.”

At its heart, this collaboration promotes a future where growers, regardless of their farm size, have access to science-driven, farmer-tested methods that build ecological and economic resilience. It marks a new chapter in global regenerative agriculture—one led by small-scale growers with big ambitions.

Nestlé continues to play a pivotal role in advancing Thailand’s coffee sector.(Image credit: Nestlé)

Nestlé (Thai) Ltd. has renewed its long-standing partnership with Thai coffee farmers by signing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Thai Coffee Growers Association

The agreement, covering the 2025/2026 harvest season, affirms Nestlé’s commitment to purchasing Robusta coffee beans directly from local farmers while continuing to promote sustainable farming practices and improve livelihoods within the coffee-growing communities.

The signing ceremony was held in Chumphon Province, a key region for coffee production in Thailand, and was honoured by the presence of the provincial governor, reflecting the significance of the initiative to the local economy.

As part of the agreement, Nestlé will support farmers not only through bean purchases but also by sharing practical knowledge on Regenerative Agriculture. This approach focuses on improving soil health, conserving water, and promoting biodiversity, ultimately helping farmers build climate resilience and boost both yield and quality.

“For several decades, Nestlé has continuously supported our local coffee farmers. Additionally, Nestlé has consistently been the largest purchaser of local Robusta beans in Thailand. The signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) each year reaffirms that Nestlé will purchase Robusta coffee beans directly from Thai farmers. Moreover, we support farmers in adopting Regenerative Agriculture practices in their coffee plantations through knowledge-sharing programs and various training sessions. This not only helps improve coffee production in terms of both quantity and quality but also aids in restoring ecosystems and protecting soil and water resources, enabling farmers to cope with climate change,” said Salinla Seehaphan, Corporate Affairs Director at Nestlé (Thai) Ltd.

Thianchai Chookittiwiboon, Governor of Chumphon Province, praised the initiative, emphasising coffee’s economic importance to the region. He noted that direct support from companies like Nestlé aligns with the province’s goal to establish itself as a globally recognised “Robusta Metropolis.”

Echoing this, Prayoon Songprasert, Chairman of the Thai Coffee Growers Association, acknowledged Nestlé’s ongoing contributions. He highlighted the positive impact of high-yield plantlets developed by Nestlé and the company’s training initiatives, which have led to consistent quality and income growth for farmers.

With this renewed partnership, Nestlé continues to play a pivotal role in advancing Thailand’s coffee sector promoting sustainability, boosting farmer incomes, and securing the future of Robusta cultivation in the country.

Nutrient levels of essential elements enhancing the nutritional quality of the crops.

UbiQD has revealed promising results from a USDA-funded greenhouse study conducted at the University of California, Davis, demonstrating that their luminescent quantum dot (QD) laminated glass can significantly boost crop growth, nutrient uptake, and energy efficiency in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA)

Published in Materials Today Sustainability, the study marks a pioneering use of quantum dot-integrated structural glass in agriculture.

The research compared two greenhouses during a winter lettuce growing cycle—one fitted with UbiQD’s spectrum-optimised QD-glass and the other using standard glass. The results showed a remarkable 37.8% increase in fresh biomass, with plants almost 40% heavier, suggesting a substantial rise in edible yield. Leaf area and root length also grew by 38%, enhancing photosynthesis, water, and nutrient absorption, which in turn improved plant resilience and shelf life.

One of the study’s key outcomes was a 41% rise in light-use efficiency, indicating plants converted sunlight into biomass more effectively under the QD-glass. Nutrient levels of essential elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were also higher, enhancing the nutritional quality of the crops. Furthermore, the glass improved the red-to-blue light ratio by 61%, without sacrificing the total amount of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), optimising light quality for growth.

“For glass greenhouse farmers looking to boost output while reducing energy inputs, this is a breakthrough,” said Hunter McDaniel, CEO of UbiQD. “These results prove that the sun can be engineered passively through QD-infused glass to deliver more productive, resilient, and sustainable food systems.”

As the global food system faces challenges including climate change, resource scarcity, and growing demand, this spectral engineering technology offers a timely solution. The study concludes that UbiGro glass could be a key step towards climate-smart greenhouses that marry photonics and sustainable agriculture, enabling year-round production especially in colder or energy-limited regions.