NCSA News: Second patent issued for grain-tracking method

released January 12, 2007

Two NCSA employees and a University of Illinois faculty member have received a second patent for a process to provide processors and consumers with a wealth of information about the grain that enters our food supply.

Robert Hornbaker, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics, and NCSA's Volodymyr Kindratenko and David Pointer previously received a patent on the concept of using radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to track grain from the point of harvest until the last moment before use. Their second patent covers the tracking device, and a third patent is pending on the tracking system.

To read more about the patented system, see http://access.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Stories/grainRFID/.