###### Abstract  
The agro-industrial sector consumes a significant amount of natural resources for farming and meat production. By 2050, population growth is expected, generating more demand and, consequently, more consumption of scarce resources. This challenging scenario is a concern of the European Commission, revealed in the Green Deal commitment and by the United Nations' 12 th goal of sustainable development. Thus, organizations must increase productivity and be more sustainable as soon as possible. Internet of Things (IoT) is introduced as a solution to facilitate agro-food companies to be more eco-efficient, mainly facing difficulties on farms, such as food loss and waste, best efficiency in management of resources, and production. The deployment of this technology depends on the stage of maturity and potential of implementation. To assess and characterize companies, with respect of IoT implementation, a survey was applied in 21 micro, small and medium agro-food companies, belonging to milk, honey, olive oil, jams, fruitculture, bakery and pastry, meat, coffee, and wine sectors, in the central region of Portugal. As results, this paper reveals the stage of maturity, level of sophistication, potential, opportunities, solutions, and barriers for implementation of IoT. Additionally, suggestions and recommendations to improve practices are discussed.  
can be 13.8% on average, considering after harvesting and during transport, storage and processing stands [5]. However, if loss and waste through the entire food supply chain (FSC), farming (production), postharvest, processing, distribution and consumption is considered, this number could be up one third of all food produced. It is important to highlight that food loss and waste contributes to problems with food security and natural resource management [1].  
Sustainability is a broad concept that addresses most aspects of human life, playing an important role in social, environmental and economic aspects. The European Green Deal provides an action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, at least, when compared to 1990, increase the share of renewable energy by 32%, and improve energy efficiency by 32.5% by increasing the efficient use of resources by changing to a clean, circular economy, restoring biodiversity, and cutting pollution [6]. The EU aims to be climate neutral by 2050, and, in the next few years, this political commitment will become laws and thus a legal obligation. As such, these changes have to be considered by companies, especially micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) of the agro-industrial sector, transforming their processes to be more eco-efficient [7].  
This picture leads to some questions: (1) How to improve efficiency using the Internet of Things (IoT)? (2) Are MSMEs prepared to use this technology? (3) Which are the opportunities and barriers for IoT implementation? A mixed method approach was chosen to address these questions, consisting in a combination of literature review, general interviews, and expert site visits, as well as a detailed interview, in order to carry out this research.  
In combination with the literature review, a survey was carried out, in two phases, to assess Portugal's profile with respect to IoT implementation. Phase 1 was a survey devoted to assess the potential and maturity of IoT solution implementation, with twenty-one companies. In Phase 2, five companies were chosen based on the answers provided in Phase 1 to perform a detailed survey, considering a realistic project, budget, and customer expectations to assess IoT implementation. This approach aims to assess, in real case scenarios, IoT opportunities and solution implementations, and to overcome the lack of information in the literature. Additionally, this sample provides an overview of the IoT status in Portuguese agro-industry companies, which are composed mainly of MSMEs. The results of the literature research and surveys are shown and discussed in the following sections.