Like produce itself, data with the potential to make fresh produce supply chains more manageable, predictable and sustainable must be cultivated and harvested before the fruits of that labour can be enjoyed.
Groundbreaking innovators, inspired visionaries and disruptive entrepreneurs with the means to do just that – including UK-based LettUs Grow – will put digital farming and precision agriculture centre stage at Fruit Logistica’s Start-up Day, which takes place on Friday, 7 February.
Continuing the theme Disrupt Agriculture, the exhibition has invited 20 of the most exciting technology start-ups in the fresh fruit and vegetable business to demonstrate their products and solutions on its final day.
One of them is LettUs Grow, which will demonstrate its indoor farming system, which provides a climate-resilient crop despite not using any soil or pesticides.
These include Israeli company FruitSpec, which is helping fruit growers to accurately predict their yields more than six months in advance, as well as Dutch start-up Gearbox Innovations, whose cameras, algorithms and sensors combine to enable near-autonomous production by measuring plant growth and quality every day.
Sustainability will be a running theme while a commitment to reducing food waste is set to be a major feature during the Start-up Day.
One participant, US start-up StixFresh, has developed a sticker that can extend a fruit’s shelf-life by as much as two weeks. Another exhibitor,
“There is so much happening when it comes to innovation across the entire fresh produce industry that many in the business find it hard to know where to look first for inspiring new ideas,” said Madlen Miserius, Fruit Logistica Senior Product Manager. “Our Start-up Day can help identify those important new trends and showcase brilliant new concepts that might change the way fruit and vegetables are grown and sold around the world.”
