Technology news from Fresh Produce Journal
Technology news stories with a direct relevance to the UK fresh produce business, including updates on production and harvesting systems, sorting and grading machinery, packaging, coldstorage and controlled atmosphere, digital management, robots and automation, vertical farming, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
New robot uses AI to ‘read’ entire orchards
Developed by Porto-based ViField, Orioos uses cameras and algorithms to predict yields and detect diseases more accurately
Live Farmer joins British Growers Partnership Scheme
Farm management software company to collaborate with industry body scheme to address sector challenges
Gruppa Organic optimistic for growth despite frost and global challenges
Despite the difficulties, Damian Kozłowski says investment in sorting and storage is helping it pivot towards the fresh market and new opportunities
Ceres Fruit Growers completes multi-million rand facility overhaul
CFG has invested heavily in new logistics capacity, mobile racking, real-time pallet tracking, automated packing technology and energy resilience
New grading and drone tech helping British blueberry sector to ‘premiumise’
Drone technology, AI-enabled optical grading and precision agriculture are allowing UK growers to deliver higher-quality fruit as sales continue to climb
The Summer Berry Company Portugal now over 60 per cent self-sufficient in water
More than six in ten litres used on producer’s farms comes from rainwater, as it hopes to insire other growers through Climate Farm Demo network
Comment: Banana industry should not restrict itself to conventional breeding
Agricultural scientist Professor James Dale considers why gene editing may be the only sensible option to develop a new banana variety with effective disease resistance
South Tyrol suppliers forecast bumper summer fruit season
Cooperatives Vip and Meg say they are using new AI technology to boost production at high altitude
Dogtooth heralds age of ‘embodied AI’ in fruit farming
Robotics specialist secures fresh investment to expand its machines’ commercial deployment beyond UK
MDS partners with Agri-TechE to offer six-month placements
MDS trainees given access to Agri-TechE’s Early Career Innovators’ Forum with aim of getting more young talent into food and farming industry
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Maersk rolls out next-generation IoT devices across reefer fleet
AP Møller-Maersk is upgrading its entire reefer fleet with next-generation IoT connectivity devices
Government environmental scheme opens for direct applications
Environment secretary Emma Reynolds has confirmed new access to the £50mn Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier for woodland or agroforestry agreements
British Growers launches new partnership scheme
Organisations from legal, agri-tech, finance and food redistribution sectors can join the new scheme, designed to offer year-round benefits to grower members
New market for broccoli surplus cuts harvest costs
East of Scotland Growers is partnering with food tech company Upcycled Plant Power to supply broccoli waste into ingredients, protein and fibre
Bidfresh adopts Podfather logistics software ‘to boost customer service and efficiency’
Foodservice supplier says new delivery management system has helped the business deal with more challenging customer requirements
DP World cuts 160,000 tonnes of CO2e from UK supply chains
Reduction underpinned by a major shift from road to rail freight, a low-carbon truck programme and a rapidly scaling carbon inset scheme
Farming Roadmap sets out government vision for agriculture
Seasonal worker visas guaranteed until 2030, a stronger role for co-operatives and extending fair dealing regs to fresh produce are among government plans for farming
Fruiterers set to explore future of fruit at new conference
Event at NIAB on 25 November delves into cutting-edge research and commercial opportunities for fresh produce sector
Fieldwork Robotics secures investment from Seed Innovations
The robotic harvesting specialist has received backing from Jim Mellon’s Seed Innovations as part of a £2.5m seed-plus fundraise
‘Camera tricks’ could be misleading berry robots
Robots’ cameras may be misjudging colour of soft fruit, thereby tricking automated systems designed to judge ripeness