Data-driven disruption and sustainability take centre stage at FRUIT LOGISTICA Start-up Day 0

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 will put digital farming and precision agriculture centre stage at the second FRUIT LOGISTICA Start-up Day, which takes place on Friday, 7 February 2020. Continuing the theme Disrupt Agriculture, the world’s leading trade exhibition for the international fresh produce business has invited twenty of the most exciting technology start-ups in the fresh fruit and vegetable business to demonstrate their products and solutions on its final day. 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 is set to be a running theme throughout FRUIT LOGISTICA 2020 and a commitment to reducing food waste is set to be a major feature during the FRUIT LOGISTICA 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, UK-based LettUs Grow, will demonstrate its indoor farming system, which provides a climate-resilient crop despite not using any soil or pesticides. “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,” comments Madlen Miserius, FRUIT LOGISTICA Senior Product Manager. “Our Start-up Day can help identify those important new trends. It was a real success last year and we are happy to bring it back to showcase brilliant new concepts that might change the way fruit and vegetables are grown and sold around the world.” Further details about FRUIT LOGISTICA Start-up Day – including information about each participating start-up and its business model – can be found online at the Virtual Market Place and on the FRUIT LOGISTICA website.