Strawberry yields forever as Ceres invests in FruitCast | CPT PPP Coverage

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Ceres Agritech, the Cambridge company launched to commercialise agri-tech based on research at the University of Cambridge, has participated in a £2.8m raise for Lincoln-based FruitCast.

FruitCast, which has been trialled on leading soft fruit farms in the UK over the last two years, has been created in response to the demand from growers to more precisely forecast fruit growth development to help plan labour and market supply and protect margins.

The company’s AI-enabled data analytics and yield forecasting can non-destructively measure the quantity, weight, and maturity of millions of berries per day. The digital forecasting tool maximises planning and profitability for soft fruit growers and will launch to market in 2024, backed by Ceres Agritech and Innovate UK through its investor partnership programme.

Traditionally yield forecasting is based on skilled workers counting plants and multiplying up to predict quantity and harvest dates. FruitCast uses a moving camera to take thousands of photographs to measure individual fruit numbers, weight and the maturity of millions of berries per day.

Chief technical officer Dr Raymond Martin developed FruitCast on the back of his PhD on optimising soft fruit processes, when growers asked him not to leave his research “on the shelf”. He says yield forecasting is the holy grail for soft fruit growers.

“It’s a time-sensitive crop, and too much fruit in any week means waste and loss, and too little, you lose business,” says Raymond. “We’re delighted to have attracted the funding and industry support to bring FruitCast to launch. We want all growers to be able to precisely forecast their season to give them the leverage to take back the power in managing their costs and customer contracts.”

The technology is being trialled at field-scale with two of the UK’s leading soft fruit growers and processors, W B Chambers and Place UK. It’s the success of these trials and response from growers that has led to the investment.

FruitCast CEO Richard Williamson said: “Raising this capital is testament to Raymond Martin and the team who have created a cutting-edge tool that is immensely valuable to growers. It could be a gamechanger for an industry plagued by challenges that are persistently squeezing margins.

“The AI capability is driven by one of the largest databases in the world, which gives it a firm foundation for accurate forecasting ahead of other competitors. This combined with the depth of understanding of practical agriculture and proven capability has made FruitCast attractive to agritech investors in what is a competitive and noisy marketplace.”

Every year, the UK produces 120,000 tonnes of strawberries from approximately 4700ha, with a value of £659m at retail. Labour is 60 per cent of a crop’s production cost so using it effectively is vital, says Place UK production manager Dan Yordanov, adding: “We are not looking to replace people.

“Automation goes hand-in-hand with the skills of workers on site and allows us to use our varied resources when and where they are most needed for greatest efficiency and our business’ sustainability.”

Initial £520,000 funding in 2022 from Ceres Agritech allowed FruitCast to develop the tool and build a prestigious team of research scientists and industry experts led by CEO, Richard Williamson and Dr Martin.

Development will continue over the next six months to become commercially available for early-access in the 2024 growing season.