FruitCast AI technology trialled at Norfolk strawberry farm

FruitCast captures digital imagery of millions of berries as they grow, then uses AI (artificial intelligence), driven by one of the largest databases in the world, to help growers accurately predict growth and yields up to six weeks in advance.

The Lincolnshire-based firm is planning a commercial launch for its product in spring.

And during the last two years, the system has been trialled and developed with two leading UK fruit growers including Place UK, based at Tunstead, near North Walsham. 

Place UK production manager Dan Yordanov (Image: Denise Bradley)

Place UK production manager Dan Yordanov said it was a valuable tool to plan labour management and market supply.

"Planning labour needs and availability for our customers is wholly dependent on accurate estimation," he said.

"There’s a lot of calculation in forecasting, it takes a lot of time, a large amount of input from experienced staff and is currently subject to human error.

"This is a real challenge for the industry. I’m excited to see FruitCast come to market. It is more advanced than others we’ve seen, but it’s also based on a valuable combination of agricultural knowledge and technology.

"There’s plenty of very advanced AI out there, but the team at FruitCast understand what we need it to do rather than what it can do."

The tech start-up behind FruitCast was recently one of just 13 UK businesses selected to showcase their innovations at the Global Investment Summit in London, attended by more than 200 leading global investors and hosted by prime minister Rishi Sunak and business secretary Kemi Badenoch.

Chief technical officer Dr Raymond Martin, said: "It gave us an excellent platform to showcase FruitCast’s potential to help the soft fruit industry and, in time, other crops, to stay competitive and to be in greater control of market fulfilment and profitability."