Companies Looking to Artificial Intelligence to Shape the Future of Food

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the pace of industries at a pace difficult to keep up with. And, in this, the food sector is no exception. With the integration of AI, the food tech industry has seen a significant change in everything, from the way we order groceries, to how food inventory is managed, to the way we wine and dine.

The food industry is constantly evolving, but the use of AI is continuing to turn this sector on its head. AI offers a solution to many of the challenges faced by the food industry, including waste reduction, food safety, and issues surrounding sustainability.

Here are just a few of the companies we believe are using AI to make some of the most creative and innovative changes in the food tech sector.

Trimble

Through the Billberry technology, Trimble‘s mission is to help growers dramatically reduce the amount of chemicals sprayed on crops while improving their production quality and profitability. They use artificial intelligence and deep learning technology to transform crop protection by spraying at plant-level, instead of field level. The camera on the sprayer analyses the field and feeds continuous pictures to the embedded computer. The embedded computers come with a bespoke OS, which is a combination of artificial intelligence and agriculture knowledge and provides a fast and accurate weed detection analysis in real time. It generates a custom analysis of the vegetation and the weeds among the crops.

On the cab display, the operator gets full control of the system and can select the weeds to target, and the crops to protect and configure the system’s accuracy. The console allows for individual nozzle control for more precision. The renowned Dyson Farming is one of the users in the UK.

Varda

Varda is an ag-tech start-up founded by Yara with the purpose of facilitating collaboration in the industry and accelerating the transition towards a nature-positive food system through better data discovery and sharing.

The company’s vision is to make farm & field data a key ingredient for the next ‘green revolution’, allowing industry stakeholders to collaborate more effectively and broadening the adoption of regenerative farming practices.

Through the widespread use of Global Field ID, their goal is to bring together forward-looking companies, farmers and other industry institutions that share our aspiration for a more sustainable, resilient, and transparent food ecosystem.

Nory 

Nory was founded in 2020 by Conor Sheridan as an antidote to the problems he faced when founding Mad Egg 3 years prior, a high-growth independent restaurant group in Ireland that he grew to 100 people and €6 million turnover in the first year. Being new to the restaurant industry at the time, Conor felt the acute pain of using multiple software across multiple restaurants and the significant drain on resources that this created. This experience inspired Conor to create Nory, a tech-enabled solution to directly address these pain points and bring the hospitality industry into the present day.

Conor Sheridan, CEO and Founder: “Nory is an AI-powered operating system that offers an end-to-end solution for the hospitality industry. From the CFO to the chefs and the wait staff, Nory acts as a co-pilot to improve productivity, prevent waste and boost bottom line profitability.”

“The easy-to-use operating system analyses venue data in real-time to recommend actions for front-line staff to control costs, work consistently to improve performance, and increase profitability. This includes features like AI demand prediction, staff scheduling and capacity recommendations as well as predictive inventory ordering and usage optimised to reduce food waste.”

“Particularly with the increased focus on net-zero, Nory empowers the fight against climate change for the hospitality sector, which accounts for 10% of greenhouse gases. Nory’s technology helps businesses to monitor and actively reduce their carbon footprint and has saved approximately £1 million in food waste to date through its AI-enabled food ordering and preparation system. This works by suggesting which ingredients to order and what quantities of recipes to prepare daily to meet customer demand and reduce their current food waste footprint by over 50%, making the industry both more sustainable and more profitable.”

Plainsight 

 

Plainsight is a computer vision AI company that leverages advanced vision AI technology to revolutionize agricultural and livestock operations across the supply chain. Below are various ways their technology is being used in the food industry.

Precision Livestock Counting: Using patent-pending technology and edge computing, Plainsight offers high-precision livestock counting, eliminating manual errors and automating detection across sites.

Harvesting Quality Assurance: The system ensures produce safety by detecting real-time hazards, automating alerts, and maintaining traceable visual data records.

Ripeness Detection: It evaluates the maturity of fruits and vegetables by examining size, shape, and other factors, aiding in genetic selection for improved quality.

Livestock Health Monitoring: Plainsight monitors livestock feeding patterns, evaluates health based on gait and size, uses facial recognition for data integration, and tracks potential diseases.

Crop Management: The solution enhances crop health by inventorying plant populations, assessing health, detecting early plant stress, and identifying threats like pests.

Product Grading & Packaging: The vision AI ensures product quality by analyzing imagery for grading, confirming error-free packaging, and offering continuous insights for quality assurance.

In essence, Plainsight’s innovations in vision AI provide comprehensive solutions that ensure efficiency, accuracy, and superior quality across diverse agricultural and livestock processes

Agmatix 

 

Agmatix specializes in data-driven solutions aimed at enhancing crop management efficiency, increasing yields, and promoting sustainable farming practices. Their advanced platform uses a sophisticated AI algorithm that aggregates, standardizes, and harmonizes agronomic data from field trials and experiments, unlocking valuable insights.

Addressing pressing global food industry challenges requires data sharing.
AI-driven data analysis holds the potential to tackle various issues along the food chain, such as optimizing harvest dates, maintaining nutrient levels post-harvest, and reducing transport-related damage and waste.

Farming practices impact food quality from growth to post-harvest, and there is much research on the topic, highlighting the need for data sharing. Agmatix’s AI algorithm specializes in aggregating agronomic data. By processing and interpreting various datasets, the algorithm empowers the creation of robust models and valuable insights. These insights can then be transformed into predictive models for food producers, guiding optimal agricultural practices to achieve desired post-harvest conditions. For instance, specific crop nutrient requirements to control ripening and maintain texture.

KLHG 

Like most industries, the hospitality industry is undergoing a dramatic transition as a result of emerging AI; however, they are not as far behind the curve as others.

Hotels and restaurants have emerged as pioneers in implementing cutting-edge technologies to improve client experiences in the rapidly changing world of technology. AI is further changing how customers interact with hotels and restaurants, from enhancing guest experiences through front-end services to optimizing back-end operations.

President of KLHG and former global hospitality COO, Kaysilyn Lawson believes AI is positively impacting the hospitality industry and creating opportunities for memorable and efficient experiences for all. From accepting reservations to checking in and out of hotels, AI has made the guest experience convenient and seamless, allowing both restaurants and hotels to manage their reservations more efficiently.

With over 15 years of experience in hospitality from restaurants and hotels to clubs and opening nights, Kaysilyn is seeing how processes for doing laundry, cleaning, and preparing food are all being driven by AI today. These AI-powered technologies improve operational effectiveness, lower human error, and expedite a variety of processes, which eventually results in better service and greater guest happiness.

Among the most endearing AI applications in hospitality is food service, where friendly robots are responsible for attending to guests. These friendly robots deliver water or a delightful array of desserts, allowing you to select your favorite without any wait. Such interactive and delightful experiences are becoming increasingly common, impressing guests and leaving a lasting impression.