AI for safe and sustainable agri-food supply chains workshop
- Andrew Steel
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
Our own Dr. Andrew Steel DSc (HC), MBA, had a fantastic time speaking at the AI for safe and sustainable agri-food supply chains workshop in Leeds recently! Co-organised by the Food Safety Research Network (FSRN), Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, and AIBIO-UK, it was an incredible opportunity to connect tech innovation with food sector realities.
Andy stated, "As an entrepreneur in the B2B/B2G food space, it's clear we must embrace new technology to fix our broken food system".
Here is how Ample Innovation Ltd is driving that change:
📉 The Macro Crisis: The UK wastes 26,000 tonnes of good food daily, an annual economic drain exceeding £20 billion that accounts for 6% of our total CO2 emissions. Meanwhile, rigid cosmetic standards force primary growers to leave up to 25% of crops unsold or unharvested in the field.
🔄 The Operational Pivot (Ample Kitchen): Our original platform, Ample Marketplace 1.0, aimed to be an 'Amazon for Farmers' for spot sales. But commercial reality hit: busy school and NHS chefs lack the time or labour to process raw, irregular, "wonky" produce arriving on an ad-hoc basis.
This friction forced a strategic pivot to Ample Kitchen. Partnering with Oakland International, we are moving our production inside a 12,000-square-foot facility at the Redditch Food & Science Park. We will now upcycle farm-gate surplus into ready-to-use, plant-based, additive-free meal components (soups, sauces, stews) tailored for public sector kitchens.
🤖 Designing for the Technophobe (FoodMatch 2.0): Forcing complex apps onto busy, overworked growers results in immediate adoption failure. For FoodMatch 2.0, we’re keeping the farm interface completely low-tech—allowing growers to log surplus via simple SMS, phone check-ins, or photo messages. Under the hood, machine learning models will dynamically match this live supply data with Met Office APIs and real-time public sector demand.
The Bottom Line: Physical supply chains need predictive data intelligence to protect national food security and support Net Zero targets. This is a massive opportunity to tackle a broken food system and its massive healthcare costs.
We need to bring the farm gate and technology teams together. If you see an opportunity to collaborate or partner with us on FoodMatch 2.0, please reach out!
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