Upp Raises £500K for AI-Harvested Upcycled Broccoli Protein
UK agritech specialist upp has secured £500,000 from impact investor Elbow Beach Capital. The funding will be used to pilot upp’s unique technology for producing upcycled broccoli protein. The UK is a major broccoli producer, but currently the crop must be hand-harvested by seasonal workers. With these increasingly scarce due to factors such as Brexit and the pandemic, many farmers are struggling. Additionally, 80% of the broccoli plant — including the stem, leaves, and root — is currently wasted, despite being food-grade. Upp has set out to solve both of these issues. The company has developed a new type of harvesting equipment that uses cameras and machine learning to detect when a plant is ready, even if it is partially obscured. A tractor-towed tool, which …
