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David Whitewood -founder of upp

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Agriculture / Agribusiness

Upp Project Extracting Proteins from Upcycled Broccoli Gets £800K Grant from UK Government

A UK consortium led by upp, a broccoli harvesting and protein specialist, has been awarded an £800K grant from the UK government for a project to accelerate the development of low-cost, low-impact, highly nutritious protein from upcycled broccoli.  In cooperation with the James Hutton Institute and Agri-EPI Centre, the SusProt Project targets 80% of currently unharvested broccoli crop biomass, such as the stem and stalk, to extract proteins and ingredients for plant-based foods. The Department of Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) selected the consortium’s project at UKRI’s Transforming Food Production Challenge.  Sustainable food from waste David Whitewood, co-founder and CEO of upp, commented:  “We’re delighted to have won this grant and to be working with some of the UK’s best AgriFoodTech teams to …

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Producing upcycled broccoli protein

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Agriculture / Agribusiness

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 …

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