Upcycled Plant Power (UPP)

Upcycled Plant Power (UPP) is an agritech company that converts underutilized crop parts into valuable, sustainable ingredients for food manufacturers. The company was founded by CEO David Whitewood and established in 2022 as a spinout from agtech business Earth Rover. Whitewood's vision addresses the significant food waste in agriculture, noting that up to 80% of broccoli biomass, including stems, stalks, and leaves, is often discarded.

UPP has developed a dual technology platform to tackle this issue. The first component is 'Harvesta', a patented, AI-driven robotic harvester that uses computer vision and machine learning to selectively harvest crops like broccoli with minimal waste. This automation helps farmers overcome labor shortages and reduce costs. The second component is an on-farm upcycling unit that processes the collected biomass—the stalks and leaves—into high-value food ingredients. This process involves squashing the biomass to separate a protein-rich juice from a fibrous cake, creating distinct fractions for different applications.

The business model involves renting the 'Harvesta' systems to farmers under multi-year contracts and operating the modular upcycling units on-farm. This provides farmers with a new revenue stream from what was previously considered waste. The resulting hypoallergenic and nutritious ingredients, such as protein and fiber fractions, are sold to food manufacturers for use in a wide range of products, including plant-based and hybrid meat items, smoothies, breads, and sauces. Companies like Innocent Drinks have tested UPP's upcycled broccoli ingredients.

UPP also leverages the data collected by its harvesters to offer an AI platform called 'Intellia', which provides farmers with data-driven insights to optimize crop efficiency and land management. Based in Shropshire, UK, UPP has secured pre-seed funding and grants to advance its technology in collaboration with research institutions like the James Hutton Institute and the Agri-EPI Centre.

Keywords: agricultural technology, food waste reduction, upcycled ingredients, robotic harvesting, sustainable protein, precision agriculture, broccoli biomass, circular economy, alternative proteins, AI in agriculture, smart farming, on-farm processing, food manufacturing ingredients, crop efficiency, sustainable food systems, hypoallergenic protein, plant-based ingredients, by-product valorization, automated farming, agtech