Tech-solution for food loss

Farm to Feed

Tech-solution for food loss

Farm to Feed aggregates imperfect/surplus produce by purchasing the full harvest. It creates market demand and sells through a tech-enabled platform.

Nairobi, Kenya

KEN

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

Globally, 1.2 billion tons of food are lost on farms annually, wasting 15.3% of all food produced—more than retail, food service, and household waste combined. This loss could feed 870 million undernourished people. In sub-Saharan Africa, 50% of fruits and vegetables never reach markets, causing farmer income losses, greenhouse gas emissions, reduced nutritious food availability, and higher prices.  In Kenya, smallholder farmers producing perishable fruits and vegetables face extreme weather, limited resources, and rejection by off-takers due to aesthetics or quality. Lacking market information, these farmers are often forced to leave imperfect or surplus produce to rot. This leads to financial losses, increased debt, and reduced resilience to shocks. Additionally, the resources used to grow this food—land, water, energy, and capital—are wasted. Addressing these inefficiencies is vital to improving food security, reducing waste, and ensuring farmers thrive in a volatile agricultural landscape. 

Farm to Feed is a tech-enabled solution designed to tackle food loss. We aggregate the full harvest from farmers, including imperfect/surplus produce, and through our bespoke e-commerce site we create demand distributing it wholesale to a wide range of B2B customers (hotels, restaurants, catering companies, retailers, schools, feeding programs). Our approach not only reduces food waste but also boosts farmer incomes, improves food affordability, and helps lower greenhouse gas emissions. By valuing produce that would typically be discarded, we allow farmers to earn more from their harvests. We purchase imperfect or surplus food at about 50% of the standard farmer gate price, enabling us to pass those savings on to our customers. This keeps the food in the human food chain, preventing unnecessary waste and the environmental impact that comes with it. At the core of our solution is a digital, end-to-end platform that streamlines operations, ensures a seamless B2B experience, and collects valuable data on the local drivers of food loss. Our technology-driven model is essential in a fragmented agricultural sector, enabling us to efficiently scale our operations and continuously improve the food rescue process. We're also starting to cycle surplus produce into value-added products.

Farm to Feed’s tech-enabled platform directly serves smallholder farmers in Kenya, especially those producing imperfect or surplus fruits and vegetables. These farmers often face post-harvest losses of up to 50% (IFPRI, 2018), leaving them with reduced incomes and limited market opportunities. Our solution creates a market demand for this surplus, enabling farmers to sell their entire harvest, boosting their financial security, and improving their resilience to climate and market shocks. By rescuing food that would otherwise be wasted, we help farmers earn more from their crops. In addition, our value-added products, such as semi-processed fruits and vegetables, extend shelf life, reduce waste, and enhance farmers' profit margins. Our platform also tracks and quantifies the environmental impact, showing reductions in food waste and greenhouse gas emissions. Through our Supply Hubs, we are providing farmer training, networking, and are looking for partners to provide credit and input services. Ultimately, our solution strengthens Kenya’s food system by reducing food loss, promoting environmental sustainability, and creating a more resilient and equitable agricultural economy.