The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) has announced 12 winners of the Fresh Field Catalyst program, which identifies emerging companies with viable and innovative products and services for the fresh produce industry. 

According to a statement, the winning companies will be invited to take part in an immersion week to take place May 9-13 where they will be introduced to industry leaders, tour industry farms and facilities and experience a crash course in all things produce to guide their innovation as they seek to bring new solutions into the produce and floral market.

“The Fresh Field Catalyst program is a super highway of development, exposing companies to contacts and industry lessons that could take years in a typical development cycle,” said IFPA Vice President of AgFood Tech Innovation, Vonnie Estes.  

“One of the main reasons the winning companies were chosen was that they had a viable product that is ready to be iterated for our specific market. We congratulate all of our winners, we’re looking forward to beginning this experience with them during Immersion Week!” Estes added.

The winning companies hail from 8 countries, and represent software, hardware, biotech and robotics categories and more.  This group is meant not only to learn from the industry experts they will meet during their immersion week, but also from each other, which will be greatly enhanced by the global diversity of the group.

The winners of the Fresh Field Catalyst are:

• Provision -  Calgary, Canada
• Routeique Inc – Calgary, Canada
• Nexus Robotics - Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Canada
• Ten Carbon Chemistry Pty Ltd – Melbourne, Australia
• Morphix Technologies – Virginia  Beach, United States
• Netled – Prikkala, Finland
• Clarifruit – Rishon Le’zion, Israel
• DiMuto  - Singapore
• The Yield Technology Solutions Pty Ltd – Sydney, Australia
• Vitiport – Bratislava, Slovakia
• SoundAg – Emeryville, United States
• CarbonSpaceTech – Dublin, Ireland

In addition to immersion week, which will give winners an opportunity to tour industry facilities, receive feedback on their products and solutions, and fast track their understanding of regulatory framework impacting produce and floral – all winners will also receive exhibit space at the Global Produce & Floral Show.

“I’m especially excited to see these companies learn over the next several months through our biweekly webinars and mentorship program and be able to arrive at the Big Show armed with experience and industry knowledge,” said Estes.  “The Global Produce & Floral Show will allow our winners to connect with the industry and begin to make an immediate impact.  We are grateful for all the participants who are contributing their time as mentors and member companies inviting our winners into their facilities.  This is the true value of the program for our winners – learning, engaging and iterating with our industry without barriers.”