Welcome to our Tech Roundup, where we bring you Brazil’s biggest stories on technology and innovation. This week: startups finding new, digital ways to bridge the gap between food producers and consumers.
Tackling logistical barriers and food loss in Brazil
More than 12 million tons of food are discarded each year in Brazil on their way between farms and family tables and beyond, according to estimates by the state-owned research firm Embrapa, used by the UN’s 2021 Food Waste Index Report. This is the result of colossal logistics and storage problems in a country of continental proportions, and also outdated intermediation models between producers and consumers.
State of play. Food tech startups in Brazil are finding new ways to bridge the gap between food producers and consumers, optimizing production planning and stock management on the one hand and, most importantly, providing access to quality food at lower prices on the other.
How they do it. Their business models are based on e-commerce interfaces, leveraged by data-driven approaches and a new, sustainable way of consuming.
Organic vegetables at lower prices. One of the startups blazing the trail is Diferente. Its business is to take organic vegetables that are somewhat ugly or misshapen for supermarket standards, and bring them to consumers’ tables by way of a subscription-based service.
How it works. Fruits and vegetables purchased from over 200 farmers are evaluated and assembled in baskets at Diferente’s distribution center, located close to São Paulo’s largest food hub Ceagesp.
- The startup’s customers can...
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