GreenPod Labs

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: The fresh produce supply chain is very dynamic, the temperature and humidity is changes constantly. Quality control within this dynamic nature is important. Simulating the actual supply chain conditions within your R&D facility is very critical to see how our product could add value to the real challenges. One of the tools we use for this is our temperature, and humidity chamber - where we can simulate different supply conditions (various temperatures and humidity) to test the product and validate the functionality. This helps to bridge the gap between real-life fruits/ vegetables supply chain and in-house R&D validation. Once the initial validation is completed, running supply chain trials is critical for our product validation. Chakravarthy M Tharshini Venkatesh GAYATHRI SAIVENKATESH Jaganivash B

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: Banana exporters had a practice of not picking up bananas for export from the corner of a farm plot. We wanted to understand the rationale behind that. Last week, we visited 6 different farms and mapped out all the variations within the farm from corner to center. The banana trunk temperature across the farm varied from 26*C to 29*C due to sun exposure- very distinctive data. An increase in temperature and light exposure directly affects the photosynthesis process of the plant thus increasing the crop maturity. Thus the bananas on the corner plot are more susceptible to ripening (images show the same) than the center of the farm. When these bananas go into the export supply chain, it causes ripening related spoilage at the destination. Knowing the industry practices and building a data backing for it - is fascinating. This also helps us understand the value that we can provide for the export market. Dr. Shankar Subramaniam Chakravarthy M Jaganivash B GAYATHRI SAIVENKATESH Deep Chaudhari Manuj Gaikwad Piyush Kumar #banana #export #trunktemperature #greenpodlabs #farm #spoilage

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: During the banana procurement for export market - several quality parameters are measured but the documentation is not done properly by majority of customers. This is massive problem to completely build transparency and predictability. While we were looking at bring in data science to eliminate human labor to quantify the quality parameters, they by-product is to keep a digital record of all the quality parameters across all the procurement. This would help the customer constantly improve their crop procurement practices and processes. Below is an example of digitizing pulp % of banana using AI/ML. #banana #exports #greenpodlabs

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: The fresh produce supply chain is extremely complex. Even different varieties of the same crop need completely different supply chain practices to effectively maintain quality and achieve highest economic gains. When we were spending time in Muzaffarpur, Bihar for the Litchi value chain. The two major varieties - Shahi and China variety had completely different quality and supply chain challenges. Shahi variety would turn brown within 48 hours after harvest. However, China variety is more prone to mold growth within 48 hours than the browning of the fruit. While developing processes, technology, and systems - we need to be cognizant of these inherent differences in the varieties. Closely working with the customers in the market helps us understand the nuances much better and build products accordingly. #litchi #greenpodlabs #innovation #foodloss #valuechain

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: More than a post-harvest company GreenPod Labs is a crop-science company. Understanding the industry practices from the customers and mapping them with the theoretical crop understanding - helps us to build the product more precisely. One of the recent examples of this: For the banana export during the crop procurement - pulp % is a very critical crop quality parameter. Customers take the middle banana finger in each bunch of bananas to measure pulp% - they felt this data is more reliable. When we went deeper and understood the reason behind this. The banana cell division starts from the middle finger in a bunch - this translates into reaching a higher crop maturing within the bunch first. Thus measuring the middle finger gives the most accurate maturity levels for crop procurement. Mapping the crop theoretical understanding with the on-filed practices bridges the gap between our R&D and customers. #banana #maturity #greenpodlabs #innovation #foodloss

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: While exploring the Litchi domestic and export opportunities, we were looking at how other countries were doing. We were super surprised to see Madagascar contributes to 35% of global exports despite a production volume of 100,000 tons annual production. India is the second largest producer of Litchi but contributes to less than 1% of the global export. This leaves such a huge opportunity on the table. #Lychee #India #Litchi #Innovation #Export Link: https://lnkd.in/g_pn3krE

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: Geopolitical issues have a direct impact on global agriculture trade. A clear example was seen between Russia and Ecuador for banana exports. Ecuador used to export bananas worth $780 Mn to Russia. However, the banana trade was impacted due to geopolitical tensions between the two countries. Russia and India got on trade relations for multiple agricultural commodities such as bananas and papaya. This poses a huge opportunity and challenges as well. The sea travel from India to Russia would take 45 to 60 days - maintaining the highest quality during this journey becomes a prime requirement to maximize this potential. APEDA and Indian Exporters are actively evaluating this opportunity. Farm maintenance, crop care, infrastructure, packaging, supply chain parameters, and end-to-end focus are needed on this journey. Link: https://lnkd.in/gmtRUrxG #banana #greenpodlabs #innovation #russia #india

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: There are more than 20 different varieties of banana grown in India and only 4 to 5 varieties are exported to International markets. There is a huge potential in exploring export opportunities of other indigenous varieties from India. Maintaining the crop quality throughout the supply chain is the major reason why other varieties are not explored. Navigating this through technology would create a strong market differentiator in the export market. A few things that can be done: 1. Out of 20 varieties, which are the varieties that are more robust and equivalent to the G9 variety (major variety exported to international markets). This gives a good starting point. Red Banana is one example (it is currently shipped to UAE but not to other countries) 2. Ground up structuring the agriculture practices, fruit care, and infrastructure for these selected varieties 3. Building customized supply chain practices to accommodate the new variety GreenPod Labs is passionate about exploring these untapped opportunities and facilitating them. #greenpodlabs #innovation #banana

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: In the last several months we Changed our market research process. Instead of just speaking with the management or owner of the supply chain players - we started interacting with all the stakeholders involved throughout the value chain. For example, working on the banana export supply chain - we spoke with farmers, farm selecting supervisors, packers, exporters, transporters, and importers and we understood the friction point at each stage of the value chain. This gave us a ton of insights into the bottlenecks and presented our solution to fit that gap well. It is not just pitching to the customer that matters, understanding their operations end-to-end and pitching makes a huge difference. #greenpodlabs #innovation Image Courtesy: https://lnkd.in/gJEcBGpS

GreenPod Labs Market Insights: We recently started spending time to understand the Litchi value chain in India. Closer to about 40% of litchis are produced in Bihar, and Muzaffarpur district is the major growing belt. Challenges in the value chain: 1. Litchi growing season is between May 15th and June 20th - a very very short season. 2. Litchi's shelf life is less than 48 hours, making it hard to transport to any long distance. Thus majority of Litchis are transported by air travel 3. No proper supply chain practices such as packaging, cleaning, logistics We saw a huge opportunity in this and started working on a product to extend the shelf life of litchis at ambient temperature. We strongly believe this can create a huge impact on the ecosystem. We'd love to speak with any companies or individuals actively working in the litchi value chain.