Last updated on May 8th, 2023 at 05:12 pm
San Francisco, California-based Full Harvest has announced its expansion beyond surplus to all USDA Grade 1 produce on its online marketplace for commercial buyers and sellers.
Helping the food waste problem by bringing the entire produce market online for more efficiencies, the addition expands its reach to retailers, foodservice companies, and direct-to-consumer distributors, among others. Full Harvest is an end-to-end online produce marketplace, including logistics automation, for all grades of produce – from USDA Grade 1 to surplus and imperfect – on spot, program and contract terms.
Globally, an estimated 2.5 billion tons (40 percent of food grown) goes to waste each year, according to the World Wildlife Federation. Unfortunately, while agriculture and food-related industries contribute more than $1.2 trillion to the U.S. GDP, and the fruit and vegetable market size alone will top $96 billion this year, the produce industry is predominantly offline.
The company enables increased market matching and transparency that improves bottom lines, shortens the time from harvest to production by shipping direct from farms and reduces the carbon footprint associated with transporting the produce.
“Everything edible should be consumed. We are on a mission to eliminate food waste in the produce ecosystem and create a more sustainable produce industry,” said Christine Moseley, founder and CEO of Full Harvest.
“While imperfect and surplus produce was an important first step, the entire produce industry needs to move online to maximize efficiency and eliminate waste. At Full Harvest, we’re doubling down on our mission to help produce buyers and suppliers get the real-time data and access they need to make the produce supply chain smarter, more efficient and more sustainable – regardless of produce type or grade.”
USDA Grade 1 is the primary produce grade used in the food industry to ensure consistent cosmetic and quality standards for consumers. Produce must meet stringent guidelines on shape, color, size, texture and quality to be considered USDA Grade 1. Expanding Full Harvest’s marketplace gives its current buyers and suppliers, most of which buy and sell all grades of produce, a one-stop shop to manage their produce online.
While Full Harvest has a large grower network established, suppliers are invited to learn more about the marketplace and sign up here.
