“There is vast opportunity for us to continue developing innovative solutions for the food production industry. As a direct result of working with Gardin, our partners achieve a higher-quality product (crop) whilst reducing their operating cost and carbon footprint. We will continue to refine our technology to maximise output and minimise cost and excessive waste.” – Founder and CEO of Gardin, Sumunta Talukdar
Gardin are a phenotyping solution that allows growers to increase crop yield, reduce resource usage, decrease crop variation and improve forecasting.
It all started with a tomato.
Entrepreneur and self-confessed foodie Sumanta Talukdar started asking questions about the food production industry after tasting a particularly bland batch of tomatoes. They looked and smelt perfect, but for some reason, the tomatoes didn’t taste quite right.
Interested in what it takes to make a great tomato, Sumanta tried to grow his own produce at home, with disappointing results. After becoming fascinated with NASA’s ability to grow food in space, he became frustrated at his inability to grow great vegetables at home, back on Earth.
With a background in Physics and Engineering and a Ph.D. in Photonics, Sumanta began research on the metrics used to measure vegetables on mass. After speaking with a range of academics and food industry figures, it became apparent that the food industry’s metric system (weight, colour, size) was severely outdated. Hence the bland tomatoes that he’d experienced a few months prior.
Sumunta asked himself, if the purpose of food is to provide taste and nutrition, then shouldn’t that be what we’re measuring?
Using his experience in deep-tech augmented reality to solve problems, Sumunta had found a new mission in an industry that desperately needed to innovate.
Sumanta’s journey of discovery in the agri-tech space found a tremendous amount of food waste. In a world that’s struggling for natural resources, and a rising trend in consumers who are interested in transparency across industries, the multiple inefficiencies in the system were not sustainable.
Sumunta decided to focus on this multifaceted problem and Gardin was born.
