Lugano – xFarm Technologies, the Swiss tech company specialising in the digitalisation of the whole agri-food sector, supporting more than 500,000 farms on a total area of 8.3 million hectares every day, is pleased to announce its new partnership with Bühler, the Swiss multinational leader in the development and production of plants and equipment, operating in more than 140 countries.
The aim is to provide agri-food companies with state-of-the-art environmental quantification tools across the supply chain, using primary data collection to track all the impacts.
Tackling emissions from the field to the shelf
In the food industry, 70-90% of the CO2e-related environmental impact of the final product occurs at the field level. These are known as Scope 3 emissions. For this reason, in order to have a detailed overview of the situation, it is key to have primary data not only on food processing, but also on raw materials cultivation.
The two Swiss companies have decided to work together to provide food companies with digital tools that enable them to monitor the environmental impact of their products by collecting data along the whole supply chain, from field to processing to shelf. This will make it possible to identify the main sources of emissions, and implement reduction measures, in line with Bühler’s 50-50-50 goals, which aim to reduce waste, energy and water consumption by 50% each.
A data-driven approach to sustainability
Through this partnership, xFarm Technologies and Bühler will work together to provide food companies with primary data to quantify water use and emissions both from the field, and from the food processing operations.
In fact, xFarm Technologies specializes in providing insights at farm level, and its proprietary platform, xFarm, allows farms to track all activities automatically recording agricultural processes and calculating their impact. On the other hand, Bühler’s Environmental Quantification Services enable customers to measure their environmental footprint during the food processing phase. By approaching sustainability from a data-driven perspective, food companies improve data transparency and traceability, thereby adding value to the final product.
“I am delighted to see the formation of this partnership. Our first contact was in 2018 when xFarm Technologies joined the MassChallenge Switzerland cohort, and since then it has grown significantly in capability and reach. They can play an important role in supporting our customers to understand the impact of their agricultural footprint,” said Ian Roberts, CTO at Bühler.
“I am very proud to work with a Swiss excellence like Bühler which, like xFarm Technologies, strongly believes in investing in R&D and innovation. This partnership represents a great opportunity for all stakeholders in the agri-food industry who want to have an end-to-end vision of what happens along the supply chain, from the field to the shelf,” said Matteo Vanotti, CEO of xFarm Technologies. “We started as a company created by farmers for farmers, and now we have a base of more than 500,000 farmers and we work with more than 100 supply chains: this is another step forward in covering the entire food production process and making it more sustainable”.
