MatLoop is a revolutionary marketplace designed to mitigate farm-level food loss. Using AI and prescriptive analytics, our cutting-edge platform – MatLoop – connects growers, cold storage facilities, trucking companies, and buyers within the bioproducts industry, establishing a transparent marketplace for USDA Grade 1 produce, aesthetically imperfect and surplus fruits and vegetables and creating a closed-loop supply chain. MatLoop is more than a platform to sell and buy goods. It is a marketplace committed to a transformative journey toward a sustainable tomorrow. Each purchase empowers farmers, generates social value, and puts us closer to sustainable communities.

USDA Grade 1 produce is fresh fruits and vegetables meeting the highest quality standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These standards cover characteristics such as size, shape, color, firmness, and freedom from defects and blemishes. Produce graded as USDA Grade 1 typically exhibits uniformity in appearance, size, and shape and displays minimal aesthetic imperfections. USDA Grade 1 produce is generally sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. It commands higher prices due to its superior quality and appearance compared to lower-grade produce.

Previous and existing online marketplaces allow for the posting, finding, and buying of imperfect and surplus food, but they do not optimize operations, making themselves ineffective. MatLoop aims to pick up where others have fallen short. MatLoop's AI component utilizes computer vision to verify available product quality and aesthetic imperfections; text mining and deep learning generate a leading-edge material valorization database. Available to all users, the database suggests new ways companies can use available food waste. The analytics engine optimizes farm-buyer matching, storage times, shipment scheduling, transport routing decisions, and shipment consolidation. The strategic combination of these two complementary advanced technologies is unique and state-of-the-art. AI gathers the correct data to feed the optimization engine, and together, they unlock the most value from this overlooked supply chain.

MatLoop's AI component utilizes sophisticated image processing to verify available product quality and aesthetic imperfections. Farmers will provide comprehensive information about themselves, their produce, and authentic images of their goods on our platform. This data undergoes thorough processing to verify quality and imperfections, ensuring transparency for buyers. Consequently, buyers are safeguarded as they can assess produce imperfections before purchase and trace the source of the produce.

Logistical challenges, especially transportation delays, are a significant culprit of fruits and vegetables being lost in transport. Inefficient route planning and logistics operations can exacerbate the problem by prolonging transit times and accelerating the deterioration of perishable items. MatLoop’s analytics engine optimizes logistics, including storage availability, transit routes, shipment consolidations, and scheduling to mitigate inefficiencies. By prioritizing efficiency and timely delivery, we can curb food loss within the supply chain and foster a circular, sustainable economy.

One-third of all saleable produce is wasted on U.S. farms due to various inefficiencies in a disaggregated supply chain. The most significant of such is finding ways to get a perishable product like produce to market promptly. Betafeld is working to solve this issue with MatLoop, an innovative, one-of-a-kind marketplace for all kinds of produce—including surplus and imperfect—by connecting farmers to an extensive pool of commercial produce buyers to facilitate transparent transactions and optimizing currently-faced logistical challenges.

While, to some extent, the terms are used interchangeably, there is a slight difference between food loss and food waste. Food loss is typically defined as food not intended to be lost or unused. Instead, loss occurs due to quality issues in agricultural production caused by environmental factors, pests, diseases, or limitations caused by market prices or demands. Food waste generally entails food that is purposefully discarded or lost due to carelessness at the distribution, retail, and consumer levels.

Imperfect produce refers to fresh fruits and vegetables considered less desirable for traditional supermarket retail sales. Produce is usually deemed “imperfect” because of a cosmetic flaw, such as blemishes, off-coloration, an asymmetrical shape, or a size or weight imperfection. Despite these minor flaws, this product is still nutritious and safe for consumption. However, due to consumer demand for visually perfect produce, a significant amount of imperfect produce is left behind in the field or discarded at various supply chain stages, from harvesting to distribution. Only a small portion of this produce is donated to food banks or repurposed in other ways.

Surplus produce refers to goods grown in excess of what can be sold through distribution channels such as supermarkets, food service providers, and restaurants. A surplus can happen for various reasons, including overproduction and market demand fluctuations. When farmers produce more fruits and vegetables than can be sold through conventional channels, surplus produce may be left unharvested in the fields or thrown away, leading to food loss.

Farm-level food loss profoundly impacts farmers’ livelihoods, incomes, and overall economic stability. Farmers bear the direct financial burden of these losses when produce is lost at the farm level due to factors such as overproduction, quality standards, or market gluts. They invest significant resources in growing crops. However, when produce goes to waste before reaching the market, farmers face reduced revenues and may struggle to cover their production costs. This can lead to financial distress, debt accumulation, and even bankruptcy for small-scale farmers, particularly in regions with limited financial resources or social safety nets. Moreover, food loss undermines the sustainability of farming operations and can discourage farmers from investing in future production, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and food insecurity in agricultural communities.

When farm-level produce goes to landfills, it exacerbates environmental degradation and contributes to various negative impacts. As the amount of discarded produce increases, landfills expand, resulting in habitat destruction and the decline of local biodiversity. The decomposition of fruits and vegetables produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Decomposing food waste also produces leachate that can contaminate soil, groundwater, and local water sources with harmful chemicals, posing risks to local ecosystems and human health. The transportation of farm-level produce to landfills also generates additional carbon emissions, further exacerbating the agricultural sector's carbon footprint.

A closed-loop supply chain is a system that integrates both forward and reverse flows of products, materials, and information. In a traditional or open-loop supply chain, products move in one direction—from manufacturers to consumers—and often end up as waste after use. In contrast, a closed-loop supply chain aims to minimize waste by reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, or recycling products and materials, thus closing the loop and creating a circular economy. MatLoops aims to create a closed-loop agricultural supply chain by creating new market opportunities and mitigating food loss at the farm level. Turning what would be discarded into useful, perhaps alternative, products.

A closed-loop agricultural supply chain offers a multitude of benefits. It optimizes resource utilization, preserves natural resources, minimizes waste generation, supports environmental sustainability, enhances ecosystem health, promotes sustainable food production methods, bolsters food availability, lowers food prices, and alleviates food disparities in underserved communities.