Soft fruit yields are notoriously difficult to forecast accurately. Inaccuracies on a commercial scale can result in significant over or under supply, volatile pricing and significant food waste, problems which GreenView AI - developed by Bitwise Agronomy - hopes to resolve.  

GreenView AI captures side-on footage of about 3% of a farmer's crop using a GoPro camera during routine operations, which is then uploaded to an intelligent dashboard to create yield forecast data within 12 hours.

"Relying on grower instinct alone is not without its problems," says vineyard owner Fiona Turner, CEO at Bitwise Agronomy. "Using this method, an average 10-ha farm could waste 55,000kg of fruit per year from supermarket rejection alone. GreenView AI can improve forecast accuracy to 90% or more."

In 2025 alone, GreenView AI analysed over 2bn blueberries, 36m strawberries and 34m raspberries worldwide, and several producers in the UK are enjoying its benefits.

The Summer Berry Company in West Sussex harvests 8,500t of soft fruit a year, and adopted GreenView AI earlier this year. It uses existing cameras installed on Saga UV robots, which are used to control diseases. The recorded footage from which is automatically uploaded to the system.

"Extreme heat can result in a lot of volume very quickly," explains Production Manager Liviu Palade.  "With new varieties, you need to be able to adapt and innovate, so we decided to try Greenview AI to get an accurate forecast, which is important from a commercial perspective."

Monitoring three different strawberry varieties with different propagation profiles across 15ha, the GreenView AI software produces five-week forecasts for the team. This helps to support decision making, planning customer supplies, and resources like picking and packing.

Mr Palade doesn't believe AI will entirely replace grower instinct. "Not every season is the same, and particularly in the early season, a grower knows better," he says. "But Greenview AI can analyse a lot of data from big areas, and so far, the yield predictions gathered have been great."

And the forecasting accuracy will only improve with time, as the system is adopted more widely across the UK, observing different varieties and how they behave, says Ms Turner. "For growers navigating an increasingly unpredictable climate, the data gathered will play an invaluable role in the future of soft fruit growing."