Intelligent vegetable processing, precision berry production, circular supply chains and lower-carbon roses: the innovation, agritech and sustainability winners at the FPC Fresh Awards 2026 offer compelling examples of how the industry is putting fresh thinking to work.
The future of fresh produce is taking shape across farms, packhouses and supply chains. This year’s Fresh Awards winners demonstrate the breadth of that transformation, bringing together advances in automation, resource management, regenerative agriculture and responsible sourcing.
Announced at JW Marriott Grosvenor House, London, on Friday 25 September, the awards recognised businesses whose achievements speak directly to the challenges facing modern horticulture: producing efficiently, using resources carefully and building supply chains that can withstand change.
For Agritech Future readers, these winners offer an encouraging picture of innovation grounded in commercial practice. Together, their achievements suggest that the greatest opportunities lie in connecting technology with the people, production systems and natural resources on which the industry depends.
Tasker Partnership – BerryWorld, winner of Agritech Excellence, illustrates that connected approach at Harwell Farm. Its strawberry and raspberry production combines precision irrigation, fertigation and UV-C robotics with renewable energy, biological crop protection and biodiversity restoration.
The significance is in how these elements work together. Water and nutrient management, crop protection, energy and habitat creation all form part of the same growing system. For businesses assessing their next investment, this offers a useful perspective: consider how an individual technology contributes to the performance and resilience of the whole farm.
That emphasis on practical application also runs through Wyma Solutions, winner of Innovation Excellence.
Its Optical Vege-Trimmer combines machine vision, artificial intelligence and precision engineering to automate carrot and parsnip trimming. Developed with vegetable processor Frederick Hiam, the system was refined in a working production environment, where crops bring natural variation and equipment must fit the realities of an existing operation.
This collaboration makes the achievement particularly relevant to the wider industry. Successful automation depends on understanding the product and the process as closely as the technology itself. Working alongside a processor gives developers the opportunity to address those requirements where they matter most: on the production line.
Further along the supply chain, Delifresh was named Technology Champion of the Year. Its foodservice operation brings together AI, automation, digital quality management and integrated systems to connect suppliers, produce and customers.
Its recognition broadens the agritech conversation beyond cultivation and harvesting. Digital innovation has a role throughout the journey from grower to customer, particularly where businesses need to coordinate information and maintain quality across complex operations.
The sustainability winners bring an equally varied set of approaches.
Fairman Knight & Sons, winner of Sustainability Excellence: Supply Chain, uses black soldier fly bioconversion to turn locally sourced surplus food into useful products. The business reports sourcing around 40,000 tonnes of food waste annually from within a 15-mile radius, producing outputs including protein, bio-oil and soil-health products.
Its model gives the circular economy a tangible agricultural application. Material leaving one part of the food system becomes a resource for another, creating opportunities to retain value locally and strengthen domestic supply chains.
For Worldwide Fruit, Climate Champion of the Year, the focus is on helping growers test and adopt change. Its Model Farm approach uses working orchards to assess regenerative practices, measure progress and share learning across its grower network.
A case study of supplier Chandler & Dunn describes work to improve orchard soil health, biodiversity and resilience, supported by monitoring and trials under commercial conditions. This provides a valuable foundation for adoption: growers can examine practical experience alongside the environmental ambition.
Porta Nova, winner of Net Zero Impact, demonstrates the potential for substantial change in protected ornamental production. The Dutch nursery’s Red Naomi® FUTURA rose is reported to deliver up to a 95% reduction in CO₂ emissions per stem, with renewable wind energy central to the approach.
The nursery also combines energy infrastructure and LED lighting with water recirculation, biological pest control and UV-C robots. Porta Nova describes FUTURA as a production scenario based on 100% wind energy, supported by footprint measurement and independently validated data.
Its example underlines the importance of considering energy, crop protection and resource use together when planning decarbonisation.
Completing the picture is Global Pacific UK, winner of Sustainability Excellence: Ethical. Its international sustainability team works directly with growers and packhouses to improve conditions for workers across its fruit supply chain.
Its work with Partner Africa includes human rights assessments designed to identify risks and give workers a voice. That recognition keeps people firmly within the discussion about the industry’s future: responsible sourcing depends on understanding conditions on the ground and maintaining effective relationships with suppliers.
Taken together, these seven winners offer a powerful direction for fresh produce and horticulture. Their approaches differ, but each provides an example of progress built around a practical industry need.
For the next generation of innovators, the opportunity is clear: develop solutions that work in real operations, build strong partnerships and make their value visible. This year’s Fresh Awards winners give the industry plenty to learn from—and plenty to build upon.
Explore the achievements of every winner in the Fresh Awards 2026 Winners’ Brochure.
