Feed | Devpost

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Problem

About a third of the food produced globally is wasted. 14% of which is lost between harvest and retail, and 40-50% of which happens due to consumers.

Now, food waste occurs at three primary levels and at each, for a bunch of different reasons.

For farmers, it’s due to excessive production, market conditions, and inefficient supply chain collaboration.

For retailers, it’s from insufficient inventory management, elevated product requirements, and again, inefficient supply chain collaboration.

And for consumers, it’s from poor planning, excessive preparation, and overbuying.

But regardless of the level, food waste is generally due to the underlying problem of poor supply chain management.

Solution

To solve these issues of waste, we present Feed.

Feed reduces food waste by streamlining the supply chain through seamless food transactions and intuitive food planning.

Features

Feed’s onboarding process prepares the app differently depending on whether you are a farmer, retailer, or consumer, which you can try out via our prototype.

All three versions bear the marketplace feature, which provides an online venue for farmers to facilitate convenient transactions with both retail and households who wish to buy their fresh produce. Through this, we achieve direct farm-to-retail and consumer channels.

The consumer version contains the “menu-making” feature, where the consumer inputs their monthly income, number of household residents, and other important info, from which Feed generates recipe options and a menu schedule for households, providing ingredient measurements for precise meal preparations and budget optimization.

How we built it

We started off by conducting UX research on all stakeholders in the food industry involved in the supply chain to dictate our app’s human-centered design direction. After that, we delved into the ideation process to conceptualize our app solution to the underlying problem of poor supply chain management leading to food waste. Finally, we utilized a multidisciplinary approach to mobile development prototyping with graphic design and UX design.

Value proposition

So, what value does Feed bring to those who contribute and at the same time, are impacted by food waste and the industry’s poor supply chain?

For farmers, it benefits them by integrating technology, empowering them to make their operations more efficient. Businesses can order before the produce is harvested to anticipate logistic considerations and to ensure produce freshness.

For households, it benefits them by harnessing data analytics to attain sustainable consumption, empowering them to create realistic food plans that lessen their waste and increase their savings.

Competitor analysis

Does any other app accomplish this? Let’s take a look at some competitors similar to Feed.

We have Flashfood, which saves food waste by allowing farmers to give items ejected by grocers to be sent to consumers, and Farmdrop, which serves as an online grocery delivery service that allows consumers to get food directly from independent, local producers.

However, they do not reduce the food waste generated at the stage between producers and retailers, nor do they optimize food consumption by contextualizing food waste efforts to household situations.

Scalability

In the future, we see Feed being integrated into more developing countries, helping provincial farmers by increasing their currently unjust pay.

We also see Feed being utilized by community contexts larger than households, tackling food insecurity and reducing food waste among larger demographics.

By offering seamless food transactions and intuitive food planning as a marketplace and menu-maker, Feed streamlines the supply chain for producers, retailers, and consumers, harnessing technology to reduce food waste.