by Mat Dirjish

Canadian venture capital fund Carrot Ventures is launching a second company named Cellar Insights Inc., which offers a remote monitoring and intelligence platform for potato storage management. Cellar Insights is a Canadian ag-tech startup providing a sophisticated suite of sensors and cloud-based algorithms that remotely monitor potato health in long-term storage. The platform includes predictive models and offers management insights to optimize returns.  

Farmers store millions of potatoes for as long as 11 months in climate-controlled facilities. During long storage periods, they face the risk of loss due to shrinkage, reductions in quality, disease, sprouting, and/or spoilage.

Potato storage practices vary widely in levels of sophistication globally, and losses can be as high as 10% to 25%. Cellar Insights hopes to offer farmers a reliable tool for remotely monitoring and managing the health of their stored root crops.

Martin Vetter, a venture partner with Carrot, said, “Reducing food loss and optimizing the quality of crops post-harvest is an issue of worldwide importance. Potatoes are the world’s third most important food crop, produced in over 100 countries. It is an essential and nutritious food staple, which has led to soaring cultivation rates in India and China. In North America, production value exceeds $4 billion annually, with retail sales approaching $14 billion. Unfortunately, potatoes and other root crops – such as carrots and onions – experience significant losses during storage. Effective storage management practices are vital, and we believe Cellar Insights offers a compelling solution.”

Thinking of going into the spud-harvesting and spud-storage business but desire further enlightenment? If so, visit the Carrot Ventures website. It beats becoming a dental-floss farmer.

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