This episode featured as part of the Agritech segment in partnership with Sensehub Dairy by MSD.

Hectre has taken out the Most Innovative High Tech AgriTech Solution award at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards, 10 years after the orchard technology company launched, says co-founder and CEO Matty Blomfield.

The company began as a software solution helping growers track fruit volumes and costs, and has since become a hardware-enabled SaaS business that uses sensors and cameras to scan the top of fruit bins and capture data on size and grade.

“We kind of want to have everything in this one platform that is captured once automatically,” Blomfield says.

That data drives decisions on who to sell fruit to, how to store it, and how to package it. Without it, growers make decisions on last year’s data or small sample sizes that are statistically inaccurate, which leads to billions in loss globally.

Hectre has used machine learning for about seven years, building models for different fruit varieties and regions. The arrival of large language models has not changed its core work.

He says you do not need AI in order to be successful.

“It’s just why wouldn’t we be using AI these days?”

This episode featured as part of the Agritech segment in partnership with Sensehub Dairy by MSD. Leading agritech innovation with SenseHub® Dairy — the modular, end‑to‑end dairy system combining animal behaviour monitoring, milk intelligence and automation in one connected platform, backed by MSD Animal Health. For more information visit www.sensehub.co.nz

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