About Angus Soft Fruits

Established in 1994 by three local growers, Angus Soft Fruits has grown into a leading breeder, grower, packer and distributor of premium berries. Through strong partnerships across the UK and worldwide, the company supplies retailers in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia with high-quality berries all year round.

A commitment to innovation drives the business forward. Its specialist breeding programme develops varieties with superior flavour, shelf life, disease resistance and yield. With eight UK packing houses—including one that handles 50 million units annually—Angus Soft Fruits combines global reach with technical expertise.

The Challenge: Predicting the Unpredictable

Berries are among the most difficult crops to forecast. Weather-driven ripening patterns and shifting retail demand create constant uncertainty.

“Berries are the least predictable fruit in terms of harvesting and demand,” said Jan Redpath.
“Even predicting next week is a challenge… fruits are ripening with unexpected flushes … and there’s fluctuating demand on the customer side.”

Matching supply with retail demand is critical. Too much fruit leads to losses; too little strains key relationships.

“When we’ve got unexpected extra tonnage… we can’t keep it in cold store… This leads to distress selling… and it’s not a profitable outcome for our growers.”

Effective forecasting also determines when and where to deploy pickers, packers, storage capacity and refrigerated transport—a huge logistical undertaking.

The Solution: GreenView AI

Three years ago, Angus Soft Fruits began using Bitwise Agronomy’s GreenView AI, which analyses field video footage using machine learning and growth-curve modelling to predict harvest timing and volume more accurately.

Jan highlights the value of combining technology with grower expertise:

“The horror weeks are maybe one in seven where our forecast is actually out by 40%… What Bitwise Ag has achieved with us is to prove that a blend of human forecast and Bitwise Ag forecast delivers more accuracy across the season.”

AI brings scale and consistency, while growers contribute on-the-ground knowledge such as tunnel ventilation plans and picking schedules.

“GreenView AI obviously sees things that are factual… The human may count berries in one or two locations… but that’s nowhere near enough to develop a forecast.”

Why Bitwise Ag? Collaboration That Delivers

Jan notes that many agtech solutions overpromise and underdeliver, but Bitwise Ag stood out for its responsiveness and willingness to adapt to grower needs.

“The real answer is people need to listen to the grower… they’re very agile at making changes so that the system evolves to be what we need it to be.”

The partnership continues to strengthen, with plans for wider rollout:

“It’s been a collaboration with loads of new ideas for next year… we’re going to roll out GreenView AI to all our commercial raspberry production in Scotland next season because we believe we’re seeing the results.”

Outcomes

• Improved forecasting accuracy across the season
• Fewer costly “horror weeks”
• Better alignment of supply with retail demand
• Enhanced planning for labour, logistics and packing
• Strong, collaborative relationship between growers and supply chain