HarvestLink.AI

Mission

Why HarvestLink AI exists

A third of the food produced globally is wasted, while one in four households in South Africa face food insecurity. We can do better — with data, trust and the right partners.

The food insecurity problem

Charities, shelters and schools regularly run short of food — yet edible surplus is thrown away every day across nearby farms, bakeries and restaurants. The mismatch is logistical, not nutritional.

The farmer surplus problem

Farmers absorb the cost of imperfect-looking or excess produce. Without a fast, fair rescue channel, that produce becomes loss — eroding livelihoods and discouraging local production.

How HarvestLink AI helps

We turn surplus into impact. Suppliers list in seconds, AI scores urgency, charities are matched by need + distance, and routes are optimised before food risk windows close.

Why AI improves matching

Better than a spreadsheet, faster than a phone tree

  • Urgency scoring weighs expiry, category and storage — not just clock time.
  • Storage-aware matching avoids unsafe transfers (cold-chain enforced).
  • Route optimisation chooses fastest, eco or multi-stop based on food risk windows.
  • Demand prediction tells farmers what to plant and charities what to ask for.

Our future vision

HarvestLink AI becomes the operating system for community food — a trusted layer that sits between producers, retailers, NGOs and government, with verifiable impact and real-time decision support.

Imagine school lunch programs that adapt weekly to local farm yields, retail surplus routed to shelters before it's marked-down, and entire cities planning food resilience using live data.

Roadmap

A phased path from rescue to resilience.

  1. Phase 1

    Rescue surplus food

    Connect farmers, retailers, kitchens and bakeries to charities and shelters in real time. AI prioritises urgency.

  2. Phase 2

    Support farmers with direct community sales

    Open a community-rate channel so farmers can recover surplus cost while still feeding people in need.

  3. Phase 3

    Predict shortages before they happen

    Surface demand and storage signals to charities, so they request the right food at the right time.

  4. Phase 4

    Build city-wide food resilience

    Aggregate impact at neighbourhood and city level, partnering with municipalities and retail chains.