Demand Planning to better match supply and demand in Agrifood Ecosystems

Email: M9700873@westernsydney.edu.au

Name of project leader : Athula Ginige

Project title: Demand Planning to better match supply and demand in Agrifood Ecosystems

Team members: Gizem Intepe, Kasuni Vidanagamachchi

Brief summary of your project (200 words maximum): The project aims to predict demand within an agrifood ecosystem, enabling growers to make informed crop selection decisions and achieve stable prices through better supply-demand matching. This study will be done in collaboration with Box Divvy, an agrifood supply chain connecting local communities with growers and food producers to provide market-fresh, locally grown, seasonal produce. The project will have two distinct but interconnected streams of activities. The first stream will involve extensive engagement with growers, consumers, retailers, and other providers in NSW. This interaction will help us identify the key information needed for optimal decision-making in agrifood operations. The second stream will focus on the analysis of historical data provided by our industry partner, Box Divvy. This data will be used to develop a demand forecasting model, which will be further enhanced with real-time data and integrated into a digital technology platform, a product of the first stream's activities. The outcome will be a system that predicts demand, allowing growers to plan crop selection and cultivation quantities better. This will minimise waste, stabilise prices for farmers through effective supply-demand matching, and enable produce to be picked to order at harvesting time, ensuring enhanced freshness of delivered produce. Partner name/partner contribution (e.g. AusScope/$10000): Anton van den Berg - Co-founder, Box Divvy/$10,000

CDMS contribution: $10000