Innovation in the food supply chain is rarely about a dramatic “new invention.” Instead, it shows up where it matters most: in everyday decisions that have to be right—what to plant, how much can be promised, what is actually available to deliver, and when it needs to go out. When those answers are gathered in one place and kept up to date, the chain becomes tighter, and both growers and procurement can work from the same real-time view.
The Grower Portal is exactly that kind of innovation. It emerged from the need to increase efficiency, create transparency, and maintain control in a flow where many parties must stay in sync in real time: the grower on the farm, ÅTH centrally, buyers, and market actors. By bringing planning, forecasts, harvest, storage, and order status into a shared digital workflow, the connection between field and store becomes not only faster—but also clearer and traceable from the start.
Ålands Trädgårdshall (ÅTH) describes its members as the people behind your food. It’s an apt starting point. The operation is built on growers’ knowledge of soil, crops, and timing—and on ÅTH’s role as the hub that turns many farms and many deliveries into a coherent whole. When the flow works, it’s visible in the store: fresh produce, consistent quality, and clear origin.
But requirements are changing. The retail chain wants better forward planning and traceability. Consumers want to know more about where their food comes from. Traceability should not be something you “pull out” afterwards, but something that is embedded in the flow from the beginning. At the same time, both growers and ÅTH centrally want to avoid spending time chasing information across different channels. That’s where the idea for the Grower Portal took off.
A bridge between the farm and ÅTH’s systems
What makes the Grower Portal interesting is that it isn’t a standalone app living its own life. It is built as a bridge between the grower’s day-to-day work and ÅTH’s business-critical systems. In the background are established IT solutions that already support large parts of the operation, developed by Systemteknik Ab in Eckerö, with Charles Andersson as one of the key people behind them. These systems tie together areas such as ordering, planning, delivery, settlement, and follow-up.
The Grower Portal takes this structure and moves it closer to the source: planning, harvesting, storage, and delivery out on the farms. When information is recorded where it arises, it becomes more current and more useful—both for the grower and for ÅTH’s procurement and planning work.
“The Grower Portal is about making the whole system hang together. When planning, harvest, storage, and orders are connected in one flow, everyday work becomes easier for growers—and ÅTH gains a stronger foundation for meeting market needs,” says Patrik Nordgren at Mtech Digital Solutions, which developed the portal together with ÅTH and Systemteknik.
From planning to delivery—without unnecessary middle steps
In practice, this means the grower can work in a clear flow in the Grower App on a mobile phone. The grower can: create forecasts, register harvest, receive purchase orders, plan and carry out deliveries, and manage storage. When it works in daily operations, the impact is bigger than you might first think. For the grower, duplicate work and uncertainty decrease. For ÅTH centrally, planning becomes more accurate. For procurement, it becomes easier to see what is actually available—and when.
At the same time, traceability is strengthened down to field level. ÅTH has long made origin visible and close, and that is part of its quality promise. The Grower Portal enables that chain to be supported by better data and clearer links between what is planned, what is harvested, and what is delivered.
“For us, this is a step that strengthens both control and transparency in the flow. It becomes easier to keep the chain together from the grower into retail, while building traceability that works in practice,” says Tord Sarling, Chair of Ålands Trädgårdshall.
The right investment as a new generation takes over
At the same time, the industry is going through a generational shift, with more young growers joining as new members and taking responsibility for farms and cultivation. That also affects expectations of cooperation: the tools should be clear, mobile, and fast—and provide better overview without stealing time from the most important work in the fields.
The Grower Portal meets that development by digitalising where it adds the most value: in daily decisions and reporting, in the dialogue with procurement, and in follow-up throughout the season. The result is a more modern chain that still rests on the same foundation: professional pride, local responsibility, and produce that must be top quality—all the way to the store and the consumer.