About

The Forward Food Tech story

Our founder and CEO Rob Ward spent his first 30 years as a strawberry farmer in Shropshire, UK. Rob’s farming business became one of the largest commercial Supermarket soft fruit farms in the UK.

In his twenties, Rob also founded and patented the first commercially available hydroponics field scale strawberry growing system. The DNA of this AgTech innovation can today be found in 90% of strawberry production. After selling the farming and hydroponics businesses, he created, built and sold other businesses, all ranging from Grocery Retail and Wholesale distribution; Food and Drink CPG and FoodTech.

Rob was awarded a Nuffield Farming Research Scholarship in 2008/9, sponsored by HSBC Bank which involved a world study tour researching innovation in grocery retail and food and beverage.

This led to developing a significant international platform of business and trade contacts.
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He co-founded the world’s first CPG Seed investment accelerator for the food industry.

ForwardFood.Tech was founded in 2019 to share Rob's experience of working with early-stage AgriTech and Food Tech brands and ensure that they have fully developed their commercial proposition and are investor-ready. ​

Today, Rob is working with a thriving team of agriculture and food tech experts to support innovative businesses building the future of our industry.
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meet our teamMeet the brands we work with