Blockchain fresh produce traceability app:

Blockchain fresh produce traceability from farmsoft and CHAIN-TRACE.COM delivers customer and consumer confidence in fresh produce traceability, low cost and easy to implement.

Blockchain fresh produce traceability app:

Blockchain fresh produce traceability from Farmsoft and CHAIN-TRACE.COM delivers customer and consumer confidence in fresh produce traceability, low cost and easy to implement.

Quality inspection for fresh produce

Consistent and accurate quality control ensures higher customer satisfaction and adherence to industry, de-facto, and in-house quality control standards. Track supplier quality performance, customer feedback & complaints, create QC tests for any part of the fresh produce & food manufacturing process (incoming goods, raw materials, finished goods, expiry test, export/shipping tests), daily factory hygiene, machinery calibration, employee checklists... 

Fresh produce logistics

Manage orders, pack to order, picking and auto picking, dispatch & shipping process. Generate invoices, bill of lading, pick slips, export documentation and other sales documents... Dispatch teams are guided through the dispatch process ensuring every order is filled perfectly, and on time. Paperwork such as BOL, freight documents, export documents are automatically generated based on the customer and destination to guarantee no rejected shipments or issues at borders.

Fresh produce labels

Generate fresh produce SSCC pallet labels, GS1 case & PTI labels, bin labels, batch labels, traded unit labels, harvest labels and more. Use the built in industry standard labels for Walmart, Woolworths, Aldi, Tesco, Loblaws etc - or design your own with the built in label & report designer. Our team can design all of your fresh produce documents to ensure farmsoft matches your requirements perfectly.

Fresh produce packing control

Sales, Quality, Profit, Dispatch, Pack, Farm...... Dashboards for sales teams provide instant impressions of customer orders and current inventory levels. The dispatch dashboard helps plan shipments, order of loading, and transport companies & drivers... The Profit analysis dashboard shows margins per unit and most profitable customers. Use our API to access your data however you like.

Fresh produce batch packing

Project required raw materials needed to pack/manufacture orders, potential shortages, schedule multiple orders to be packed in batches on selected production lines with a few clicks, automatically send new job alerts to managers, schedule additional harvests, analyze outstanding orders. Manage entire packing and manufacturing process with ease.

Fresh produce alerts monitoring

Automatic alerts for shipments can be sent to customers, transport providers, or even team members. Every time a batch is finished processing, receive an alert with the pack-out breakdown and percentages of grades & quality and waste. Alerts can include simple shipment notifications, or even invoices and original order details. Other alerts include order changes/modifications, yield reports, new order alerts, and low inventory alerts... 

Blockchain fresh produce traceability:

Blockchain fresh produce traceability from Farmsoft and CHAIN-TRACE.COM delivers customer and consumer confidence in fresh produce traceability, low cost and easy to implement.

Tesco food safety compliance food packers
Tesco food safety compliance for food manufacturers, packers, import, export, wholesale.  Tesco customers expect us to only sell products made to the highest quality and that are responsibly sourced. They trust us to ensure that all our products are safe and comply with all the applicable laws and regulations.

Within Tesco we have a number of highly skilled teams and colleagues across the globe that are dedicated to ensuring our customer expectations are not only met but exceeded. They manage the quality of products from the original product concept right through to our stores and customers.
Although this page is based on our UK business, a similar approach is taken across our international markets whilst ensuring all legal and cultural differences are acknowledged and catered for.  Through understanding customers and their needs, product and market trends our expert team of developers work hard to bring great quality, innovative and value for money products to the market; our dedicated team of food researchers and chefs constantly review food trends and bring new food ideas to life to meet those customer needs.
Fresh Produce Bar Code Scanning

Fresh produce bar code scanning in agriculture easily delivers improved traceability in the fruit boxing and fresh produce packing space.  The FarmSoft team has add new features to the FarmSoft packhouse mobile (smart phone, iphone, tablets, and PDA’s) interfaces and new interfaces for in line bar-code scanning to allow rapid recording of packed fruit and vegetable via bar-code systems. Implement FarmSoft to make your fresh produce fruit packing easier and more efficient. FarmSoft delivers bar code scanning for packing sheds, packhouses, and fruit packers, exporters, importers and wholesalers.

FarmSoft fresh produce bar code scanning allows users to choose from a mobile interface that allows smartphones and PDA devices to scan boxed and packed fresh produce to record pallet contents. Fresh produce inventory and stock management with bar code systems ensures traceability and accuracy. FarmSoft’s bar code software for pack sheds makes fresh produce inventory control easy.

Bar-code traceability

FarmSoft bar code traceability is rapid to implement, and easy to maintain. Implementing FarmSoft bar code traceability for fresh produce processing delivers increased accuracy of traceability, easy inventory management, and can result in reduced fresh produce waste.
FarmSoft bar code traceability provides multiple fruit labeling solutions which can be tailored to meet client inventory handling requirements.
Bar code traceability
FarmSoft bar code traceability provides a comprehensive fruit traceability system for packhouses, pack sheds, and fruit and vegetable processors. FarmSoft bar code traceability makes fresh produce inventory handling easy! Contact FarmSoft today to receive these benefits.
Case level traceability

Case level traceability brings fresh produce processors, packers, and marketers easy and rapid traceability. Implement FarmSoft in no time at all, and start reducing processing waste!  Easy to deploy, farmsoft case level traceability is the best friend of any company looking to improve traceability in their food / fresh produce processing enterprise. Farmsoft delivers tangible improvements in food safety compliance and standards maintenance. Implementing farmsoft case level traceability for fresh produce processing delivers increased accuracy of traceability, easy inventory management, and can result in reduced fresh produce waste.


Farm to fork traceability for reliable food safety and best handling practices for fresh produce – while reducing waste and increasing efficiency!  FarmSoft’s farm to fork traceability solution delivers bullet proof fresh produce traceability management in every way. FarmSoft’s farm to fork traceability solution channels staff through the correct farming and fresh produce handling processes ensuring maximum food safety and traceability is being maintained at all times.

Combine both FarmSoft Farm Software AND FarmSoft Fruit Packing Software to create a complete farm to fork traceability solution.
In addition to the traceability features of FarmSoft, the system also provides a comprehensive fresh produce business management suite that takes care of every section of your business including: quality control, invoice, dispatch, sales, contracts, staff labor, packing labor, packhouse reporting and more.


Fresh Produce Traceability India – FarmSoft’s fresh produce management software brings new levels of traceability and efficiency to Indian farming and fresh produce packing, processing, and exporting.  FarmSoft guides users through the fresh produce handling procedures to ensure the safest, highest quality fruit and vegetables with minimum waste. From quality control, waste analysis, to fresh produce labeling – FarmSoft delivers for professional fruit and vegetable processors and packers. Download FarmSoft’s Fresh Produce Traceability India specifications here.

FarmSoft India
Professionally manage and monitor all post harvest processes including quality control, storage, inventory, sorting, grading, washing, packing, sales, invoice, and dispatch.
Traceability requirements matrix fresh produce

Traceability requirements matrix fresh produce packing, processing, value adding.   Traceability requirements matrix fresh produce
Traceability requirements matrix in fresh produce

EASY TRACEABILITY
Makes fresh inventory food safety compliance & audits easy.
Traceability requirements matrix fresh produce
Traceability requirements matrix fresh produce.
Blockchain for fresh produce traceability

Visit our official fresh produce blockchain site for the latest fresh produce blockchain information.
Ask your farmsoft consultant if your chosen block-chain protocol or format is supported.
Blockchain – Essential for Fresh Produce Traceability
 
The Produce Traceability Initiative, was designed to help the Produce Industry maximize the effectiveness of current traceback procedures, while developing a standardized industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency.
Food Traceability Software

FarmSoft food traceability software delivers bulletproof food safety and reduces business risk.  The FarmSoft is built on a solid platform of food traceability and safety standards. FarmSoft guides users through the food processing and manufacturing phases. The FarmSoft food traceability software suite specializes in processing and manufacturing involving fresh produce, fruit, and vegetables. Dried, cured, juiced, pulped, or even made into value added jelly and jams. Click here to download food traceability software specifications.

Fresh Produce Traceability Bar-code

Fresh Produce Traceability Bar-codes for fruit & vegetable packers, processors, and food manufacturers.  Fresh Produce Traceability is much more than applying a label to the packed fruit or vegetable. FarmSoft delivers strict fresh produce traceability guidelines for supply chain end to end food safety & transparency.

Ensuring that the traceability chain has no gaps in it is important to reduce the risk exposure of your business. If there is a breach in the traceability chain, then the whole traceability enforcement system has failed and becomes a pointless expense. FarmSoft ensures 100% accuracy of traceability throughout the entire life-cycle of fresh produce, from pre-planting, to post sales traceability guideline adherence. FarmSoft ensures your business is not unnecessarily exposed, while minimizing compliance costs. 

GS1 Traceability for fresh produce


FarmSoft GS1 traceability system does much more than just print labels! Manage your inventory, maintain traceability, pack, process, and store fresh produce. Perform sales and dispatch and invoicing. Reduce fresh produce waste.  FarmSoft GS1 traceability system does much more than just print labels! Manage your inventory, maintain traceability, pack, process, and store fresh produce. Perform sales and dispatch and invoicing. Reduce fresh produce waste.
farmsoft makes fresh produce GS1 traceability easy!
SAVE TIME
LESS WASTE
BETTER FRUIT
NO ERRORS
ACCURATE SHIPPING
REDUCE COST
Increase the efficiency of fresh produce deliveries using options like scanning incoming bar-codes to reduce data entry, save time, and reduce errors. Scan incoming fresh produce deliveries or use "one touch" rapid inventory creation screens to increase accuracy & reduce data entry time.


FarmSoft track and trace provides end to end supply chain transparency for fresh produce traceability. Implement FarmSoft to guarantee the highest level of traceability both up and down the supply chain!  FarmSoft track and trace is a comprehensive fresh produce business management solution that caters for all operational processes from quality control, inventory, sales, dispatch, and orders. FarmSoft even provides food manufacturing, good manufacturing management, and value adding features. FarmSoft track and trace software provides many innovative features to bring easily maintained benefits to the fresh produce processor, packer, and marketer.

Using the FarmSoft traceability code, customers, and end consumers can track and trace fresh produce simply by scanning a QR code with their smartphone. The track and trace system will then present the customer/end consumer with the traceability or marketing information as chosen by the packer. This helps to improve customer confidence and provides supply chain transparency to promote the concept of food safety.
Produce Traceability Initiative PTI

Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI), HACCP, GlobalGAP, CanGAP, EuroGAP, BRC, Bio-Terrorism, ISO and more…Simple PTI solution - software for fruit and vegetable processing

MINIMIZE WASTE
Farmsoft delivers opportunities to reduce waste during the packing, processing, storage, and distribution phases. By enforcing best practices, FIFO (when practical), inventory expiry monitoring, and easy stock takes - your company has every opportunity to minimize waste and maximize profit. From bar code managed inventory, inventory labeling, to 3D pallet storage, farmsoft delivers on reduced waste.
TRACEABILITY MADE EASY
Perform recalls in seconds, with the full confidence of accuracy and reliability. Minimize risk by ensuring accurate traceability is automatically captured. Pass audits with ease & reduce compliance costs using farmsofts traceability guidelines. Trace fresh produce up and down the supply chain, over multiple traceability hops. Instantly produce spray records, residue analysis, soil analysis, and any other farm traceability records if you use our farm solution.

Inventory traceability software for reduced post harvest waste

Inventory traceability software
The purpose of the Fruit & Vegetables implementation guidance is to provide best practice guidelines for industry-wide adoption for New Item Listing and update of existing assortment. This guide provides support to companies seeking to electronically exchange fruit & vegetable product information in accordance with GS1 Standards. The guidance applies to the full range of fruit & vegetable trade items. The guide outlines which attributes should be used for fruit & vegetable items and recommends best practices for the use of these standards to exchange static fruit & vegetable data between suppliers and retailers. Today, different platforms as well as different means to item identification exist when it comes to data sharing. Traceability case study for Paramount Citrus, Traceability case study for Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms, SunFed visibility of produce throughout supply chain with case and item level traceability. JemD Farms, greenhouse grower with GS1 Standards and the Produce Traceability Initiative.
The use of GS1 Standards, specifically for Identification, Master Data Alignment, Traceability, Track and Trace, Barcode labels and EDI transactions, provides a common platform to help supply.
Simple traceability solution

Simple traceability solution - software for fruit and vegetable packing
Processors and packers involved in the fresh produce industry deal with a lot of compliance and traceability issues. If the worst happens and a product recall needs to be effected immediately, they have to be able to trace where the raw ingredients of fruit and vegetables came from, what was done to them, when and where the finished products have gone.
Fresh produce processors and packers manufacturers are subject to quality audits and they can often practice recalls and food safety incidents. From a business perspective, these activities often can be expensive and cumbersome to comply with, without the use of a simple traceability solution that is integrated into the businesses fresh produce handling processes and guidelines.
As a supplier to the food manufacturing or fresh produce processing or handling and retail industry, quality control and traceability are key for any manufacturer. Farmsoft delivers solutions in Australia, USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Africa, and Asian regions. Use farmsoft to become compliant and increased efficiency.

Less waste, more traceability

Less waste, more traceability: Full featured software for fresh produce processing, packing, sales, export/import & distribution.  MINIMIZE FRESH PRODUCE WASTE

For handlers of perishable goods, reduce waste during packing, processing, cold store, order picking and dispatch phases. Enforce GMP and best practices, FIFO (when practical), inventory expiry monitoring, and easy stock takes to help minimize waste and maximise profit. Receive detailed alerts when waste is encountered through quality issues, or possible human error.
Learn more about farmsoft post harvest solutions
Manage your fruit & vegetable packing / processing operation with a simple traceability solution, or implement a comprehensive enterprise management solution. Easily comply with standards for Walmart, Tesco, Woolworths, Aldi, Loblaw, Coles, USDA, FSMA, GFSI, AANZFTA, PTI, HACCP - for full inventory traceability using PC/Mac or traceability app.
LESS WASTE.
MORE TRACEABILITY!

Fresh produce export documentation

Farmsoft makes fresh produce export documentation easy with new features that generate international standard fresh produce export documentation for fresh produce producers, processors, and packers.   Rapidly generate fresh produce export documentation on demand!

Farmsoft makes fresh produce export documentation easy with new features that generate international standard fresh produce export documentation for fresh produce producers, processors, and packers. The modern packing and processing facility is busy environment. Dealing with the excess of export regulations and paperwork requirements can often be a headache. Farmsoft guides users through the documentation process, reducing administration costs, and increasing productivity.
Contact a farmsoft consultant today to discuss your fresh produce export documentation options today.
Farmsoft takes the effort out of preparing fresh produce export documentation for fruit, vegetable, coffee, hop, and grain producers by generating commonly used export documentation.  

Reduce fresh produce waste, Orders - Quality - Production - Sales & shipping - Recalls & audits - Dashboards, analysis, business intelligence.   Reduce fresh produce waste, make production and shipments 100% accurate

Strict inventory management ensures FIFO and no orphaned fresh produce inventory, no loss of inventory due handling processes.
Production management ensures every order is filled accurately, dispatch is planned in advance, and correct shipments dispatched on time, every time.
Sales dashboards help marketing and sales teams plan orders, schedule production, and identify any fresh produce that needs to be sold before it becomes waste.
A choice of interfaces to suit every environment gives your team a simple fresh produce business management tool.
Manage fresh produce inventory stored at an unlimited number of sites / packhouses, and unlimited warehouses
Manage and monitor the storage and status (ie: in processes such as sorting, grading, cooling, ripening etc) of all fresh produce inventory, regardless of its state.

Visit our official fresh produce blockchain site for the latest fresh produce blockchain information.




Ask your farmsoft consultant if your chosen block-chain protocol or format is supported.




Blockchain – Essential for Fresh Produce Traceability
Blockchain for fresh produce traceability
Blockchain for fresh produce traceability
The Produce Traceability Initiative, was designed to help the Produce Industry maximize the effectiveness of current traceback procedures, while developing a standardized industry approach to enhance the speed and efficiency of traceability systems for the future. …and more! Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. Soft Fruit Juice identify the pallets on a production order Zerya Protocol Leading growers, packers and shippers of fresh produce in the U.S. and Mexico use the solution for both item- and ca

Improve operational efficiencies with the blockchain HyperledgerFabricIroha, and Indy. Fruits is able to trace the history and the location of their exported fresh produce by means of recorded identifications. We hope that the ideas presented in this article lead to a fruitful resolution of the challenges that remain for produce supply chain members seeking to implement PTI in conjunction with RFID solutions. 

She said while the countries are well positioned, there are aspects that could be improved. Fresh Produce Traceability and Inventory Management and Software Updates for October 2016. All trademarks/service marks referenced on this site are properties of their respective owners.

Season will work out the price of splits from the whole price of the product and can add on price uplifts for splitting. France intensifies controls to determine traceability of Spanish fruit 100% traceability across the industry will be accomplished much easier and with greater success if the industry agrees on a single standard for the information required to be tracked and shared during a trace-back.

This in an important development and will impact retailers both locally and internationally. SPAIN. Spanish fruit and vegetable producers have still not recovered from the “cucumber crisis” in the summer of 2011, which caused a sharp decline in exports. Working with all supply chain stakeholders including the local traders and smallholders on FFB traceability.

FarmSoft Agriculture & Fresh Produce Post Harvest Software, the best farm management software.
Reference: Fruit & vegetable packing systems for fresh produce supply chain management for wholesaler, exporter, importer, quality control, dispatch, sales and packing.



Will blockchain be the holy grail of fresh produce traceability?
In December 2016, so the story is told, Frank Yiannas went to a local Walmart store and picked up a package of sliced mangoes. Returning to the office, Yiannas, Walmart’s vice president of food safety, challenged his team to find out where the mangoes had come from, and set a timer. Six days, 18 hours and 26 minutes later, an answer came back.



BLOCKCHAIN FOR FRESH FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS – REALITY SETS IN?
Blockchain for Fresh Food Supply Chains – Reality Sets In?
When it comes to implementing blockchain for fresh food supply chains, has reality set in? Back in late 2017, blockchain was seen as a messiah, of sorts, for food safety and traceability. It seemed like it was hard to go a day without seeing an article in the press about this. Blockchain was going to solve all of our supply chain problems for freshness, traceability and food safety.

Has it?
Next steps
While excitement around blockchain is enormous, whether or not it will become the "Holy Grail" of traceability remains to seen. Roman Kuhar of Compac advises fresh produce growers and packing houses to align themselves with partners who understand the technology and who can help you implement it. He believes that consumer demand for transparency will drive innovation and that "packhouses and growers that adopt a blockchain driven traceability will become the gold standard for innovation and food safety."

Others tread cautiously. Harry Smit of Rabobank cautions that two prerequisites are required for companies to achieve success. "First, processes within companies, and between companies, have to become digitalized and standardized," he says. "Second, a broad participation of stakeholders along the value chain is required; otherwise the value of blockchain is lost." Nonetheless, Rabobank recommends that companies participate in more than one blockchain initiative while maintaining flexibility to switch to others.

Charlebois echoes the need for participation. "The most important challenge remains participation," he writes. "All parties must adopt the technology in order for it to work. In food distribution, not all companies are equal, and some can exercise their power more than others. A successful integration of the blockchain requires the engagement of all participating organizations." He states that further research is needed "before we get too excited."

Fresh produce on blockchain
While demand for fresh produce grows as people strive to eat healthier and look for more choice in their fruits and vegetables, the challenges around food safety and freshness persist. Across the industry’s highly complex, cross-border supply chain, challenges range from issues around the origins and quality of farm products to shrinkage and spoilage resulting from improper handling and storage.


How can IBM Food Trust help?
IBM Food Trust™ understands the challenges facing the fresh produce industry. That’s why we are dedicated to building trust and transparency and empowering seamless collaboration throughout the cross-border ecosystem with blockchain.

Learn more
Providing proof of origin and accelerated tracking
The Trace module enables end-to-end supply chain visibility, cutting the time needed to track a food source from days to seconds. Know the provenance of fruits and vegetables and their status to mitigate the spread of contamination and prevent waste in the case of a food borne illness outbreak.

Building consumer demand and brand trust
The Consumer module shares the journey of fresh produce. Connect shoppers to specific, permissioned information that helps influence buying decisions, such as origin, quality and sustainability practices.

Streamlining produce handling and reducing food waste
The Insights capabilities module provides near real-time supply chain data, including information on temperature and product movement. Leveraging blockchain and IoT technology, Hyper Insights enables better handling and transportation of perishable fruits and vegetables as well as dynamically optimizing inventory management.

Enabling reliable documentation across the supply chain
The Documents module allows participants to upload, manage, edit and share any documents along the supply chain. Improve information management, demonstrate organic and sustainability growth practices and show compliance with quality standards.

Use case
Enabling a global retail giant to trace leafy greens back to the farm
In 2018, a multistate outbreak of E coli-related illnesses linked to romaine lettuce started making headlines. Walmart had recently completed a food traceability pilot on the IBM Food Trust platform in which it reduced the time required to trace a box of mangos back to farm from 7 days to 2.2 seconds.

As a result of the successful pilot, the company sent a letter to all its leafy green suppliers asking them to join the IBM Food Trust-enabled Walmart Food Traceability Initiative. The goal was to have leafy green suppliers be able to instantaneously trace every product back to its farm, by production lot, within a year.


What Does Blockchain Mean for Fresh Produce?
Blockchain offers a range of benefits for the fresh produce industry. It promises greater transparency and traceability in supply chains; implicating improved productivity and greater food safety. By providing logistical insight, and increased control over produce; blockchain could help fresh produce businesses reduce costs, scale production, and invest in focused growth.

What is blockchain in fresh produce?
In short, blockchain is a digital platform that records transactions in a verifiable and permanent way. As a transaction occurs it is recorded on a shared ledger. The shared ledger is distributed across the entire ‘chain’ (of users), meaning the data is distributed and stored instantaneously across the network. This means that a transaction can be trusted as its details are verified by the network at large.

With blockchain, the movement of fresh produce is recorded at each hand-off. If, for example, a container of avocados is loaded for transit, the handler will log key data; such as location, time and provenance. As every handler enters this data, every item will have a full, traceable history with records at every point of its journey from farm to store. This data can be shared to designated participants in the blockchain and helps build consensus.

How will blockchain impact fresh produce businesses?
Blockchain will benefit growers, pickers, and packers by making them more efficient. For fresh produce businesses, this could mean speedier, more reliable supply chains – helping them to improve customer loyalty and maximize sales.

Blockchain
What It Is, What It Isn't, and What It Means for the Produce Industry


Ed Treacy, Vice President, Sustainability & Supply Chain Efficiencies for the International Fresh Produce Association. Image: MZMC
As is often the case with hot new technologies, there is an imbalance between the lofty hype surrounding blockchain and the low percentage of regular people who understand what it is.

A Wall Street Journal reporter earlier this year jokingly suggested cutting through the blockchain hype by changing every mention on the internet of the word "blockchain" into "multiple copies of giant Excel spreadsheet." Indeed, it is a useful, if oversimplified way of thinking about blockchain ledgers.

Importantly, "blockchain is not a specific software, it is a methodology for sharing data between trading partners," says Ed Treacy, Vice President, Sustainability & Supply Chain Efficiencies for IFPA (formerly PMA), who delivered a presentation called Exploring the Power of Blockchain Technology a PMA Fresh Connections: China conference in Shenzhen.

Chart describing Centralized vs. Distributed vs. Decentralized Blockchange

Another key difference between a blockchain record and, say, multiple Excel sheets: according to Treacy, blockchain is, "a unique type of ledger where you can't change the data and you can't delete the data: once it's there, it's there, and nobody else can change it."

Though far from buying into the idea that blockchain is the be-all and end-all new tool for companies to store and share data, Treacy nevertheless thinks the blockchain-based solutions will be adopted across a wide range of industries, and will be, "transformational for the grocery industry," including growers and suppliers of fresh produce.

"In the produce world, blockchain is a protocol for sharing information in a decentralized environment that enables the information to move securely through the supply chain at the same speed as the product," says Treacy. "Depending on how it's configured, you can authorize on certain parties to unlock your data. Everybody will have the data as part of the blockchain, because we want them to pass it on to the next link in the supply chain, but they won't necessarily be able to read it."

Blockchain can be used to add and automatically distribute data at each link in the supply chain, but can be tailored to control which parties have access to what data.
Blockchain can be used to add and automatically distribute data at each link in the supply chain, but can be tailored to control which parties have access to what data.
Blockchain solutions are already being deployed commercially by companies like HarvestMark (China), whose President, Dan Sun, presented alongside Treacy at Fresh Connections: China. For example, HarvestMark's parent company, Trimble, has used blockchain solutions in North America for managing shipping load assignment and contracting. According to Sun, "one carrier reduced contract management headcounts from 12 to 3 and increased revenue by $3.5 million through better matching capacity and demand."

Trimble Blockchain Application in production RFP to Engage Bid to shipper view to carrier view

But for the traceability applications where blockchain is mostly likely to find widespread use in the fresh produce industry, much of the technology is still in the pilot phase.

Treacy related how Walmart, in a pilot project with IBM, was able to use blockchain-based supply chain tracing to cut down the time needed to produce a complete record of the journey of a pack of pre-sliced mangoes from orchard in Mexico to cash register in the US: assembling the data went from almost a week down to 2.2 seconds. "If that was a food safety outbreak, a lot of people would have gotten sick in that six days and 22 hours," it took to trace the product prior to a blockchain solution being in place.

One male Blockchain team member from Walmart speaks with one female blockchain team member from walmart.
Members of Walmart's blockchain team. Image: Walmart.
IBM, a leading proponeMembers of Walmart's blockchain team. Image: Walmart.nt of commercial blockchain solutions, subsequently announced last year that it is partnering with major US grocery retailers including Walmart, Kroger and Wegmans, along with 10 major suppliers, including Driscoll's and Dole, to "apply blockchain to the food supply chain to improve food safety and ingredient transparency."

Treacy has joined into the process to represent the interests of fresh produce suppliers in the process: "We want to make sure that what [IBM] comes up with is going to work for most produce companies," not just the biggest suppliers who can afford large investments in enterprise software solutions. Additionally, Treacy hopes to shape blockchain solutions that will not force companies to completely change their processes: "Going forward, blockchain has to be complementary to existing business practices."

Other global pilot food blockchain projects highlighted by Treacy include JD.com working with an Australian beef exporter, Australian grain producers, and work being done by Alibaba, Microsoft and a startup named Ripe.io.

"Blockchain is not figured out yet," says Treacy. "In the world of produce, we're still figuring out the best way to use it where the value is, so it's a very exciting time to part of the process of forming and shaping" how blockchain will be applied to the fresh produce industry.

Radical transparency via blockchain technology offers food producers, distributors, and retailers detailed insights and data about fresh produce as it makes its way from seed to sale. The blockchain food value chain has the potential to deliver new benefits to the fresh food industry. With radical transparency:

How will block-chain impact fresh produce businesses?
Blockchain will benefit growers, pickers, and packers by making them more efficient. For fresh produce businesses, this could mean speedier, more reliable supply chains - helping them to improve customer loyalty and maximize sales.

“Fresh produce can spend 50% of its life in transit.”
- Logistics Bureau
The longer fresh produce spends in transit, the greater the risk of defects such as discoloration and food-browning. Block-chain could provide an answer.

Traceability
With access to data charting the journey of fresh produce, growers can utilize data stored on the block-chain to identify slow-moving items or produce that lays dormant before collection. Moreover, being able to map supply lines could open the door to potential pooling opportunities, or to previously unknown routes.

It will also allow suppliers to manage demand more effectively. The very same data could be manipulated to identify issues such as overstocking or stock-outs will help ensure resources are utilized optimally and reduce the likelihood of wasted journeys or unnecessary loads.

The technology will also reduce admin-overheads by automating documentation. Vital information - such as bill of lading, invoices and certificates - will be shared via the block-chain. This allows for quick hand-offs and decreases the likelihood of timely mistakes.

Ultimately, greater traceability and efficiency will make for quicker, more reliable supply chains - helping suppliers to improve relationships with retailers, and maximize profits.

With block-chain, suppliers are able to improve the safety and quality of produce.

Smart Contracts
While time and distance certainly affect the freshness of produce, variable conditions are another potential problem. Fresh goods are sensitive to temperature fluctuations and highly susceptible to contamination.

With block-chain, suppliers are able to implement smart contracts, which helps maximize freshness. A smart contract digitally facilitates, verifies, or enforces contract terms via the block-chain. Users can personalize a smart contract to suit their needs; a fresh food supplier might, for example, ascribe a temperature limit to fresh produce containers.

With an RFID sensor suppliers are able to track the temperature and humidity of conditions at each link in the supply chain. This gives suppliers access to historical data relaying conditions from an origin, through warehouses and carriers, all the way to the store.

With an RFID sensor, suppliers will be able to tell if a smart contract has been broken instantly. If, for example, the temperature of a container arrives in store above a prescribed temperature limit, suppliers will know and might penalize the previous carrier. This way, the root cause of defects can be identified and resolved quickly. This will help reduce the loss of produce as it moves through the supply chain.

blockchain fresh produce traceability
block-chain fresh produce traceability
The RFID sensor will make each handler accountable to the next, and an attached smart contract will ensure handlers comply with the requirements stipulated by growers. This helps decrease waste without any need for a costly enforcement strategy. The ability to maintain produce as it moves along the supply chain will improve the quality of goods, meaning suppliers generate more value and increase profits.

Block-chain will allow for greater logistical and operational capacity; enabling suppliers to build efficiency, trust, and reliability into the foundation of their business. With the fundamentals covered, fresh produce businesses can scale-up and maximize gains.