Consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety and wholesomeness of the food they eat, and at the same time are increasingly seeking high-quality fresh produce, especially locally produced foods. As a result, Farmers’ markets, and other direct to consumer sales channels, like CSA box schemes, are growing in popularity and in sales volume, and retail grocery stores are increasing efforts to tap into consumer preferences for buying locally-produced food and for the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” concept currently being promoted by the USDA. In spite of the promising opportunity for increasing sales of locally-produced food, small and mid-size family farmers face high expenses in complying with buyers’ and government requirements for traceability.

To accomplish its mission to empower independent farms, Top 10 Produce LLC uses the Locale branded technology licensed by Top 10 Produce LLC to its producer-members to provide consumers with the opportunity to learn details about the farmer and the farmer’s production practices instantly at the point of sale through an API accessed through 3rd party smartphone apps. As an added benefit, Top 10 Produce LLC's Locale traceability codes also enable buyers to make mCommerce purchases of these Locale brand verified items directly from the independent producers via mobile payments. Purchases can be linked to any credit card input into a cell phone, and purchases can be made from a consumer's home, from their independent local business, or directly from the farmer at an outdoor farmer's market. A purchase is made by a simple scan of a QR code or UPC barcode on the product. Alternatively, QR code purchases can be made by scanning a QR code on a poster at a given market listing the available products from that farm, or coop.

This allows small farmers to capitalize on consumers’ desire to “know the farmer” as they are able to do at Farmers’ markets, but have the convenience of ordering home delivery or delivery to an independent retailer as a convenience. Knowing they are buying from smaller source-verified growers especially appeals to those consumers who are most interested in buying “local” food for its perceived health and environmental benefits and because they value sustainable agriculture.

Problem

Consumers are increasingly concerned about the safety and wholesomeness of the food they eat. Recent well-publicized salmonella outbreaks have heightened that concern. Meanwhile, public health officials and advocates concerned about American dietary habits are emphasizing the need for plentiful supplies of fresh produce available to and affordable for all consumers. Traceability technology promises to aid in resolving these potentially conflicting goals. To minimize costs of providing fresh produce to consumers by optimizing their supply chain management, as well as to increase safety of the product, more retail chains require that their suppliers employ sophisticated traceability technology.

Solution

Through the collaboration with ShopSavvy, all buyers (consumers, distributors, and retailers) will be able to compare prices for a particular food product across all suppliers, in real time. Beyond this, consumers, distributors, and retailers will each benefit from the technology in different ways. Because the actual order will incorporate a producer-specific Global Identification Number (GTIN) that is connected to a location-specific Global Location Number (GLN) for an individual Top 10 Producer-member, it serves as electronic traceback data that buyers and regulatory authorities can use to rapidly identify the source of an outbreak without imposing an additional implementation cost on the primary producer.

Exemple

Through Top 10’s website, consumers, restaurants, wholesalers, and retail buyers can search for food with particular characteristics sold by growers using Top 10’s Locale brand. Then, using ShopSavvy’s QuickPay 2 they can compare prices and “click-to-pay” through a cell phone by paying a 2.9% transaction fee.

Marché

Consumers can “know the farmer” and be confident about the food, without having the added expense and time spent shopping at a local farmers’ market, by accessing the farmer’s profile and website through the QR code or GS1 barcode on the product. This system currently works with GS1 UPC barcodes and is being expanded for use with the small GS1 databars that are being used at an increasing number of mainstream retail establishments. We don't see others who are empowering independent farms as competitors, though they could potentially prevent our success if they do not work collaboratively in an effort to retain control over the independent producers who we serve.