An expanded bar-coding system which contains 1,000 characters and can deliver a mass of information providing full crop traceability as goods are delivered was revealed at Agrexco's herb conference in the UK last week.
Developed by Bar Code Systems (London), the scheme can carry a grower's entire seasonal input covering location, cultural practice and harvesting dates, as well as the relevant shipping and dispatch information.
Brian Marcel, managing director of BCS believes that this is the first application of the system in the fresh produce industry and already plans to explore other opportunities.
Menashe Carmi, technical manager of Agrexco Herbs told account managers and packers at last week's conference that retail suppliers now have the opportunity to share in this information and use it to build additional confidence with customers and establish dedicated relationships.
He sees the move as an extension of distribution at a time when food safety is paramount. "Only companies that invest will survive," added Amos Or, Agrexco's UK general manager.
The amount of information that Agrexco's 115 specialist Israeli herb growers have built up using the company's own Tavlinit software programme has been vital to the application of the new system. It has taken three years to develop and computerises daily records and treatments as the crop progresses.
"We had to make the system easy for growers to understand and then use it," says Carmi. "Now they are asking us why it has not been available before. In the meantime it has become a powerful marketing tool, as we are able to have a far more accurate picture of future availability while monitoring the crops and their quality at every stage".
This year Agrexco's herb growers will ship some 6,000 tonnes to all markets, a 20 percent increase year-on-year. Bezalel Madmon, international product manager at Agrexco privately estimates that growers have the potential to produce 8,000t of herbs over the next five years, which may also lead to crop mechanisation.
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