Farm to Table Goes High Tech
Consumer demand for the freshest produce has never been greater. Supermarkets and suppliers alike are responding with heightened emphasis on traceability and visibility throughout the entire supply chain.
Redwood City, Calif.-based YottaMark Inc., provider of HarvestMark, the fresh food insights and traceability platform, has teamed with Tanimura & Antle (T&A) to support the leafy greens grower’s next generation category management strategy.
HarvestMark Store Insights will provide T&A with quality measurement tools and in-store audit services, along with on-demand analytics that will enable the Salinas, Calif.-based grower to monitor products on the shelf and optimize its supply chain.
“We pride ourselves on growing unrivaled quality leafy greens year-round, and we work closely with our customers to ensure they reach shoppers in the best possible condition,” said T&A EVP and COO Mike Antle.
“HarvestMark gives us an important new tool to bring transparency to the fresh supply chain and spot and eliminate sources of lost quality and freshness,” he continued. “It’s changed the nature of the conversations we’re having with our most important customers.”
HarvestMark Store Insights is designed to establish suppliers as category leaders by providing them with the data, category-specific insights and recommendations their retail customers desire. The result is a collaboration to reduce waste, increase sales and drive shopper loyalty.
“Tanimura & Antle continues to demonstrate their category leadership by embracing technology that can give them an edge in quality and freshness,” said Elliott Grant, YottaMark’s founder and chief technology officer. “The smart use of data will start to separate the category leaders from the rest of the pack.”
HarvestMark Store Insights is powered by a mobile app for collecting quality and freshness data in stores — either by the brand owner’s representatives or by HarvestMark’s nationwide team of auditors.
By automating data collection, standardizing quality ratings and eliminating pencil and paper evaluations, HarvestMark Store Insights creates intuitive dashboards that give shippers unprecedented visibility to quality and freshness at the shelf. Users can then access a wide range of analytical tools online to spot trends, compare products and markets, identify areas that need attention, and monitor the impact of change.
To date, more than 5 billion packages of fresh food have been enabled with HarvestMark traceability, from the produce aisle to the meat case.