Ron Gleason, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
Hillside Gardens, in Bradford, is a farm packing operation that has recently implemented a traceability program for the carrots and onions they grow, as well as the products they broker, sell and package for other producers and buyers.
Announcer
Regardless of the commodity or type of operation, traceability is best defined as the ability to trace what goes into growing a crop, all through to harvest and processing, and its final delivery to a customer - essentially every INPUT, every step in PRODUCTION, and every OUTPUT.
Ron Gleason, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
Well I think a good way to think about traceability is to think of it as an ingredient list on a package, you know, we have our food and there's an ingredient list on there. So EDIT: 1:37 - 2:04 traceability would be having that ingredient list, capturing all the information, and then being able to publish that if need be.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
Well, we start right in the field. We start with a lot-code on our seeds. And we can track what we spray on each one of our crops, so I know what crops comes off of each field when we harvest it.
Announcer
And so they keep track of every INPUT along the way - seed lot-codes, fertilizers, chemicals - the sprayer-operator, the grower - whether the product came from their own farm or someone else's, the field it came from, the truck and the driver, the date it went into storage or into the packing-house.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
And then when we run that lot of carrots, and I can track what day it was packed, and what customer it's gone to, and what size bag it's been packed into.
Announcer
Everything is tracked right through the production process using Produce Pak software.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
When we harvest our carrots and then we run them into our packing line, then that's all recorded in the Produce Pak. 20:21 And then, when we bag the different types of sizes of carrots in different types of bags from that raw product, that's all recorded on the tag. 22:31 What else is recorded is what size of carrots, how many are on the palette, many units are on that palette. And so, that is all recorded in Produce Pak, so when we make the sales order in the Produce Pak, I can match up what product is needed to ship, and then take that and scan that out of our product storage cooler.
Announcer
And finally, all of the outputs are scanned and recorded, too.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
And then, they're loaded onto the truck. And 21:08 the bill of lading that is made for the truck is also in the PDA -- in our electronic scanner -- so that has to match, what we ship has to match our bill of lading.
Announcer
Of course, it's all very accurate; and very useful in making of all sorts of management decisions.
Ron Gleason, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
It captures all the data. And we always say that without good information you cannot make good decisions. We have a lot of information. It helps us make decisions.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
We know the inputs that we've put on each one of our crop, so there's a cost-benefit -- how much cost we put into growing the crop.
Announcer
It helps them keep better track of post-harvest intervals for the chemicals they use, and greatly reduces the chance of making mistakes. And of course, there's the benefit of real-time inventory.
Dan Vanderkooi, Plant Manager, Hillside Gardens Ltd.
Every time we make a palette, we know how many we have in storage. The computer will track each one as it's made in real time. 19:05 And when it's shipped, it will come of our inventory in real time, so that we can -- we know how many we have to sell, and we can prepare for the orde