TRANSPAREN PATH

Even today, perishable imports continue to rely on paper records and fax machines, while in developed markets, data that could create significant efficiencies remains locked within disparate databases. And when food-borne illness triggers a recall, the forensic research required to identify and stop sickness takes weeks or even months.

Simply, this is a data problem.

Razor-thin margins discourage innovations that would lead to radical efficiencies. In the meantime, the outdated data environment contributes to us sending $1T of perishable food alone directly from farms to landfills.

Four data improvements are creating vast efficiencies that reduce waste and financial, reputational and health risk: 1) continuous IOT devices gathering more granular data, more economically; 2) cloud platforms connecting the disparate systems that store, secure, and share that data among supply chain partners; 3) machine vision and edge computing to augment human inspection of shipments; and 4) leveraging machine language to create predictive and prescriptive recommendations to help run businesses more efficiently.