Existing Activities

Existing Simplified System without DIDO

The following is only a simplified list of the steps involved in providing Sal's strawberries from field to table. Its a long supply chain with each step adding risk the quality of the strawberries and/ or the safety of the strawberries.

The strawberries are grown in a field. Only some of the risks are controllable. For example, feral swine can run through the field1) Michelle T. Jay, et al., US National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, 13 December 2007, Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Feral Swine near Spinach Fields and Cattle, Central California Coast, Accessed: May 10 2021, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2876768/ The strawberries are placed in reused field baskets / boxes The boxes are moved from the field to a small truck where they are hauled to a central packing house for cleaning, grading, and packaging. The packaged strawberries are then backed in larger boxes and placed on a palletThe palleted strawberries are moved to cold storageThe strawberries are sold/purchased by wholesalersThe strawberries are loaded on to refrigerated trucks for distribution to owners cold storage facilityThe Strawberries are inspected for qualityThe strawberries are placed in a Cold Storage warehouse with other products owned by the wholesalerThe strawberries are loaded onto trucks bound for the retail outlets (i.e., grocery stores, fruit stands, restaurant, etc.The Consumer selects the Strawberries and places them in a cart or basket and goes to checkoutThe Consumers purchases are put in bags and placed into a car to be taken homeThe strawberries are placed into the consumer's refrigerator along with other new purchases and with products already in the refridgeratorThe strawberries are consumed, usually as raw fruit at the table or as snacks

A simple, idealized traditional Supply Chain - Field to table for Strawberries

When record keeping gets added to the Supply Chain, the complexity can be overwhelming. Fortunately, from a supply chain perspective, most the of the time the records end up being superfluous, but when there are problems with food safety the records are essential in tracking down the cause of the problem. In agriculture, as you move towards the source of the Supply Chain, many of the records are are non-digital.

Most farms collect data in some form. Much of this may be in personal notebooks and mandatory compliance forms. Precision farming equipment, machinery, and mobile and desktop apps also collect agricultural data.2) Andrew Cooke, Rezare Systems, 4 November 2019, Accessed: 12 May 2021, https://www.rezare.co.nz/digital-data-in-the-agri-food-supply-chain/ In addition to the Health and Safety aspects of record keeping in the Supply Chain there are other important uses for the data. For example, improvements in efficiency that effect time to market, quality of the products delivered, or reducing wastage.

Note: The data logging and storage of data in the diagram is intended only for discussion purposes of the Supply Chain and not a specific implementation. This is particularly true when portions of the Supply Cahin become Value Chains.

A simple, idealized traditional Supply Chain with record keeping