SourceTrace

Even though technology has penetrated agribusinesses and food manufacturing sectors in significant ways, they still remain ones where digital penetration is one of the lowest. Sustainability and food safety are still growing concerns. In a global world, food is produced, processed and consumed across continents. This makes food safety not just a logistically challenging issue but also a deeply collaborative one. This is why, ensuring food safety, transparency and traceability in the agriculture supply chain requires urgent attention from all stakeholders.

A robust solution that can provide visibility to all supply chain operations goes a long way in ensuring the quality of the food that is consumed by the end-users. The Massachusetts-based company, SourceTrace, is that reliable partner that assists agriculture companies, food manufacturers, and farmers’ organizations in streamlining the complicated supply chain operations while retaining the food quality. The SaaS (Software as a Service) company provides a unique solution called DATAGREEN, which has revolutionized the entire agribusiness and food manufacturing landscape simply by bringing agritech and foodtech on a one single platform. From farm to retail, SourceTrace’s solutions make a positive impact on all the touchpoints of the farming value chain, enabling the food industry to map the whole supply chain from a single interface.

The first of its kind DATAGREEN platform is the only solution required to digitize all the farm levels and optimise the supply chain operations including compliance and sustainability programs. By leveraging technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence and spectrometry (through partnership), SourceTrace enables its customers to test the quality of the produce in addition to just testing it.

The platform is being used by governments, donor agencies, food and agriculture majors across 32 countries currently. The solution meets requirements of diverse stakeholders in the agricultural value chain, such as farmer management, advisory, monitoring and evaluation, certification, traceability, supply chain management, financial services and market linkage.

There has been a rise in demand for traceability during last few years. COVID has only deepened the concern. More than ever before, consumers now want to know where their food comes from and how it was grown. “From seed to plate, SourceTrace proves provenance with details of farmer, soil, quality, condition of storage, chain of custody and more,” reveals Venkat Maroju, the CEO of the company. Moreover, the remote sensing technology that is infused into the platform enables the farmers to identify plant health by automatically recognizing crop diseases and pests in the field (if any). What is more, the farmers can also make smart farming decisions with the help of the advice given by the software in relation to irrigation and the application of fertilizers. Collectively, the platform facilitates smart farming, in turn, nurturing healthier crops.

SourceTrace’s pivotal role in eliminating the gap in the procurement of capital for agriculturists helps it stand out in the crowd. As most financial institutions tend to be apprehensive about lending loans to the farming sector, given the inconsistency that is often seen among farmers in their work, DATAGREEN provides an assurance. With all the data pertaining to the farming site, farmers’ biodata, crop growth status, and more received through the platform’s remote monitoring feature, financial institutions can rest assured that their investment will not go in vain. This approach will further eliminate the hurdles in farming and consequently boost the production of better-quality crops and increase the availability of healthier food items in the retail sector.

After withstanding the dangerous wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, SourceTrace is now looking forward to further enhancing its solutions. The company has already been able to positively impact 1.5 million farmers and has successfully signed contracts with many global MNCs while also working on World Bank projects. Going forward, that company will utilize the traceability of its solution on some of the most highly regulated plants such as cannabis, traditional coffee, and cocoa, as they require a higher degree of monitoring. Moreover, the company shall emphasize digital payment integrations in order to make much faster, quicker, and more accurate payments to the farmers using digital payments.