connection was to make more money. It was clear our objectives were to use data for that purpose.” As the technology advanced and the company matured, Dorn and the Food Origins team started putting data tools into the hands of farmworkers. “The decision makers who make or break our business are our harvesters. If they are our most valuable resource, we need to empower them with data,” he said. To collect the data, the startup utilizes unique labels with individualized barcodes that are pre-applied to produce packaging. When employees scan the bar codes in the field, the location, package and employee ID is registered and that data is passed into Food Origins’ algorithmic tools. This data then provides decision makers with information regarding the progress of the harvest, the density of the production in the field and the speed of harvest. Food Origins is taking traceability one step further by assisting growers in understanding the economics of their crops and identifying the break-even point of mechanization and other new tools and technologies at their disposal. Most recently, Food Origins worked with berry farmers to help them assess the efficiency of a machine harvest compared to hand picking. The startup followed 10 workers for a week, collecting hand-harvesting data from each worker. The next week, a harvesting aid was employed and harvesting data from the same workers was again collected. The result? Workers were able to harvest 40 percent faster in the same time frame using the machine. “We were able to show them, first-hand, how changes in their system made more
money for their business and the farm workers,” explained Dorn. “When they viewed their farm with this new lens, they committed to millions in investments that improved the health of their business and quality of their product.” In addition to allowing farmers to have the information needed to optimize operations, Food Origins is expanding the use of its software to consumers and
Western Growers offers us, such as legal consultation, financial and marketing services and health care benefits, are incredibly valuable to us. The more Western Growers and the Center can help with taking those organizational challenges off our backs, the more we’ll be able to make a difference for the industry as a whole.”
retailers. According to Dorn, farmers want to grow what people want to buy and part of Food Origins’ future will be to connect the data between farmers and consumers without adding cost. “Part of our goal is to integrate as many of the decisions as possible to address the challenges of the farmers. To achieve that, we regularly partner with sensor, imagery and automation companies,” said Dorn on collaborating with fellow start-up companies within the Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology (WGCIT). “Starting a company is tough and learning to navigate through all the nuances of running a business can be tricky,” said Dorn, who joined the WGCIT in 2016. “The services that
Food Origins uses a a low cost handheld device in the field to digitally collect data that farmers can use to track the rates of harvesting in their field.
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SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2018
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