Recall is a scary word for both farmers and consumers. Fears of getting sick can keep consumers from buying certain products after recall news goes public. Farmers and distributors have to worry about product and profit losses which could greatly impact their businesses. Recent, widespread, and frequent, recall news is pushing issues of food safety and traceability to the forefront.

For any sector to thrive, disruptive technologies and innovations must fall into place. In agriculture, farmers constantly seek new ways to increase the yield per acre, and at the same time, deal with rising input costs. Investment and innovation in robotics has been a big focus in agriculture recently, with reports from Wintergreen Research projecting an anticipated $16.3B market size by 2020.

In the ongoing effort to improve food safety and traceability, technologies are constantly evolving to bring more accurate information to retailers and consumers about where their food comes from. The Produce Traceability Initiative, sponsored by the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, aims to bring accurate, electronic traceability to every step of the food supply chain. From brand specific universal product codes in grocery stores, to blockchain tracking an individual head of lettuce, it all starts with the case and pallet tags growers provide.

Croptracker is always growing: let's take a look at some of our new features this month.