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Barcape and Zebra - tracing export fruit back to the trees

Customer demands on the South African exported fruit industry are rapidly exceeding those for perfect products and on-time delivery. At the export market's insistence on thorough knowledge of the fruit's roots and pedigrees, Barcape and Zebra Technologies are offering innovative solutions. Both companies are enabling farmers to activate and change carton label printer settings. The printers can be located in distant pack-houses and the farmers in their own offices, with the changes done via e-mail.

"It might surprise people to learn that the farming community is regarded as one of the most technologically advanced groups in the IT world and that farmers embrace new developments as quickly, and often faster, than any other sector," says Steven Makepeace, a director of Barcape, Zebra's business partner.

Zebra printers are being introduced into the fruit packaging process and the trend is expected to expand to other farming communities. Farmers are able to control a whole range of bar code printers from one central location. They are able to electronically keep track of their printers, which can be located on different farms or in different packinghouses. They do this through e-mail and connecting the computers and the printers to one IP address. The farmers are able to sit at their computer and electronically change the setting of the bar code to suit their various needs. The system can track apples back to the orchard, meets the exact criteria set by the export market and allows for a tighter quality control.

The printers have an Alert feature, which means farmers are notified of problems or the need for repairs via an e-mail from the printers, which can be fixed remotely. Three of South Africa's top fruit producers - Two-a-Day, Ceres Fruit Growers and Sunday's River Valley - have all integrated this system into the labelling of their produce. While first projects are specifically fruit, the system will expand throughout the agriculture sector wherever labels are required.

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