smarter planet: food supply

© 2010 IBM Corporation

George Mattathil -

4/14/2011

Let’s build a smarter food supply Smarter food. Technology is shaping how it grows, how it tastes and how it gets to your plate.


Part of IBM’s efforts to help build a smarter planet

How do we put food on our tables? Today, we depend on a global web of growers,

fisheries, packers, shippers, manufacturers, retailers as well as government and

industry bodies.

As the world becomes smaller and "flatter," countries that at one time seemed distant are now primary

sources of our food supply. Many of those countries do not have consistent standards for quality, process

and accountability.

The result is an opportunity for our food system to get a lot smarter.

We need to make sure our food system is safe. In the U.S. alone, 76 million cases of food-borne illnesses

occur each year. Imports account for nearly 60% of the fruits and vegetables we consume, and 75% of

the seafood. Yet only 1% of those foods are inspected before they cross our shores.

And we need to make it more sustainable and efficient. At the same time, 50% of all food in the world

ends up going to waste.

Trying to manage these problems in isolation is no longer an option. Fortunately, a smarter global food

system—one that is more connected, instrumented and intelligent—is at hand.

A smarter food system means end-to-end visibility across the entire global supply chain. So scarce

resources can be more thoughtfully managed. So people can have more confidence in the quality of their

food. So the whole world can put healthy meals on the table. Let's build a smarter planet.

Setting the table for a smarter planet



Pet food. Lettuce. Peanut butter. Baby food. Milk. These are just some of

the high profile recalls we've seen in the last year.

Consumers worldwide are worried—and rightly so. Is their food safe? And

where did it come from?

One solution is track and trace technology, including 2D and 3D barcode

and radio frequency identification (RFID). This allows us to track food from

"farm to fork."

And now government regulations and industry requirements for quality and

traceability are driving food producers worldwide to provide more detail on

products.

With an increasingly global supply chain, that detail must be

comprehensive and reliable. And with that detail, companies can realize

added value as well, such as a streamlined distribution chain and lower

spoilage rates.

In fact, consumer product and retail industries lose about $40 billion

annually, or 3.5% of their sales, due to supply chain inefficiencies



A sampling of consumer product recalls within the past two years



Less waste. Smarter supply chains. Safer food.



Food is as fundamental as it gets. And our relationship with it has changed with every year.

Just ten years ago, most consumers were focused on eating a diet low in fat. Biotechnology

was extremely limited in its application and considered somewhat dangerous. And few

people knew what organic meant or why it mattered.

Today, the picture is one of heightened challenges. Food prices are soaring. Shortages

have sparked unrest the world over. And every year, ten million people die of hunger and

hunger-related diseases.

At the same time, consumers are hungrier than ever for information about their food. They

are better informed about nutrition and more aware of the environmental and societal

impacts of everything they buy.

In fact, according to an IBM Institute for Business Value survey, two of every five U.S. and

U.K. consumers say safety concerns dictate what food they will—and won't—purchase.

A healthy appetite for innovation



When Cyclone Nargis struck in May 2008, the

people of Myanmar lost an estimated one third of

their rice supply.

Investigators in the United States were baffled by a

mysterious salmonella outbreak that infected more

than 1,300 people and cost tomato growers more

than $100 million.

These events illustrate the vulnerability of the food

supply chain as well as the fragility of food supplies

in general.

With innovative digital technology and powerful

solutions, IBM is making sure food is traced

properly as it passes though an increasingly

complex global supply chain. IBM is also making

that food heartier through biological research.

The future of food starts today.

So what does IBM have to do with food? Food technology.



The average meal has been through a complex supply

chain by the time it reaches the dinner table. Dozens of

companies are involved in the production of just a single

rib eye steak.

In the Canadian Province of Manitoba, IBM helped

develop full traceability solution, providing business

consulting and project management services, working

more than 16 supply chain partners, including beef and

pork producers, animal feed ingredient producers, feed

manufacturers, farmers, processing plants, truckers and

a retail grocery chain.

Using Global Traceability Network (GTNet) software from

IBM Business Partner TraceTracker, Manitoba's project

shows it is possible to securely and accurately gather

and crunch data about a piece of meat from a variety of

sources and share that information, at any step in the

process.

Farm to fork

http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/26177.wss



Butchers at Germany's METRO Future Store

do more than dress roasts. They also apply

RFID smart labels in a solution designed

with IBM.

Each package is identified and recorded

when it is placed into the refrigerated display

case, which is fully equipped with readers

and antennas to scan the label of each

product as it goes in, as it sits on the shelf

and as it goes back out with a consumer.

The information helps the store maintain

fresh products, control the environment in

which they are stored and manage inventory

levels with real-time sales data.

The smart freezer

http://www.ibm.com/solutions/sensors/us/detail/news/V027813L20895Q19.html



Rice is the main food staple of more than half the world's population. According to the Food

and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 20% of the total food energy intake for

every man, woman, and child in the world comes from rice.

So what if food technology could make rice—a dietary staple for most of the world—a

stronger crop that is more nutritious?

First, we have to study the structures of the proteins that make rice itself. The

Computational Biology Research Group at the University of Washington has developed

state of the art software that does just that.

The researchers plugged into IBM's World Community Grid.

With the processing power of 167 teraflops, the World Community Grid can harness the

donated and otherwise unused power from nearly

one million individual PCs. Using the Grid, the

project can be completed in less than

two years—as opposed to over 200 years

using more conventional computer systems.

Good grains



Few things are as clear-cut as a candy bar.

But there is a lot of science behind something

so simple and sweet.

IBM Research, the U.S. Department of Agriculture

and Mars, Incorporated are teaming up and

through their collaboration, they hope to sequence

the genome that makes cocoa, the key ingredient

of chocolate.

Researchers plan to use IBM's computational biology technology and expertise to develop a

detailed genetic map, identifying the specific genetic traits that produce higher cocoa plant

yields and resist drought or pests.

But like any sweet treat, the results of this research will be better when shared. Mars will

make the genome information available for free through the Public Intellectual Property

Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA), which supports agricultural innovation for both

humanitarian and small-scale commercial purposes.

Good taste is in the genes



How do you provide end-to-end visibility across a supply chain that can span

thousands of miles and cross international borders? How do you reduce

waste and loss—which today stand at 50% between field and fork—in a world

where 820 million people are undernourished? How do you build a smarter

food system?

Matiq, a subsidiary of Norway's largest food supplier, is developing just that. They're working with

IBM on a technology infrastructure to potentially track every chicken breast, every pork chop, and

every beef filet they produce for the Norwegian food market from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

As a result, Norwegian food suppliers and supermarkets will have more and better information

about the meat they sell, and will be able to use software to trace the food anywhere in the supply

chain.

Matiq's smart food system can help suppliers and grocers reduce costs and improve safety. Even

more importantly, it can increase consumers' confidence in the quality of the food they purchase by

providing detailed information on where any given animal has lived and what it has eaten.

Let's build a smarter food system, for a smarter and healthier planet.



It’s a new world— retailers and consumer products organizations are key players in an economy that demands increased value, sustainability and accountability.

Develop smarter

merchandising and

supply chains. Shifting to value-based services for

suppliers, distributors and retailers;

methodologies and transparent

information channels to support

better decision-making and

sustainability.

Deliver a smarter shopping

experience. Capture and analyze shopper and

consumer data to invoke more

successful new product and

service launches.

Build smarter operations. Improving cost efficiencies

through streamlined processes

and intelligent technology with

stakeholder collaboration, and

inter-industry standards

development.

RETAILER /

CONSUMER

PRODUCTS



An opportunity for food systems

to think and act in new ways.

Deliver a smarter

shopping experience.

Develop smarter

merchandising and

supply chains.

Build smarter

operations.

+ + =

The companies are becoming

instrumented, interconnected and intelligent.



The world will continue to become

smaller, flatter and smarter. We are

moving into the age of the globally

integrated and intelligent economy,

society and planet.

To thrive in a Smarter Planet, we need a

Smarter Food System that supports a

profitable and growing value chain.

There’s no better time to start building.

And there’s no better time to invest in

creating the kind of planet we all desire.

Let’s work together to drive

real progress in our world.

We’ve only just begun to uncover what is possible on a smarter planet.



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smarter planet: food supply

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