Citrus Australia
A sweet citrus traceability collaboration
A collaborative Citrus Traceability Pilot Project was rolled out in 2020 in partnership with Citrus Australia, Agriculture Victoria, Mildura Fruit Company, Nu Leaf IP and Trust Provenance.
The Australian citrus industry eclipsed the $540 million mark in exports in 2018–19, with a record 304,000 tonnes of high-quality citrus being exported. The purpose of the pilot project was to further grow and safeguard this valuable Australian export.
For the pilot, Laava Smart FingerprintsⓇ were applied to 205,450 x 1kg pre-pack mesh bags and 22,815 x 9kg cartons of citrus.
Objectives
In the words of our partners:
“Our reputation is everything; as important as the sweet, juicy fruit that has enabled our growers to expand their export markets.— Nathan Hancock, CEO, Citrus Australia
Citrus Australia's decision to engage with Agriculture Victoria in this traceability pilot program for horticulture supply chains was borne out of necessity. The scope and audacity of IP theft costs individual citrus businesses and the wider citrus industry millions of dollars every year.”
“Our traceability practices are crucial to building confidence in our horticulture sector, creating a shared understanding about how our food is produced.— The Hon. Jaclyn Symes, Minister Agriculture Victoria
Our citrus industry continues to shine, with exports growing steadily year on year - I commend the Victorian citrus industry for taking this proactive step that will provide benefits for them and our trading partners.”
The pilot was funded by The Victorian government, as part of the $8 million Growing Food and Fibre Markets (GFFM) program.
The program is aimed at helping producers, industry and the whole supply chain to:
- Better capture export market opportunities
- Strengthen biosecurity and food safety capability, focusing on product assurance and integrity systems
- Expand Victoria’s global agrifood trade footprint
- Build upon our reputation as an exporter of premium quality food and fibre products
“By using the digital fingerprint labelling on our packaging and blockchain, it will help us to protect our brands, and also will allow the customer to directly access proof of origin. For consumers, it also helps give confidence that they are buying a premium variety with the features that they desire.”— Matthew Cottrell, General Manager, Nu Leaf IP
Results
- Over 400,000kg of fruit was labelled with a Laava Smart FingerprintⓇ and monitored through the Trust Provenance blockchain within the trial.
- The pilot provided an opportunity for a standardised API to be developed and trialled, enabling Laava Smart FingerprintⓇ integration with any commercial traceability technology, DLT, IoT, ERP or packing/packaging solution.
- Fruit was scanned in retail and wholesale locations across more than 50 districts in China.
- Communications in a wide range of media to horticulture industry, government and technology stakeholders.