A partnership between barcode company Barcape and Zebra Printers is taking IT into the farmlands.
The partnership puts advanced barcoding systems in place at farms and pack houses, allowing fruit to be tracked to the producer and keeping local growers level with international markets.
Zebra regional manager Andrew Robinson says the main advantage the new printer offers is efficiency. "Because each printer has an IP address, they can all be managed over the Internet from one central location. This will save a significant amount of time."
Barcape director Steven Makepeace says the user would be able to carry out all the functions on the front panel of the printer, including reconfiguring and downloading, all via remote access. "The only thing you really can`t do over the Internet is change the paper," he says. Robinson adds that the printers also alert the user to problems.
The printers were designed in 1999, and cost around R15 000 for the mid-tier range.
Makepeace says farmers constitute only a small contingent of the customer base at the moment. "It is more the pack houses at this point. Companies like Two-A-Day, Ceres Fruit Growers and Sunday River Citrus are using our printers to label and identify palettes of fruit for export."
Makepeace says the farming industry is more technologically advanced than most would think. "In terms of the ability to track their products, the farming community is regarded as one of the more technologically advanced groups in the IT world, comparable to car-manufacturing parts distribution."
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