"This project gained us a lot of experience in how to balance data-sharing and data-privacy in a competitive industry..."

Organic Ecology, launched in 1999, was NIP's first exploration of developing web-based systems for supply chains - in this case, the organic food industry - and is still in use today. This project gained us a lot of experience in how to balance data-sharing and data-privacy in a competitive industry, and how the different relationships need supporting with focussed information.

Developed in conjunction with leading organic growers and certifiers, the system consists of three main areas of functionality:

• A crop management system for organic farmers
• Online management of certification status
• Traceability of farms and harvests

In the last ten years, the organic market has grown exponentially, and evidence suggests that this trend is going to continue. This is clearly a two-edged sword for the industry, opening-up many new opportunities, but also creating numerous problems for it to contend with:

• The potentially substantial margins which it offers are attracting many new producers, not all of whom necessarily share the organic movement's idealism
• Conclusively proving the authenticity of produce: fraud is difficult to trace, and legitimate producers suffer as a result
• As the number of producers grow, so these problem escalates - especially if profit becomes the major incentive
• Proving authenticity will become more than a "nice thing to have"; it will be a necessity
• Increased recordkeeping burden, and auditing/certification overheads

Organic Ecology offers growers worldwide a means of capturing and distributing information about their crops to whoever needs it, both within the industry and beyond to consumers, and the system is used in Belgium, Holland, Italy and the USA, as well as in the UK.

All data in the system is owned and controlled by those entering it, so confidentiality is assured; exchanging this data with relevant parties is simple as all records are in a consistent format, and accessible by certifiers for monitoring. This data includes farm name and certification details etc; plot O/ S reference, size, organic status; crop type, crop plan dates, estimated yield, planting date, seed variety and source, treatment date and type, and harvest date, yield and trace code.

Each farm and harvest can then be reported on or traced by authorised parties - including consumers - using unique codes to generate reports. Releasing such information to industry customers and/or the public not only demonstrates producer authenticity, but proves the added value of the Organic brand in a sector still dominated by conventional produce

By capturing and distributing information throughout the organic industry (between growers, certifiers and retailers), organic integrity is strengthened and protected, proving authenticity and differentiation of products and, in turn, protecting the industry’s credibility.