TraceTracker Incand XS, Inc today announced a technology and market partnership enabling a rapidly deployable, practical solution for traceability of agricultural commodities. “The benefits of track and trace are well known in agriculture” states Stein Onsrud, CEO of TraceTracker USA. “The challenge to date has been the practicality and cost of data capture and enabling chain traceability”.

By combining TraceTracker’s globally recognized traceability software with XS’ proven point of sale data collection capabilities, the partnership is able to offer  a completely new and comprehensive solution, which will revolutionize the data collection and whole chain traceability in the agricultural sector. TraceTracker has demonstrated the ability to track  movements and information regarding ingredients, products and logistical units within complex value chains, such as Norwegian salmon in Europe. BASF, a strong supporter of TraceTracker’s technology, uses the system on a global scale to accurately identify where their food- and feed additives are being introduced into the value chain for example.

XS’ capabilities complement those of TraceTracker’s in US production agriculture. XS is the largest collector of point of sale data from agricultural retailers in the US. “Our systems allow immediate visibility of seed, chemical, fertilizer and other farm inputs with minimal disruption to existing business and operational processes” states Fulton Breen, CEO of XS, Inc. Being an internet based service provider, XS’ focus is on extracting data from existing retailer systems thereby minimizing investment and accelerating time to market.

Several pilot projects are planned for the 2006 crop year including one with New American Farm, involving corn production in the Midwest. “Managing field level data is an important part of our business as we strive to improve efficiencies for our member farms” states Ben Allen, CEO of New American Farm. Integrating field data with farm purchase data from retailers and grain sales data from elevators provides exactly the information that TraceTracker needs to run its proprietary algorithms and precision data models.

While the initial pilot projects will primarily focus on value chains based on production crops, the system will easily adapt to animal systems according to Onsrud.

TraceTracker Inc is a wholly owned subsidiary of TraceTracker Innovation AS. TraceTracker was founded in 2000 and is the world’s leading software provider for Global Traceability Solutions. Covering the entire value chain, the TT GTNet ( TraceTracker Global Traceability Network ) is an online exchange of links to independent companies’ traceability information. The TT GTNet transcends organizational and system barriers to connect companies in a truly global traceability network. It facilitates the complete documentation and tracing products, and enables companies to cut costs, increase competitiveness, protect brands and enhance safety. TraceTracker has been chosen as the backbone information system in two major EU traceability projects “Trace” and “Seafood Plus”. TraceTracker is in close cooperation with GS1 to ensure compliance with existing barcode and RFID standards, and is an active member of the EPC Global Network Community. TraceTracker has its headquarter in Germany/Heddesheim, and has regional offices in Milan, Singapore, Toronto, San Francisco, Tokyo and Oslo.

XS Inc. is an Internet technology and services company serving agriculture and adjacent markets with e-commerce, marketing and data management services and applications that improve companies' marketing effectiveness, operational efficiencies and regulatory compliance.

New American Farm is one of the largest producers of corn in North America.  Through enhanced management systems, individual family farm units are aggregated to benefit from economies of scale previously unattainable in production agriculture.