SUNNYVALE, CA - HarvestMark, the food traceability solution adopted by companies such as Driscoll’s, Kroger, and Coleman Natural, has been acquired by tracking and positioning company Trimble.

"Trimble's acquisition of HarvestMark enables us to provide further benefits to producers and adds new value to distribution centers and food retailers by providing a powerful tool for tracking goods in the food industry," Mark Harrington, Vice President of Trimble, said in a press release. "By combining HarvestMark with our Connected Farm and Transportation and Logistics solutions, we can enable producers, distributors, and retailers to coordinate their activities to deliver the best quality foods to consumers. We are also giving our customers unique solutions to help control costs and increase profits in the food production, processing, distribution and retailing industries."

Trimble’s interest in HarvestMark, according to the release, is to strengthen its presence in the agriculture, logistics, and transport segments of the food supply chain. The acquisition comes with all of HarvestMark’s assets, including its software-as-a-service products.

Trimble stated that there are four such products, which gives producers the resources to make decisions concerning product safety and quality in real-time:

• PTI & Item Level Traceability: An affordable software that enables food producers, retailers, and foodservice companies to comply with the Produce Traceability Initiative while creating visibility throughout the supply chain. According to the company, the software provides an easy way to create rich analytics to improve performance from a product's source to the end consumer.
• DC Insights: An ERP agnostic mobile application meant for flexibility that prioritizes and guides quality inspections, provides analytics intended for improved buying and gross margin, and creates visibility in real-time with automated performance reports and supplier notifications.
• Retail Insights: A lightweight, mobile application that allows retailers, food service companies, and food producers to collect and synthesize food data, prioritize companies' initiatives, and ensure execution of priorities with real “time-and-trended” information.
• Connect: This is a platform that HarvestMark says allows retailers and food producers to engage their customers, share details about particular products and buying practices, suggest recipes and complimentary products, and receive customer feedback.

The global food traceability market is reportedly forecasted to see about $14.3 billion in total sales by fiscal year 2019, with about 9 percent in annual compound growth rate each year until that time, according to Companies and Markets. With a higher demand in food transparency and new technologies, such as biometrics and softwares like those listed above, the overall food traceability market is also reportedly open for significant growth in the coming years.

Keep checking in with AndNowUKnow for all the latest in the industry.