OnTrace Agri-food Traceability Inc. (OnTrace), is pleased to announce that it officially kicked-off the pilot of the OAPR as scheduled on May 29th, 2007. The purpose of the pilot project is to deliver a small-scale working model of the infrastructure for agriculture and agri-food premises identification in the Province of Ontario.
The objective of OAPR is to enable authorized users to access information about premises that touch food. These will be mainly agriculture and agri-food premises. The pilot will start with the producer end of the value chain, although eventually it will encompass all parts of the value chain, from farm to fork.
The OAPR system will be rolled out incrementally, said Brian Sterling, Chief Executive Officer, OnTrace, to minimize disruption to business, while still providing the flexibility to adjust the design to newfound needs as they evolve. It is important to note that we are not duplicating data. OnTrace is creating a provincial node through which authorized users can view information that typically already exists in the value chain or public data repository. In order to accommodate the tight timeframe, it is important to emphasize that OnTrace is not redoing or overriding others efforts. Instead, we are taking a cooperative approach with partners to leverage existing solutions, which also will help minimize cost and duplication of information.
OAPR Background
The Ontario Agri-food Premises Registry is OnTrace’s first major business initiative. The Corporation was asked to deliver an infrastructure for premise identification by December 2007, in support of the Ontario Government’s commitment to a national agri-food traceability framework. The OAPR will be unique, eventually encompassing all agriculture and agri-food commodities.
The OAPR project will establish a working system and demonstrate to industry customers and government authorities how it can help them in response to four important areas:
- Capitalizing on innovative business opportunities where verifiable information helps support label claims and accelerate market access,
- Increasing supply chain efficiencies for producers and other value chain participants;
- Reducing or mitigating the cost and negative implications of recalls; and
- Strengthening the province’s capacity to plan for and respond to emergency-type situations.
Assisting OnTrace is Intelliware Development Inc. of Toronto who will act as the services provider and solution architect for the pilot project.
About OnTrace
OnTrace is the industry-led not-for-profit corporation created to lead food traceability programs and initiatives in the province of Ontario. OnTrace’s goals are: to deliver traceability solutions that will enable the agriculture and agri-food industry in Ontario to become more innovative and competitive and; to strengthen the capacity of industry and government to respond to emergencies related to agriculture and agri-food welfare and public safety.
There are three fundamental pillars to traceability: Knowing what the product is; where it is; and when it moves to another location.
OnTrace is located at: 660 Speedvale Avenue West, Suite 300, Guelph ON N1K 1E5. Their contact coordinates are phone 519.766.9292, fax 519.766.1313.? For further information, visit: www.ontraceagrifood.com