Assessing a Site-Specific Yield Determination and Field-Level Tracking System for Iceberg Lettuce Production In the Desert Southwest

Field packing into cardboard cartons is the current method for the handling and later transport of all leafy vegetables, including Iceberg lettuce.  Field packing generally provides greater marketable yields because of reduced mechanical damage.  And, for Iceberg and other lettuces, field efficiency, postharvest quality, and enhanced productivity necessitate the boxing and identification of quality attributes early in the supply chain, either in the field or packinghouse.  Consumer demand for ever-increasing amounts of minimally processed fresh produce can run the risk of being contaminated by pathogens which can heighten the decay process and, in some cases, make consumers seriously ill.  And, should an unfortunate issue involving field-level food safety arise, the ability to trace a contaminant back to a specific field location is critical to the rapid and effective understanding, management and control of the event.  Viewed broadly, U.S. food producers have developed an enormous capacity to track the flow of food along the supply chain, though individual systems vary.  Some traceability systems are deep, tracking food from the retailer back to the farm, while others extend back only to a key point in the production process.  In the fresh produce industry, the development of trace-back systems has been greatly influenced by the characteristics of the product, the harvesting infrastructure, and the current technology.  Yet, the ability to georeference cut and packed lettuce back to a precise field location is still in its infancy.  In this light, there is no current system which has the capability to trace carton-level packed Iceberg to an exact field location.  Using RFID and integrated GPS technologies, we demonstrate the first field-level, georeferenced carton tracking system to the leafy green industry.  The system is highlighted with the seamless traceability of produce from the retail shelf back to precise grower protocols, field locations, crop vigor status, field worker identification and weather conditions during growth and subsequent harvest.  As the system will incorporate carton level GPS links, precise lettuce yield determinations can be made within a field and later integrated into other precision management strategies.