With the submittal of our Provisional Patent earlier this month, we are finally able to reach out to the World and say, Hello!
We’ve been busy ever since. A few days ago we started our Substack account, and today, finally figured out how to post our first (Nearly) White Paper, The Hydrologic Manifesto. In it, we quantified a fairly new concept, the Water Footprint. It was an idea that other organizations have originated, but our system of tracing food from the origin until its end, would actually be the first to utilize and act on, helping all the segments of the food chain, and ultimately, the consumer, to equate the real cost of food waste in terms of water lost.
As a professional that’s worked in the food industry, I’d never seen this comparison before, but it’s tangible, you can touch it, you can immediately grasp what food waste costs us in water consumption, and at a time when water scarcity is only becoming more systemic around the world, it couldn’t come at a more crucial time. And I’m also very proud to say that our system would help the entire food chain identify and stop food waste, and by extension, mitigate water loss.
Even though this is Day 1 of reaching out to the world, I’ve already met some very interesting people like Martin Rosberg, a cheese maker from Uruguay, crafting beautiful cheeses in the traditional ways. Check this post out!
Producers like Martin feel the anxiety of having to deal with our FDA’s requirements, the paperwork alone can be a hurdle that stops the process in its tracks, especially for small or medium sized farmers or producers. How would they ever be able to get their product into the American marketplace where that traditional craftsmanship and artisanal quality would be loved and appreciated? For most, it must seem like an insurmountable barrier to entry from the very start. And with the introduction of FSMA 204, traceability requirements, it only gets worse… Until now!
Warning: The following is going to sound like a commercial!
The great news is that the system we are developing to address FSMA 204 mandates for Farmers right here in America, is that it allows them to become compliant with these new rules, at no cost to the farmer. And because we designed our system specifically to remove the cost barrier to entrance and compliance for the farmer, it also means that farmers around the world will also be able to utilize our system for free, and once compliant, would be able to sell their products in the American marketplace as well. Our system utilizes a web portal that any farmer would be able to access with any smart device: smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop. They wouldn’t be required to install costly software, it wouldn’t take months to integrate into their farm or production process, the software would take care of keeping track of all their paperwork in case of an audit, for 10 years, while protecting their provenance against counterfeiters.
And I know this sounds like a commercial, I’ve been working at this for a number of months now, so it’s the first time I can talk about what we’re putting together, and I can’t help but feel the enthusiasm that’s been building. I especially like that we can offer it for free, the enablement that will allow even micro farmers to offer traceability to become compliant, it’s overwhelming.
Back to the post. I’ll get better at writing these, as I get more practice in the coming days and weeks, and months, and years. I see our system spreading the cost across all segments of the food chain, creating smaller lots of food which provides for finer granularity when tracing food contamination, and because the entire food chain is following our system, it means that insurance companies are also benefitting by not having to pay out in millions or billions on claims, they can offer discounts on premiums for the entire industry as well. Our system will pay for itself by those segments that adopt it.
And that is how We win.
Because it is, ultimately, We. We are not in a vacuum, but are living and working together in this world. Working together for safer food. Working together to prevent food waste. Prevent water loss. Lowering insurance. Lowering overall costs. And at a lower cost for the Consumer.
And that is how We win.
Looking forward to Day 2.