"The home farm has been in the Brenn family for four generations,"
says Mrs. Brenn. "These days we run a beef feedlot selling
some freezer beef at the farm gate and cash crops. However potatoes,
broccoli and herbs make up our primary production."
Her son Shawn is operations manager and began using computers
to manage production about seven years ago. For the Traceability
Pilot Project, Shawn focused on their potato crop - about 50 per
cent of their annual field production. With the help of consultants
hired by OMAFRA, Shawn incorporated the system he was already
using - Farmworks™ software for tracking field operations
with new software - ProducePak™ to track information about
their harvested product through storage, packing and shipping.
Brenn-B applies a unique identifier on each bag of potatoes using
a customized label printer
applicator which puts labels on each bag prior to it being filled
with potatoes. This means each bagful could be traced back to
the field where it was harvested.
"I didn't realize how far ahead we are in Canada,"
comments Mrs. Brenn about the new agricultural technology available.
"We've learned so much since we started but when we began
learning all about ProducePaktm (we had to be trained) it was
easy to see how progressive we are."
The benefits of traceability are already evident at Brenn-B Farms.
Recently a portion of a potato shipment had been set aside and
within a couple of days staff noticed the potatoes from that load
had begun to deteriorate. The Brenns immediately used their traceability
system to track the batch from which those particular potatoes
had originated and identified the customer, calling him right
away. Locating all of that shipment, Brenn-B Farms was able to
replace it immediately.
"This was not a recall," Mrs. Brenn emphasizes. "It
had to do with quality. We didn't want those potatoes - with our
name on them - out in the market. Our customer was really surprised
and pleased. It gave him so much confidence in us and our system."
Mrs. Brenn says participating in the Traceability Pilot Project
has brought other benefits to Brenn-B Farms as well as being ahead
of others in the field of traceability.
"It helps us with management decisions, particularly with
our yield data. We're able to bypass fields that have proven to
not have the quality we want so we don't waste money or time harvesting
them," Mrs. Brenn notes. "Now that the staff has adopted
the system - they were pretty resistant at first - they recognize
how useful it is. They quickly figured out who is good at what
part of the new system and organized themselves accordingly. It's
been great for team building."
The need to expand the system is now apparent. Mrs. Brenn thinks
that in the not too distant future, they will invest in bar code
readers (hand held computing devices) to make their operations
even more efficient. Currently they track the finished product
codes by hand.
"It's a work in progress," says Mrs. Brenn. "Our
son Chris is the field manager and he's working with that team
as they 'play' with the new system in the field to see how we
can make it work best for us. We've also learned that one size
doesn't fit all. Each farm is different as are conditions. Shawn
has been tweaking our system, customizing it for us specifically.
This will help other farming operations who choose to use traceability."
Participation in OMAFRA's Traceability Pilot Project has been
a very good experience for everyone at Brenn-B Farms. Not only
has traceability been carefully integrated into their farming
operation, they have earned the respect of others in the agricultural
chain for their quality produce and customer service.
Traceability brings benefits:
Figure 1: Shawn Brenn,
Operations Manager of Brenn-B Farms Ltd. 
