By way of a new initiative, quick response codes will let consumers learn more about where their produce comes from.
A new initiative based on QR codes has now been launched by a farmers’ group in Western Australia, which has been designed to help shoppers to use their smartphones in order to learn more about the produce that they are purchasing and serving to their families.
These quick response codes will start to be applied to many different types of supermarket products.
Among the types of product that will soon don QR codes will be items such as dairy, lamb, beef, and bread. This way, anyone who has a smartphone and virtually any free barcode reader mobile app will be able to scan in order to learn more about what they are thinking about buying. Once the barcodes have been scanned, the smartphone will be automatically redirected to a mobile friendly website that will provide the consumer with information such as the way in which the produce was raised, how much the farmer was paid for that product, and even certain case studies about the specific farms.
This new project based on QR codes was first dreamed up as a result of some ideas tossed around at the 2013 Heywire Summit.
There, a group of young people came up with the initial concept, which was then developed into the final form of this high-tech initiative, that was created by the AgConnect Western Australia young farmers’ group.
The president of AgConnect, Kallum Blake, has stated that a number of recent issues in foods being sold in supermarkets – such as the hepatitis A scare in imported frozen berries – has increased the desire among shoppers to learn more about where their foods are coming from.
Blake explained that “People are beginning to question where their food comes from and is it safe,” and that “It gives them basic information about how those foods are produced.” He also stated that AgConnect is hoping to reduce the “disconnect” that is currently in place between the consumer and the producer of his or her foods.
The goal is to use these QR codes to reestablish the trust among consumers with the producers of the foods that are being sold and consumed.
