FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 17th, 2003
 
eHARVEST Contact:
David Farnum, DVM
(515) 233-2551  VeriPrimeTM Contact:
John Lawrence
(903) 856-7619

eHARVEST and PigCHAMP Will Provide Information Services to VeriPrime. 

Farms.com, including its division eHARVEST and its subsidiary PigCHAMP, which reaches 75% of North American pork producers, announced today it is entering a long-term relationship to provide information and data base management services to VeriPrime Pork™.

“VeriPrime Pork is a revolutionary cooperative owned and directed by pork producers that will enable them to provide pre-harvest production and safety assurances to the consumer and be paid for providing them, separate from the trade itself,” says David Farnum, DVM, vice-president of Farms.com. “Sharing the information involved and maintaining identity of VeriPrime-eligible groups requires the kinds of technology and services that eHARVEST has been providing its customers since 1981. Through VeriPrime Pork, we can help current and future eHARVEST clients define and market assurances using our technology. In effect, we can offer them the opportunity to market a new asset they’ve never been able to market before.”

Likewise, Nate McDonald, DVM, president of VeriPrime Pork explains, “In each livestock species VeriPrime is identifying leading service providers to work with on behalf of our producer members. With eHARVEST, we have a chance to work with the leading pork information technology and service company.”

The organization began with VeriPrime Beef and quickly counted as members cattle feeding organizations representing more than 60% of the annual fed cattle supply. Projections call for the same widespread adoption in the pork industry. Assurance services that will be licensed when the phased-in VeriPrime Pork model is fully operational include standardized animal welfare and traceability capable of supporting evolving retailer needs such as Country of Origin Labeling.

“This truly represents the next generation of food production and food safety assurance for the consumer, driven by producers but including all participants in the food supply chain,” says McDonald.

Farms.com Ltd. (www.farms.com) is a leading marketing and information company with a family of operations that provides innovative solutions to the agriculture and food industry. It includes the eHARVEST division, which supplies information and technology solutions to the food industry. PigCHAMP (www.pigchamp.com) a subsidiary of eHARVEST, is the leading swine software and knowledge management company in North America.

VeriPrime, Inc. (www.veriprime.com) serves as a general contractor for its members, securing the technologies and services they need to provide production and safety assurances that are licensed to and paid for by retail members. Moreover, VeriPrime provides the mechanism by which participants in the food supply chain can collectively establish and implement best practices for pre-harvest assurances across a majority of the supply chain.