CENTER, CO — Enhancing its vertically integrated farming-shipping-marketing package, Aspen Produce in Center, CO, has upgraded with a new Kwik Lok print system that codes all bag closures with traceability information.

The system was in place earlier this summer following testing Aspen conducted on the Kwik Lok prototype earlier.

Dwayne Weyers, principal in Aspen Produce, said the new technology is driven by food safety requirements. A new 100-pound bagger is also part of the upgrade, and Mr. In the Aspen Produce packingshed are Dwayne Weyers, Ryan Haynie, Michele Peterson and Jed Ellithorpe. Weyers said the printed Kwik Loks are being used on all bags except the 50-pound and hundredweight.

Traceability is increased through 2-D, or QR, codes that are printed on the Loks, then scanned and read by smartphones.

While traceability and food safety were behind the decision to go to the new technology, other applications for the codes are in the works.

Jed Ellithorpe, farm and operations manager for Aspen’s sister company, Ponderosa Partnership, said that consumers can also be reached through the use of the QR codes on packaging, collateral materials and through advertising.

Scanning codes is far more than “just labeling,” he said.

Aspen’s increasing focus on domestic chain business keeps the sales and marketing teams on the lookout for ways to reach end users, and the company’s website, aspenllc.com, features information about the packing, shipping and sales side of the equation while a link to Ponderosa Partnership provides an insider’s look at the growing side. A video of the packingshed in operation is posted on aspenllc, and a QR code featured in Aspen’s ad in The Produce News takes scanners to the site.

In addition to Mr. Weyers and principal Rick Ellithorpe, Aspen’s sales team includes Michele Peterson and Ryan Haynie. The group handles both domestic and export customers.

New-crop potatoes started coming in during late August and early September, with full harvest hitting in September. Jed Ellithorpe said the crop in 2012 is “better than ever,” and he added that he is “impressed with Mesas and Canelas,” two newer russet varieties.

The season, which could go down as one of the driest on record, did not adversely affect the potatoes this year, but Mr. Ellithorpe said, “It has everyone nervous about next year. If we don’t have surface water, it’s money spent on each acre that we’ve never spent before.”

He also said, “If we’re working on demand, we have to have supplies to back it up. They key is for people to market right. At some point we have to go beyond demand and use marketing.”