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A comment on Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade.

Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by delbel on Thursday June 16, 2016 @02:10PM (#11917827)
The system Oregon (and Colorado) uses for recreational is called METRC and is made by a company called Franwell. When I was at training, the spokes person actually asked for hands raised if anyone knew what a REST API was. Their seed-to-sale tracking system (required by law in Oregon), if used for food (just for example) would be able to tell you what corn field, and what corn plant, in Iowa, when and what fertilizer used, in a hamburger you just ate. (to draw an analogy) -- might be a little overkill but it what the current recreational law. The METRC webui I think is bootstrap based and is very nice. I haven't looked at the REST API yet, but their system integrates with RFID tags on the plant and packages itself with chain of custody style controls. http://www.metrc.com/ I am user of their system.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by mc32 on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:58PM (#11918811)
Cumbersome, but cam you imagine the benefits to health, if expanded to food production, when an e.coli etc. outbreak happens or mad cow, etc. Trace back the farm and know exactly which lots to pull.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by jericsinger on Friday June 17, 2016 @12:28AM (#11920685)
This is called traceability, and it's a fundamental aspect of food quality and good manufacturing practice (GMP) throughout the food industry. The devil is in the documenting.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by mc32 on Friday June 17, 2016 @01:06AM (#11920786)
Understood. But as it stands now the CDC has a tough time tracing origins with certainty quickly. If they implemented something commensurate it would be a great help to food safety (and reduction of food waste by not having to overreact and dump perfectly healthy/edible foodstuffs).
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by jericsinger on Friday June 17, 2016 @01:35AM (#11920861)
I promise you, everyone is trying their best. But the food and ingredient supply chain is extremely complex and doesn't lend itself to strict structure. Tracking an ingredient through multiple vendors in multiple countries while it changes form from raw material to component ingredient to sub-product to product requires a massive effort, care, and judgment. And it's definitely a chain that's only as good as its weakest link, so one small mistake early in the chain can void all subsequent efforts, no matter how diligent. My point is, it's really hard to do well, and nigh impossible to do perfectly.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by mc32 on Friday June 17, 2016 @11:29AM (#11923202)
You've illustrated the complexity in foodstuffs which have complex sourcing histories. Makes sense. I do find it a little incredible how difficult it is to trace an unprocessed good like lettuce, or meat or eggs. At times it gets hard to navigate thru all the middle sellers processors, etc. to trace an unaltered good with a single source down to its source.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by toyg on Thursday June 16, 2016 @06:48PM (#11919515)
Cue the food industry crying about massive increase in costs (to track, but also to drop cheap ingredients sourced in PR-unfriendly ways).
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by 13of40 on Thursday June 16, 2016 @08:14PM (#11919913)
I think the difference is that we're still valuing marijuana at prohibition prices, which means the producers have enough money left over they can bear the price of a system like that and still make a hefty profit. With something like corn, it takes an acre of land to net as much money as you'd get from a couple ounces of weed. [1]

[1] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/profit-margin-raising-corn-34...

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by jsonne on Friday June 17, 2016 @02:19AM (#11920980)
It is. DNA Traceback is a huge deal in the beef industry.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by hackuser on Thursday June 16, 2016 @02:19PM (#11917883)
If you know: Do you think it is and will be effective? Could illegal vendors, such as Mexican organized crime, find a way into the industry?

Let's not forget that organized crime has been involved in many legitimate industries.

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by Vexs on Thursday June 16, 2016 @02:28PM (#11917956)
Probably is- but if the RFID tag says a box weighs 50 pounds, and it comes in weighing 45 pounds, then you can throw up flags. Of course, there's always going to be ways around this sort of stuff, but you just have to raise the cost of getting around them just enough for it to be unprofitable.

Also, I've heard that cartel-grade MJ is terrible quality- local cultivation is probably pretty different then whatever shit they can grow.

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by oxide on Thursday June 16, 2016 @03:56PM (#11918452)
in my neck of the woods in CA, dispensaries aren't going to buy cartel brick weed. you can't just walk in off the street and sell to a dispensary anyway, I don't think that will change with a move to recreational legalization.

cartels can't compete with local street prices anyway, never mind recreational dispensaries. when you can get an 1/8th ounce of high quality stuff for 25 dollars off-season, and an a full ounce for 100 or less during harvest season, you can barely give the low quality stuff away. it usually gets used for hash or edible baking.

cartels know where they can and can't compete, that low quality brick weed is much better off being shipped to another state where they can sell it for 100 dollars an ounce.

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by zhengyi13 on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:17PM (#11918589)
Based on some of the complaints (anecdotally) I've heard about public land use, I think it's a mistake to assume cartel weed is brick/low-quality weed. They're clearly engaged in growing locally, if only because you eliminate the risk of border inspections and longer transport lines.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by nostrebored on Friday June 17, 2016 @01:52AM (#11920905)
wander too far into the woods in CA, and odds are you'll find a grow op
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by barefootcoder on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:26PM (#11918637)
Can you explain to those of us who have never used nor purchased why it would be more expensive during the harvest season than the off season? Or did you get the numbers backwards?

EDIT: thanks to those who replied -- I didn't notice the change in units.

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by qq66 on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:32PM (#11918665)
The comparison was between 1/8 of an ounce for $25 ($200 per ounce) and $100 per ounce during the harvest season.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by barefootcoder on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:43PM (#11918727)
Thank you -- I need to check my reading comprehension. I didn't notice the change in units. :-)
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by traek on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:32PM (#11918667)
It's less expensive in harvest season.

"a full ounce for 100 or less" -> 12.5 for an eight

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by jericsinger on Friday June 17, 2016 @12:35AM (#11920703)
Organized crime is pretty well purged from Colorado (and likely Oregon and Washington as well). Prior to retail taking effect, the DEA and Colorado law enforcement flushed out anyone with even a remote relationship with, call it, persons of interest. Since then, all participants have been subjected to background checks, where the thoroughness ranges from cursory (for, say, an hourly employee) to proctological (for a license owner). There are currently strict domesticity requirements for all "owners" (broadly defined by the state enforcement agency as anyone with "control"), i.e., at least two years of residency in the state of Colorado. Then of course there is the standard clean background check. New laws under consideration would open the market to out-of-state investors as of Jan 1 2017, but those laws are awaiting the governor's signature.
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by minikites on Thursday June 16, 2016 @02:26PM (#11917946)
Has been and still is, probably.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/opinion/mike-rowe-somebodys-go...

> Rowe: "The segments I was most interested in doing but found the most resistance around was that of a rendering facility. ... the Mob is still involved in a surprising number of rendering facilities. Why the Mob has such a rich history in garbage-related industries and rendering-related industries is a conversation beyond my pay grade.

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by caseysoftware on Thursday June 16, 2016 @04:05PM (#11918514)
"100% Organic, Certified Medellín Cartel"
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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by cinquemb on Thursday June 16, 2016 @03:05PM (#11918161)
… Franwell … if used for food (just for example) would be able to tell you what corn field, and what corn plant … RFID tags

I wonder if people set up these logistics/telematics companies so they can make trades on all the data they are collecting before anyone else can (I guess insurance companies would want to do this, but that's less fun of a tangent)?

Also anyone out there using any cheap sensors arrays w/ beamforming techniques and picking up on random RFID tags?

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Re:Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving th... by eli on Thursday June 16, 2016 @03:46PM (#11918385)
Similarly I have heard that the tracking required for medical marijuana in DC is cumbersome and dispensaries are mostly using hacky custom Windows software. Might even be Access based.
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