Jeremy Holt on Cashew & Nut Trading Software - Episode 83

This week on the podcast, Jeffrey Palermo is joined by Jeremy Holt, the Executive Vice President of Amberwood Trading. Amberwood Trading aims to build partnerships with the African cashew processing industry (including the factories, government, and banks) through funding, software services, and technical consultancy. Since 1990, Jeremy has run Amberwood Trading. For 30 years he served as the Managing Director and in the last 3 months he has taken up his new role as Executive Vice President.    In this episode, Jeremy brings his unique perspective of being both the client and the developer of the software they use at Amberwood. He has developed several programs they use within their organization that assist in the production, processing, and financial side of their business. He shares all about the ins and outs of working with cashews; speaks about improving the traceability of the food supply chain through blockchain; touches on COVID-19 and what that means for food safety; and of course, he shares a ton about the fascinating technical aspects of his company!   Topics of Discussion: [:40] Be sure to visit AzureDevOps.Show for past episodes and show notes. [:48] About Jeffrey’s free 30-point DevOps inspection as well as his newest offer. [1:48] About today’s episode and featured guest, Jeremy Holt. [3:00] Jeffrey welcomes Jeremy Holt to the show! [3:08] Jeremy gives a background on himself and speaks about his company, Amberwood Trading. [6:53] Jeremy gives a rundown of the ins and outs of working with cashews and addresses some of the important aspects of food safety and cashew processing. [15:15] Jeremy shares how he used his coding abilities to create a program to demonstrate that this cashew project of his was viable in the eyes of banks. He also shares the other programs he has created that aid the day-to-day operations of his business. [20:00] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [20:27] Jeffrey gives some quick announcements. [22:17] Jeremy speaks about all of the different aspects that the software systems in the nut process touches. He also speaks about food safety and how he has been looking using blockchain for traceability and explains why that is so important. [27:44] Jeremy touches on COVID-19 and how it relates to the current COVID-19 pandemic and highlights the importance of traceability in the supply chain. [34:35] What Jeremy is trying to achieve through the programs he is creating for his business. [35:44] What is on Jeremy’s roadmap? Are there any particular parts he’s looking forward to technology-wise for his company? [37:32] Jeremy shares which programs in his business. [43:42] If someone were to pick up a jar of cashews, what should they be looking for to follow the traceability back to the source? [44:45] Jeremy gives some additional thoughts on the traceability of the food supply chain and food safety amid the coronavirus. [48:42] Jeffrey thanks Jeremy for joining the podcast!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsbookforcommunity — Visit to get your hands on two free books to give away at conferences or events! Jeffrey Palermo’s Youtube Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! [email protected] — Email Jeffrey for a free 30-point DevOps inspection (regularly priced at $5000!) — Spaces are limited! Amberwood Trading RavenDB Aurelia React Angular   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.