“That food product is guilty until innocent”– Frank Yiannas (Walmart’s Vice President) has every reason to be concerned about food safety. Frauds and food origin ambiguity have long been ongoing issues, with scandals ranging from Chinese babies died due to melamine-contaminated milk to insecticide Dutch eggs being recalled throughout Europe.
Not only hurting end consumers, the information asymmetry between consumers and farmers also hurt the other end of the relationship. Authentic farmers with premium products tend to struggle to prove that their products are grown and harvested in an ethical, quality-driven manner.
Now, with the help of blockchain technology, things are about to change.
Improve supply chain tracking with blockchain
Blockchain technology has been stretching its applicability in various industries- including agriculture. By being decentralized and unhackable, blockchain provides a secure, integrated and up-to-date data stream that solves the problem of traceability. Thanks to multiple stakeholders involved in the information stream, product history can be extremely detailed and diverse, ranging from plants’ watering schedule to shipping dates, which can all be accessed immediately using tracking code. Moreover, its decentralized nature prevents the system from data change or security issues, ensuring data transparency for consumers.
“You should see blockchain as a glass box. All chain parties fill it with information. Then it’s locked.”– John Lorist from Frievar
Not just being a plain theory, agriculture-blockchain solutions have been studied and applied worldwide. The US’s leading retailer Walmart has recently announced their Smart Package system in collaboration with IBM. According to their Vice President Frank Yiannas, this system reduces tracing duration from 6 days to 2 seconds, while also being compatible to autonomous devices. In the European market, another example can be found at Frievar, a Dutch pig farming industry. Anticipating consumers’ demand for transparency in premium pig breeds, the company has been testing the blockchain performance in the Dutch market, with half of the pigs slaughtered per day using blockchain tracking technology
Not just about tracking
The potential of blockchain does not limit itself to traceability. In fact, insightful, multi-faceted database can be made use of to improve logistics handling, farming techniques, inventory management and broker communications. Despite being a new field, it is promising that blockchain solutions can help farmers increase their production efficiency, and consumers to eat their products care-free.
References:
Alexandre, A. (2018). Walmart Is Ready To Use Blockchain For Its Live Food Business. Retrieved from https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmart-is-ready-to-use-blockchain-for-its-live-food-business.
Gutierrez, C. (2018). Blockchain at Walmart: Tracking Food from Farm to Fork | Altoros. Retrieved from https://www.altoros.com/blog/blockchain-at-walmart-tracking-food-from-farm-to-fork/
Poelsma, B. (2018). Lorist: blockchain gaat varkenshouderij veranderen. Retrieved from https://www.boerderij.nl/Varkenshouderij/Achtergrond/2018/6/Lorist-blockchain-gaat-varkenshouderij-veranderen-296515E/
