Blockchain technologies present an opportunity to transformationally improve the operations of agricultural supply chains, from farm to fork. Potential benefits abound for all supply chain actors, ranging from small-scale producers to middlemen (including processors, distributors and others) to end consumers. I come to this conclusion after analyzing 193 organizations using blockchain to drive social impact as part of a Stanford University study (more on that in a bit).
Within agricultural supply chains, blockchains play a couple of key roles. The first is in tracking and tracing the origin of food products. One application, for example, is in tracking the provenance of food that is certified as organic or fair trade to make sure that it was appropriately labeled, as well as to address incidents of contamination or food fraud. Food contamination and food fraud present serious health risks: the WHO estimates that 1 in 10 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated foods, resulting in 420,000 deaths annually.
In each of these applications, the blockchain replaces whatever supply chain tracking system or centralized record-keeping system that is already being used. In a blockchain-based system, as opposed to the alternatives, records are immutable and trusted, eliminating the need for third parties to be involved. Potential farmer-facing impacts include ensuring that farmers receive timely and complete payments through the use of smart contracts, and helping farmers to capture real-time data to more effectively manage their crops and harvests.
Study more at https://nextbillion.net/blockchain-for-agriculture/