How does blockchain help the agriculture industry? How can agriculture companies leverage blockchain technology to improve transparency, traceability, and food safety?

Well, the answer lies in the question!

Since blockchain is a distributed ledger, which works as a shared recording of data, primarily it will provide all members on the blockchain, visibility into the information stored, as well as the capability to update the ledger as it happens. This enables transparency and clarity and ensures that every member of the blockchain has the same information, thus removing possibilities of conflict and facilitating transparent transactions.

Traceability and Food Safety

Blockchain provides agricultural companies a way to track every step in the supply chain from farm to retailer. For example- in the case of meat, the retailer has all info at his fingertips including when the animal was slaughtered, when it was shipped, how long it was in transit and the shelf life of the meat.

This detailed level of traceability is very important in case of a food poisoning outbreak. Health professionals can quickly identify the source of contamination and address any issues immediately.

Traceability ensures that retailers know for a fact that the produce receiving pesticides is not classified as organic and sold for a premium.

Transparency & Visibility

Enabling farmers to work directly with retailers and removing various layers in the value chain are some of the direct advantages of using blockchain technology. With visibility, farmers can know which product is missing from retailers and immediately send a replenishment for it. Everything happens like clockwork with the blockchain embedded system.

If the question is how does blockchain help the communication between farmers and retailers; then the answer is that it eliminates several unwanted layers in the communications, and hence the orders are fulfilled faster and with more accuracy. In the act of removing unwanted layers in the value chain, the companies have complete visibility into demand for the farm’s products which in turn triggers faster fulfillment of orders resulting in increased sales for both retailers and farmers. Which is what is the current need of the hour.

Technology of the future

Overall, the current version of blockchain technology is just an inkling of things to come. The possibilities in smart farming, smart index-based agriculture insurance, and other data-driven innovations are set to transform the way agriculture companies get business done.