How Can the Indigenous Bushfood Industry Benefit From Distributed Ledger Technology? – Emerging Application Potentials and Considerations

Abstract

Emerging distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), including blockchain, have found increasing applications across various industries over the last decade. Prior studies have highlighted numerous opportunities for embracing DLTs across industries and explored their potentials to optimise and even transform industries. This study explores in which ways the indigenous bushfood industry – a niche but an expanding industry – with national and international interest – can benefit from emerging DLTs. Emerging application potentials include the use of DLTs as (a) an institutional infrastructure for the protection of indigenous bush food IP and cultural knowledge; (b) a governance mechanism to ensure flow-on benefits of greater indigenous business ownership; (c) a virtual intermediary to connect indigenous producers with customers; (d) a shared communication solution for supply chain transparency and collaboration; (e) a community-based database for bushfood bush plans and nutrition facts; (f) a storyteller for the provenance of bushfood that contains native ingredients and (g) an open infrastructure for indigenous bushfood business innovation. Moving forward from application areas, considerations about selecting fit-for-purpose DLTs for specific contexts are discussed to offer a strategic thinking in the adoption of DLTs within the indigenous bushfood industry.