Maliha Rajwana Haque, Sadia Tabassum, Khairun Nahar
Bangladesh's economy draws its main strength from the agriculture sector.Rice is the staple food of the country, and is the most important crop in Bangladesh's agricultural sector.However, this sector is facing numerous challenges.The main challenge is proper tracking of agricultural products and ensuring payment after delivery.As the whole transaction process of products and money currently depends on third parties, both buyers and sellers use agents for delivery and payment of food.Ultimately these agents add additional cost to the system.Blockchain is a technology that can provide a remarkable solution for product traceability in agriculture and food supply chains.In this paper, we have conceptualized a Smart contract-based agricultural system through which buyers and sellers can directly interact with each other.With leveraging the smart contract facility of blockchain, transactions among stakeholders can be recorded, and the need for intermediaries will be eliminated prevailing a central authority system.All transactions will be recorded in Blockchain's immutable ledger which provides a high level of transparency and traceability to the supply chain.Furthermore, in this paper, we have provided data privacy protection solutions through cryptographic primitives and Markle trees that can avoid enterprise privacy and sensitive data leakage.We have also shown cost analysis and performance analysis.We made our smart contract codes publicly available on GitHub.
Peter Sasitharan Gandhi Maniam, Catherine Prentice, Anne-Marie Sassenberg, Jeffrey Soar
Background: Blockchain adoption in agriculture is facing challenges. Some of its key challenges include lack of regulatory framework and unclear policies. Methods: This quantitative research based on a survey aims to examine the factors that influence blockchain implementation in the agricultural sector. Several theories including the technology acceptance model (TAM), the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), and the technology readiness index (TRI) were drawn upon to determine the factors influencing Blockchain adoption. The study was undertaken in Australia with 358 agricultural supply chain experts. Results: A range of novel findings were generated. While perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude positively influenced Blockchain adoption, discomfort and insecurity were considered deterrents. Conclusions: The results can be used by relevant practitioners to improve the supply chain management for agriculture business. The findings can also inform a new direction for the research on the agricultural supply chain and the literature on logistics.
In recent years, with the frequent crises of trust in the food industry, food safety issues have become an issue of particular concern to consumers. The traditional agricultural food logistics and transportation model can no longer guarantee the traceability of food safety information, and it is particularly important to establish an effective traceability system. Therefore, a traceability system is applied as a tool to assist in the assurance of food safety and quality, as well as to achieve consumer confidence. Blockchain is a new decentralized infrastructure and distributed computing paradigm that has gradually emerged. Blockchain has the characteristics of decentralization, immutable information and trustworthiness. When blockchain is applied to the traceability system of agricultural products, the quality of agricultural products will be well guaranteed. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the recent research efforts on traceability in agricultural products based on blockchain technology. First, the method of content analysis used in this article to sort out the papers is introduced. Second, the background concepts of blockchain and the key technologies are presented. Thirdly, the traceability applications based on blockchain technology for agricultural products are described in detail. Finally, we expand on the current trends and provide new perspectives pertaining to this exciting application of this field.
How might blockchain technology be used in the food supply chain? A systematic literature reviewAll authorsRetno Astuti & Luki Hidayatihttps://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2246739Published online:29 August 2023Display full sizeThe complexity of the food supply chain necessitates the implementation of traceability systems. The traceability system optimized the food supply chain management. Blockchain technology promises a new distributed ledger, which provides various uses by solving several traceability issues. Unfortunately, the present study does not completely address the use, opportunities, and challenges of blockchain technology in the food supply chain. Therefore, this study investigates the general knowledge regarding blockchain technology (the concept, features, and type of blockchain) and its use in the food supply chain. The findings of this study assist in gaining a better understanding and information regarding how to strengthen the traceability system in the food supply chain by optimizing the use of blockchain technology. The findings confirmed that the use of blockchain technology in the food supply chain was primarily for traceability, with public/private blockchain assisting as a popular platform. The transaction data is about the product origin information, transaction information, and product label information. The use of blockchain in the food supply chain has the benefit of enhancing food supply chain traceability and transparency. The challenges are the need for significant financial, human resources, and infrastructure investment, limited technical knowledge of stakeholders, significant product changes, the rapid development of the global supply chain, the potential for data manipulation, and policy change.
The structure of the grain-and-oil-food-supply chain has the characteristics of complexity, cross-regionality, a long cycle, and numerous participants, making it difficult to maintain the safety of supply. In recent years, some phenomena have emerged in the field of grain procurement and sale, such as topping the new with the old, rotating grains, the pressure of grades and prices, and counterfeit oil food, which have seriously threatened grain-and-oil-food security. Blockchain technology has the advantage of decentralization and non-tampering Therefore, this study analyzes the characteristics of traceability data in the grain-and-oil-food-supply chain, and presents a blockchain-based traceability model for the grain-and-oil-food-supply chain. Firstly, a new method combining blockchain and machine learning is proposed to enhance the authenticity and reliability of blockchain source data by constructing anomalous data-processing models. In addition, a lightweight blockchain-storage method and a data-recovery mechanism are proposed to reduce the pressure on supply-chain-data storage and improve fault tolerance. The results indicate that the average query delay of public data is 0.42 s, the average query delay of private data is 0.88 s, and the average data-recovery delay is 1.2 s. Finally, a blockchain-based grain-and-oil-food-supply-chain traceability system is designed and built using Hyperledger Fabric. Compared with the existing grain-and-oil-food-supply chain, the model constructed achieves multi-source heterogeneous data uploading, lightweight storage, data recovery, and traceability in the supply chain, which are of great significance for ensuring the safety of grain-and-oil food in China.
This research presents a solution that combines deep learning-based image processing, blockchain technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to achieve smarter control and traceability in greenhouse operations within the agricultural sector. By integrating these technologies, the aim is to overcome challenges posed by climate change, plant growth, limited agricultural land, and water scarcity, while enhancing crop yields and ensuring efficient and secure operations. The proposed system automates image capture, measurement, storage, and monitoring of environmental parameters in greenhouses, utilizing highly accurate image processing techniques with a 98% success rate. The integration of blockchain technology establishes an immutable and transparent record of transactions and data points, thereby improving traceability across the agricultural supply chain. This comprehensive approach fosters accountability, transparency, and trust, empowering consumers to make well-informed decisions regarding the products they purchase. Ultimately, this research contributes to advancing efficient and sustainable agricultural practices.
Rizwan Matloob Ellahi, Lincoln C. Wood, Alaa El‐Din A. Bekhit
With the rise of globalization and technological competition, the food supply chain has grown more complex due to the multiple players and factors involved in the chain. Traditional systems fail to offer effective and reliable traceability solutions considering the increasing requirement for accountability and transparency in the food supply chain. Blockchain technology has been claimed to offer the food industry a transformative future. The inherent features of blockchain, including immutability and transparency, create a dependable and secure system for tracking food products across the whole supply chain, ensuring total control over their traceability from the origin to the final consumer. This research offers a comprehensive overview of multiple models to understand how the integration of blockchain and other digital technologies has transformed the food supply chain. This comprehensive systematic review of blockchain-based food-supply-chain frameworks aimed to uncover the capability of blockchain technology to revolutionize the industry and examined the current landscape of blockchain-based food traceability solutions to identify areas for improvement. Furthermore, the research investigates recent advancements and investigates how blockchain aligns with other emerging technologies of Industry 4.0 and Web 3.0. Blockchain technology plays an important role in improving food traceability and supply-chain operations. Potential synergies between blockchain and other emerging technologies of Industry 4.0 and Web 3.0 are digitizing food supply chains, which results in better management, automation, efficiencies, sustainability, verifiability, auditability, accountability, traceability, transparency, tracking, monitoring, response times and provenance across food supply chains.
Romeo Bandinelli, Gabriele Scozzafava, Bianca Bindi, Virginia Fani
The importance of traceability in food products in regard to consumer preferences, the difficulty of certifications in communicating credence attributes, and concerns about food safety, have led consumers to ask for more information about the credibility of information reported on the label with the product itself, due to the importance of traceability in food products. An objective of this study is to analyze the benefits of implementing blockchain technology in the supply chain for ancient wheat, as a technology capable of sharing reliable information about the products easily along the entire value chain. In particular, the aim is to evaluate how the consumer reacts when confronted with a package of ancient wheat pasta for which all the information on its origin and processing methods is available. In order to achieve these results, a survey based on the Technology Acceptance Model has been developed and conducted in the Italian country. Result indicates the importance of identifying an independent variable that represents the degree of security when faced with a threat that creates a circumstance, condition or event that can lead to economic hardship, for example, data destruction, disclosure, modification, fraud, waste, and abuse. The strength of blockchain lies precisely in its ability to guarantee the immutability of data throughout the supply chain, providing the end consumer with a high-quality product.
This paper presents the design and implementation of a monitoring and data collection system for agricultural product preservation during transportation to meet authenticity and traceability requirements. The system is built and performed using blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to use and integrate their benefits. This system comprises a private blockchain network built on the Ethereum platform and powered by the GoQuorum protocol, which enables distributed data exchange among members using a common protocol and cryptographic techniques while ensuring the transparency and integrity of the information. A wireless sensor network has been designed and implemented for collecting data from sensors about the storage environment of agricultural products. This study also proposes using LoRa technology to build low-cost wireless communication networks with broad coverage for data collection from sensor nodes mounted to agricultural products. Furthermore, the integrated online map web assists in real-time monitoring and tracing of information on the process of transporting agricultural products, as well as querying data for completed contracts. Experiments were conducted close to the reality of the application’s desire to deploy the system to calibrate and evaluate the functioning, with promising results.
This study highlights both theoretical as well as practical contributions to improving traceability in supply chain management with special focus on the fish supply chain. As a theoretical contribution, it highlights how blockchain technology can contribute to improving supply chain transparency in various sectors by providing real-time visibility. Concerning practical contributions, this study adopted a case study approach in the Philippines to track and trace the fish supply chain from bait to plate. It deploys a project titled ‘Tracy’, a blockchain-based information technology artifact to support fishermen in the Philippines, who are facing numerous challenges in the seafood industry such as different standards and regulations, requirements for international exports, catch certification, etc. This study specifically contributes to developing a smartphone app through the Tracy project that allows fishermen to view the history of their fish captures and exchanges (such as the name of the fish species, weight, and length of the fish, date of capture, and vessel name). The update of transaction histories, the identity of the fishermen, and the amount of fish that has to be sold are additional updates also made possible by this app. This research study concludes with overall study outcomes and limitations with future research.
Arnold Adimabua Ojugo, Patrick Ogholuwarami Ejeh, Christopher Chukwufunaya Odiakaose, Andrew Okonji Eboka · 5 authors
<span lang="EN-US">Agriculture has since become a major source of livelihood for Nigerians. It also accounts for over 85% of the total food consumed within her borders. The sector has maintained improved productivity and profitability via a concerted effort to address critical issues such as an unorganized regulatory system, lack of food safety data, no standards in agricultural produce, non-adaptation to precision farming, and non-harmony via inventory trace supports. This study proposes blockchain-based trace-support in a continued effort to ensure food quality, consumer safety, and trading of food assets. It uses the radio frequency identification (RFID) sensor to register and track livestocks, farms/farmers, and abattoir processes as well as provisions a databank to trace livestock data. Results show the model adequately perform about 1,101 transactions per seconds with a response time of 0.21 s for queries and 0.28 s for https pages respectively for 2,500 users. Also, it yields a slightly longer time of 0.32 s for queries and 0.38 s for https pages respectively with an increased 5,000 users via the world-state as stored in the blockchain’s hyper-fabric ledger. Overall, the framework can directly query and retrieve data without it traversing the whole ledger. This, in turn, improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the traceability system.</span>
This work exploits the potential of two important technologies which are UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and blockchain in the context of Agriculture 4.0. We propose a cattle health monitoring system based on UAVs that collect health measures from IoT devices equipping the animals. The main objectives of our system are twofold. First, the consumer will be aware of the quality of his/her food. Second, the national ecosystem (e.g. agriculture ministry, trade ministry) will get useful information about the quality and the number of cattle that can be put on the market. Thus, smart cattle management strategies could be undertaken afterward. The involved entities in such a system are multiple: the farmer, the veterinaries, the ministry of agriculture, etc… We first start by studying the system’s security by applying the FMEA risk assessment methodology. Our findings motivate us to integrate blockchain technology to manage the data collected as well as the attribution of the UAVs missions via a marketplace. Thanks to its properties, this technology ensures the transparent tracking of cattle status and fairness in the payment of the UAVs managed by private operators. Finally, we develop a proof of concept using the Sui blockchain platform.
Abstract Blockchain can help reduce fraud and improve visibility and traceability in supply chains. It has attracted significant investments in commercial practices, especially in the luxury industry. With the recent upgradation of consumption worldwide, consumers care more about the source of information and the value of products. Will tracing products using blockchain technology help competing luxury brands gain consumer trust and cultivate new competitive advantages? This paper proposes a supply chain model comprising two competing manufacturers selling online through retail or direct channels. It also explores whether and how manufacturers implement traceability strategies, including building traceability systems or joining third‐party blockchain platforms, considering blockchain's traceability. The results show that, when only one party adopts the traceability strategy, being the first mover to join a third‐party blockchain platform with high traceability is always beneficial for improving the profits of all parties. In this scenario, the blockchain platform should adopt as high traceability as possible. When both parties choose to trace the product source, a win–win strategy for them is to join third‐party blockchain platforms with low traceability. In this scenario, the untraced party is motivated to implement a traceability strategy. Furthermore, if consumer perceptions of traceability are high, an untraced manufacturer can obtain higher profits using the traceability strategy. Otherwise, low consumer perception of traceability leads to low‐price competition, which is harmful to luxury brands.
Due to recurring food quality and safety issues, growing segments of consumers, especially in developed markets, and regulators in agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) require a fast and trustworthy system to retrieve necessary information on their food products. With the existing centralized traceability systems used in AFSCs, it is difficult to acquire full traceability information, and there are risks of information loss and data tampering. To address these challenges, research on the application of blockchain technology (BCT) for traceability systems in the agri-food sector is increasing, and startup companies have emerged in recent years. However, there have been only a limited number of reviews on the application of BCT in the agriculture sector, especially those that focus on the BCT-based traceability of agricultural goods. To bridge this knowledge gap, we reviewed 78 studies that integrated BCT into traceability systems in AFSCs and additional relevant papers, mapping out the main types of food traceability information. The findings indicated that the existing BCT-based traceability systems focus more on fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, and milk. A BCT-based traceability system enables one to develop and implement a decentralized, immutable, transparent, and reliable system in which process automation facilitates the monitoring of real-time data and decision-making activities. We also mapped out the main traceability information, key information providers, and challenges and benefits of the BCT-based traceability systems in AFSCs. These helped to design, develop, and implement BCT-based traceability systems, which, in turn, will contribute to the transition to smart AFSC systems. This study comprehensively illustrated that implementing BCT-based traceability systems also has important, positive implications for improving AFSC management, e.g., reductions in food loss and food recall incidents and the achievement of the United Nations SDGs (1, 3, 5, 9, 12). This will contribute to existing knowledge and be useful for academicians, managers, and practitioners in AFSCs, as well as policymakers.
The fish industry experiences substantial illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) activities within traditional supply chain systems. Blockchain technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to transform the fish supply chain (SC) by incorporating distributed ledger technology (DLT) to build trustworthy, transparent, decentralized traceability systems that promote secure data sharing and employ IUU prevention and detection methods. We have reviewed current research efforts directed toward incorporating Blockchain in fish SC systems. We have discussed traceability in both traditional and smart SC systems that make use of Blockchain and IoT technologies. We demonstrated the key design considerations in terms of traceability in addition to a quality model to consider when designing smart Blockchain-based SC systems. In addition, we proposed an Intelligent Blockchain IoT-enabled fish SC framework that uses DLT for the trackability and traceability of fish products throughout harvesting, processing, packaging, shipping, and distribution to final delivery. More precisely, the proposed framework should be able to provide valuable and timely information that can be used to track and trace the fish product and verify its authenticity throughout the chain. Unlike other work, we have investigated the benefits of integrating machine learning (ML) into Blockchain IoT-enabled SC systems, focusing the discussion on the role of ML in fish quality, freshness assessment and fraud detection.
Ajay Patel, M. N. Brahmbhatt, A.R. Bariya, J. B. Nayak · 5 authors
Livestock products share more than fifteen percent of total agri-foods traded worldwide. A global increase in food demand has increased the risk to food safety. Improvements in food quality, cold chain transit, and preservation are required for safe livestock products. Though, the food safety and regulation authorities demand complete food traceability from farm to fork, but in traditional supply chain it is ignored by fiddling with the transit paperwork and bill invoices. The process of supply chain reformation and activities linked to food recalls during food safety issues are insanely expensive and challenging. Traceability-driven food supply chain management is likely to implement novel technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). The capability of the Blockchain era within the food sector is emerging with use cases across different regions, as shown via the growing number of studies. Credibility, efficiency, and safety are all improved when food products can be instantly traced from their point of origin through all points of contact on their way to the consumer. Blockchain assures a tamper-proof and transparent system that allows an innovative business solution, together with smart contracts. However, there are significant difficulties with the implementation of blockchain technology for food traceability. It necessitates more and more training platforms as well as trainers, who can make understanding and operability of this technology easy among ground-level participants and food entities. For the tactical application of this technology, it is essential to comprehend the legal and regulatory framework.
Abstract The availability of on-farm storage and processing is a critical challenge facing small farmers, which hinders agricultural productivity. Thirty per cent of the food produced globally is lost after harvest, with the proportion being exceptionally high in low- and middle-income countries due to a lack of on-farm handling and storage facilities. Conventional cold-storage solutions have not taken off at the smallholder level, mainly due to a lack of availability and access to reliable grid electricity. Therefore, off-grid decentralized solar-powered cold-storage units can play a vital role in preserving the produce at production sites and enhancing livelihood and rural development with a minimal carbon footprint. To maintain low temperatures at every step of the agricultural value chain, known as the ‘cold chain’, several technology vendors aim to improve the shelf life and user benefit. Small-scale farmers, which account for two-thirds of all food losses, are another group they focus on. This study examines the existing situation, importance and potential opportunities of decentralized cold-storage systems for fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition to economic, social, technological and environmental limitations, this study examines the triumphs and challenges of incorporating solar-energy-powered cold storage into developing communities. Although the private sector, NGOs and some government agencies are working to promote decentralized cold-storage facilities, relatively little has been done so far to have a significant influence on post-harvest losses and food security. There are still knowledge gaps on decentralized cold-storage facilities. The primary operational constraint is the economic situation of end users and the lack of financing alternatives for smallholder farmers.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union, in effect since January 2023, seeks to differentiate products on quality, provide greater transparency on food origin, and on the transactions and the actors involved in the supply chain. At the same time, in Spain, the adoption of new technologies for the digitization of the agri-food sector has been proposed as a solution to address structural issues such as lack of competitiveness and innovation. In fact, systems using blockchain-related technologies for food control and traceability have seen great progress in recent years and, currently, the use of blockchain in supply chain management is almost doubling year on year. In this context, this paper investigates the level of development of blockchain technology in the agri-food sector in Spain and its applications for certifying food production conditions within the supply chain, and how it is supported by public policies. It identifies several challenges that need to be addressed for a widespread adoption could take place, such as data recorded on the blockchain, lack of standards, limited scope of projects, and integration of data capture automatically or with other technologies like RFID and AI. The document proposes to reorient public development policies to address these challenges, such as reusing data from, already in place, European data collections for production control and food traceability, educating users and stakeholders about the use of blockchain technology, and fostering legal and technical provisions which ensure system transparency to facilitate a successful implementation of blockchain.
Food product safety and quality are considered to be of the utmost significance on a global scale. Highly publicized food safety incidents have significantly increased public interest in food traceability, defined as “the ability to track any food, feed, food-producing animal or substance that will be used for consumption, through all stages of production, processing, and distribution” (European Union). The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that governments, producers, and consumers work together to ensure food safety, which calls for the dissemination of pertinent information throughout complex food value networks. Therefore, it is in the best interest of profit-driven businesses to implement information systems for tracking food goods, a significant byproduct of which is the likelihood of increased profitability. This paper aims to explore the ample possibilities for such implementations that are now available thanks to blockchain technology. In particular, the goal is to explore the dynamics of this technology and identify how it helps to create good customer relationships. For this purpose, the case of Lavazza, an important Italian roasted coffee company that has recently introduced a blockchain-tracked product to the market, is analyzed in detail, including all the steps that made the application of the technology possible and how it was finally communicated to the consumer. The case study offers a concrete example that resulted from both stakeholders’ internal need for greater traceability and consumers’ external need for greater transparency regarding the company’s sourcing processes. In this pilot project, collaboration among all the entities that are part of the chain was essential to delivering a formative, customized, and ultimately, easy-to-understand experience to the end consumer. Finally, Lavazza is an example of a company that decided to challenge itself by following a trend that will be increasingly present in future socioeconomic scenarios.
Smart and sustainable agricultural practices are more complex than other industries as the production depends on many pre- and post-harvesting factors which are difficult to predict and control. Previous studies have shown that technologies such as blockchain along with sustainable practices can achieve smart and sustainable agriculture. These studies state that there is a need for a reliable and trustworthy environment among the intermediaries throughout the agrifood supply chain to achieve sustainability. However, there are limited studies on blockchain technology adoption for smart and sustainable agriculture. Therefore, this systematic review uses the PRISMA technique to explore the barriers and enablers of blockchain adoption for smart and sustainable agriculture. Data was collected using exhaustive selection criteria and filters to evaluate the barriers and enablers of blockchain technology for smart and sustainable agriculture. The results provide on the one hand adoption enablers such as stakeholder collaboration, enhance customer trust, and democratization, and, on the other hand, barriers such as lack of global standards, industry level best practices and policies for blockchain adoption in the agrifood sector. The outcome of this review highlights the adoption barriers over enablers of blockchain technology for smart and sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, several recommendations and implications are presented for addressing knowledge gaps for successful implementation.
The food supply chain, following its globalization, has become very complex. Such complexities, introduce factors that influence adversely the quality of intermediate and final products. Strict constraints regarding parameters such as maintenance temperatures and transportation times must be respected in order to ensure top quality and reduce to a minimum the detrimental effects to public health. This is a multi-factorial endeavor and all of the involved stakeholders must accept and manage the logistics burden to achieve the best possible results. However, such burden comes together with additional complexities and costs regarding data storage, business process management and company specific standard operating procedures and as such, automated methods must be devised to reduce the impact of such intrusive operations. For the above reasons, in this paper we present BioTrak: a platform capable of registering and visualizing the whole chain of transformation and transportation processes including the monitoring of cold chain logistics of food ingredients starting from the raw material producers until the final product arrives to the end-consumer. The platform includes Business Process Modelling methods to aid food supply chain stakeholders to optimize their processes and also integrates a blockchain for guaranteeing the integrity, transparency and accountability of the data.