The agricultural sector is essential for global food security but continues to face challenges in supply chain management, including lack of transparency, traceability, and data integrity. This study proposes AgroChain, a blockchain-based framework designed to enhance governance and trust in the Agricultural Supply Chain (ASC). The system is built on the Quorum blockchain platform, an enterprise version of Ethereum, which integrates Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) protocols to ensure data privacy while maintaining secure and transparent transactions. AgroChain introduces a scalable process model that separates the registry of agricultural records from the actual data, enabling efficient data handling. Smart contracts are used to automate key supply chain operations such as record creation, validation, transfer, and deletion, allowing end-to-end traceability from farm to consumer. The framework also incorporates rolebased access control for stakeholders including farmers, distributors, retailers, and consumers. Experimental results indicate that AgroChain improves transparency, accountability, and interoperability, demonstrating the potential of blockchain technology to transform agricultural supply chain governance.
The agriculture sector plays a pivotal role in global economies, and optimizing its perishable food supply chain (PFSC) is vital to ensuring food security and transparency. The purpose of the study is to develop a blockchain-based smart contract to secure and provide transparency about perishable goods in the PFSC while delivering the goods between the stakeholders, such as farmers, mandis, and wholesalers. The study enhances collaboration between stakeholders by implementing smart contracts. The delivery status and the transactions have been safely recorded and verified by the stakeholder in the PFSC to ensure data integrity all the way through. The blockchain application has reduced fraud and streamlined the flow of goods and information. Moreover, this study emphasizes providing farmers with a straightforward route to the market to empower them. The benefits for the stakeholders are optimizing inventory control and developing appropriate decision-making skills. A three-echelon PFSC can become more resilient and is able to meet changing market demands by implementing blockchain-based smart contracts. Finally, the study employs blockchain technology to establish a decentralized and efficient PFSC, confirming a tamper-resistant system and enhancing stakeholder trust and collaboration.
International Journal of Technology, Leadership and Sciences
Food and agriculture supply chain transparency is growing in importance for both consumers and states. The fast expansion of blockchain technology's use is being propelled by its inherent trustworthiness and immutability. This technology can offer safe traceability for the management of the agri-food chain, prevent food fraud, and provide information like a food product's provenance. It is far more difficult than in other businesses to create smart contracts that are suitable for certain use cases. Although many agri-food chain management systems based on smart contracts and blockchain have been developed, they are all quite ad hoc and not easily adaptable to different products or production processes. A new method for quickly adapting and developing universal smart contracts for the agri-food business based on Ethereum is presented in this research. We can automate the process and reuse modules and code using this strategy, which shortens development times without sacrificing dependability and safety. In order to set up a semi-automatic system, we want to start with the production process and build the smart contracts that control the system and the user interfaces that automatically connect with them. To further illustrate how our method works, we provide a case research on honey production. The primary goal of future studies will be to find ways to apply the method to different types of supply chains. Even though Ethereum is now in use, our technology can be simply adapted to other blockchain systems.
This paper presents a software engineering framework for designing and implementing Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)-based traceability systems in agri-food and agrotouristic ecosystems. The proposed approach integrates goaloriented requirements modeling (GOReM) with a permissioned blockchain infrastructure, specifically Hyperledger Fabric, to ensure transparent, verifiable, and sustainable supply chain processes. The methodology supports the conceptualization of stakeholder goals, business processes, and data flows through UML-driven modeling, enabling traceability from agricultural production to final consumption. A case study conducted in Calabria, a region in Southern Italy - developed in collaboration with the Regional Agency for Agricultural Development (ARSAC) - demonstrates the applicability of the framework across key sectors such as viticulture, olive oil production, and citrus farming. The resulting prototype enhances product certification, process transparency, and trust while aligning with the principles of Blockchain-Oriented Software Engineering (BOSE). Experimental evaluation confirms the system's scalability, low-latency performance, and suitability for real-world deployment, paving the way toward interoperable, model-driven DLT architectures for sustainable agri-food systems.
A study of enhanced traceability, transparency, and compliance in the pharmaceutical supply chain ecosystem is suggested to be done using the present paper's proposal which is a combination of a distributed ledger and smart contract based system.The system as demanded keeps the entire history of a batch, custody transfers, and compliance events on a ledger that can be accessed by the big players only without the middle men.Also, it automates the task assigned to the smart contracts such as authorization, monitoring of the cold chain, and recalling of the products if they are found to be defected.The procedure develops the trust of all the stakeholders.
Lukas Stopfer, Eugen Buss, Alexander Kaulen, Ferréol Berendt · 11 authors
This study quantifies the energy use, carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 e) emissions, and transaction-related costs of distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) in the context of timber traceability. It combines: (i) a PRISMA-guided systematic review of empirical studies on DLT energy consumption; and (ii) benchmark values derived from continuously updated online monitoring sources, captured at defined access dates and fully documented in the . Comparable metrics are reported at the level of individual traceability events (kWh/tx, gCO 2 e/tx, and USD/tx) and are related to a realistic timber supply chain transaction model that was empirically validated in a pilot study. The results reveal substantial differences in sustainability performance across consensus mechanisms. Proof-of-Work (PoW) networks exhibit prohibitively high energy demand and CO 2 e emissions for frequent traceability notarizations. In contrast, Proof-of-Stake (PoS), PBFT-based, hybrid, and Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) architectures enable low-energy and low-cost event logging. This study bridges the gap between established DLT sustainability research and the operational requirements of regulated forestry traceability by providing a transparent and reproducible benchmarking workflow that includes URLs, access dates and calculation spreadsheets.
The emergent high-speed growth of precision agriculture requires solid frameworks that will improve sustainability, efficiency, and transparency in managing vineyards. The proposed research suggests a system that uses IoT sensor networks, machine learning models, and Ethereum-based blockchain to solve two important problems: pest identification and the optimization of water resources. The IoT layer was used to implement soil moisture, climate, and imaging sensors to gather real-time data about the vineyard. At the edge, preprocessing and deep learning algorithms were used with a blockchain-enabled Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to provide correct pest detection. At the same time, the timing of irrigation was automated by IoT-enabled soil moisture monitoring, which greatly decreased the amount of wasted water. This ensured integrity of data and trust in the farmers as the Ethereum blockchain layer offered immutable storage, smart contracts to make decisions, and secure events logging. The results of the experiments revealed that the proposed system had a 95.8% pest detection accuracy, which was higher than the traditional and baseline machine learning methods. The efficiency of water management increased too by reducing water consumption by 55.2 % and doubling the crop productivity by 26.8 %t. Moreover, the blockchain application has scored high security of 0.93, confirming that it is a reliable solution even with moderate latency overhead. In this study, the authors emphasize the opportunities of converging the IoT with blockchain and transforming viticulture through sustainable practices, data safety, and efficiency.
A considerable proportion of perishable goods, including fruits and vegetables, deteriorate prior to reaching customers. Inadequate refrigeration infrastructure, particularly in developing nations with arid climates and markets distant from agricultural sources, accounts for most of these losses. A food cold chain has three primary phases: pre-cooling, cold storage, and refrigerated transportation. All phases of the cold chain rely fundamentally on refrigeration to preserve perishable products at designated temperatures, relative humidity, and CO2 concentrations, thus prolonging their shelf life. Solar-driven or aided refrigeration systems use solar energy to power cooling systems and preserve the food in the cold chain. These systems are especially beneficial in off-grid or developing areas for preserving perishable goods such as fruits, vegetables, and other food items, mitigating postharvest losses that can exceed 30–50% in areas with inconsistent energy supplies. Despite progress in efficiency and scalability, numerous research gaps remain across technological, economic, social, policy, and regional dimensions, including technical aspects, optimization, and integration. There is a need to enhance energy-efficient designs, particularly by managing solar intermittency to address non-uniform cooling, which leads to inconsistent ripening and spoilage, and by integrating sustainable refrigerants to mitigate environmental impact. Further development is necessary for micro-scale, transportable, or decentralized systems designed for small farms, while economic and financing obstacles include high upfront costs and limited financial accessibility. Substantial deficiencies exist in creating affordable models and funding channels for small-scale agriculturalists. Addressing these deficiencies could expedite adoption, thereby reducing global food loss and waste (accounting for 8–10% of GHG emissions) while improving food security. Future research must emphasize multidisciplinary methodologies that amalgamate engineering, economics, and social sciences to provide comprehensive solutions.
Munir A. ADEWOYE, Ahmed Aliyu, Usman Ali, Abdulrasheed Jimoh
Food is fundamental to human survival, we eat to live, sustaining ourselves with nutrition that meets our daily needs. Food security, defined as universal physical and financial access to safe and nutritious food, depends heavily on efficient supply chains. However, ensuring this security faces significant challenges in tracking and transparency. This study examines two critical problems in blockchain-based food supply chain tracing: privacy preservation and scalability. While blockchain technology combined with Internet of Things (IoT) devices offers promising solutions for real-time monitoring, transparency, and fraud prevention in agricultural supply chains, questions remain about balancing computational efficiency with privacy protection, achieving scalable integration across multi-actor supply chains without compromising traceability, and implementing these systems in resource limited environments. Through a comprehensive review of current research, this study identifies emerging technologies like Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and ZK-Rollups that enhance both throughput and privacy in decentralised systems. The research presents layered architectural models integrating blockchain ledgers, off-chain storage, IoT sensors, and cryptographic protocols to enable secure and scalable traceability. These models support compliance verification while protecting sensitive data and can be adapted for low-resource contexts. The findings demonstrate that scalable, privacy-preserving blockchain technologies can transform agricultural traceability, empowering supply chain stakeholders while maintaining data confidentiality and integrity. The study also identifies future research needs, including cross-chain interoperability, policy integration, cost-benefit analysis for smallholder farmers, and field validation.
Abstract Traceability is an essential practice to ensure transparency, authenticity, and regulatory compliance in modern agricultural supply chains, especially high-value agricultural products. Regarded as the king of fruits in Southeast Asia for its unique taste, texture, and aroma, durian dominates the market of exported fruit commodities. However, recurring issues such as fraudulent GAP numbers, mislabelled origins, premature harvesting, and product tampering undermine consumer trust and export credibility. To address these challenges, this study presents an integrated traceability architecture combining RFID, a MySQL database, an automated Node.js backend, and Ethereum-compatible smart contracts. The developed system enables automated ingestion of physical RFID data, secure on-chain recording via immutable ledger functions, and optional generation of ERC-721 NFTs as digital certificates. Empirical validation includes RFID read-rate testing, blockchain performance measurement, and gas usage analysis. Carton-level tagging, wherein a single RFID tag is attached to a carton rather than each individual fruit, significantly reduces per-durian blockchain cost. The results demonstrate that the proposed architecture is technically robust, flexible, economically scalable, and suitable for SME use in high-value or ultra-premium fresh-produce chains.
In this study, the authors developed a smart traceability framework for athletic equipment using distributed ledger technology. They conducted their research to address persistent gaps in authenticity, life cycle visibility, and fan-side provenance across the sports equipment ecosystem. The framework was designed through a design-science approach, integrating Internet of Things sensors, digital twins, Electronic Product Code Information Services logistics data, and retail/resale events into a unified distributed ledger technology architecture governed by smart contracts. Simulation results show high validation accuracy, strong life cycle coverage, stable ledger performance, and reliable ownership transfers across manufacturing, field use, and secondary markets. These findings indicate that end-to-end, tamper-resistant traceability can significantly improve trust, operational transparency, and fan engagement in real-world sports equipment environments.
The agri-food supply chain is a cornerstone of food security and economic stability, yet traditional systems often grapple with challenges such as limited transparency, data manipulation, delayed payments, and an over-reliance on intermediaries.These centralized frameworks hinder the ability to verify the origin, quality, and authenticity of agricultural products, weakening trust among stakeholders.This paper introduces a Blockchain-Based Crop Supply Chain and Traceability System leveraging smart contracts to address these persistent issues.The proposed system employs blockchain technology to establish a decentralized, transparent, and immutable ledger that records every transaction within the supply chain.Key processes are automated through smart contracts, including crop registration, ownership transfers, transaction validations, and payment executions.To manage large-scale data effectively, the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is incorporated for decentralized storage of crop-related documents like images, health reports, and certificates, while cryptographic hashes are stored on the blockchain for verification purposes.A token-based digital payment mechanism linked to the Indian Rupee (INR) ensures fair and instant payments between farmers and buyers.The system is implemented as a decentralized application utilizing React.js,Node.js,Solidity, and MetaMask, and deployed on the Binance Smart Chain Testnet.Experimental findings reveal significant enhancements in traceability, transparency, fraud reduction, and stakeholder trust compared to conventional agri-food supply chain systems.
Aqsa Rashid, Raja Wasim Ahmad, Mirna Nachouki, Atta Ur Rehman Khan
Ensuring food safety and traceability in fruit supply chains (FSC) remains a critical concern, as traditional centralized methods often suffer from data manipulation, lack of transparency, and delayed responses during contamination events. These challenges lead to reduced consumer trust and inefficiencies in monitoring product integrity throughout the supply network. To address these limitations, this paper presents a blockchain-based framework that leverages cryptographic protocols and smart contracts to secure, automate, and validate traceability processes across all stages of the fruit supply chain. The proposed FSC_SDG system enforces trusted data recording, real-time provenance verification, and autonomous policy execution, while aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). A proof-of-concept prototype was implemented on the Ethereum blockchain to assess performance. Experimental evaluations demonstrate reduced latency in traceability verification, improved data integrity, and enhanced resistance to tampering compared with existing approaches. These results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed framework in strengthening food safety, transparency, and trust within fruit supply chains.
R. N. V. Jagan Mohan, Pravallika Sree Rayanoothala, R. Praneetha Sree
Agriculture faces multifaceted challenges including climate variability, soil degradation, and supply chain inefficiencies, particularly for smallholder farmers practicing multicropping. This study systematically integrates blockchain technology for secure, transparent transactions with reinforcement learning (RL)-optimized Neutrosophic multi-regression for precise crop loss prediction in multicropping systems. Using real-world data from six crops (rice, banana, turmeric, elephant foot yam, coconut, cocoa), Neutrosophic multi-regression estimated losses with RL hyperparameter tuning, achieving superior prediction accuracy. A blockchain framework was developed for farmer validation, transaction security, and smart contract execution using Ethereum/Ganache. Results demonstrate 25%–35% reduction in predicted crop losses and enhanced supply chain traceability. This Smart Agriculture 5.0 framework advances Agriculture 4.0 through human-AI symbiosis and uncertainty modeling, addressing single-point failures, data privacy, and trust deficits for scalable sustainable farming Through this multidimensional approach, the study endeavors to not only enhance the productivity and sustainability of agricultural practices but also to foster resilience in the face of evolving challenges.
S. Shaffi Ahamed, M. Humera Khanam, Thatigutla Rohith Kumar Reddy, P. Sesha Saila Sree · 5 authors
Fragmented record-keeping across agricultural distribution networks enables unauthorized modifications, counterfeit products, and provenance erosion as data passes through multiple stakeholder tiers. Although distributed ledgers provide tamper resistance, direct on-chain storage imposes prohibitive costs and throughput constraints for production-scale systems. This paper presents AgriChain, a dual-layer architecture combining Ethereum smart contracts with InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) distributed storage for economically viable farm-to-consumer verification. Transaction fingerprints and cryptographic digests reside on-chain, whereas bulk documentation—quality certifications, logistics records, and environmental sensor data—resides off-chain in IPFS. End consumers validate product authenticity via QR-encoded identifiers that trigger real-time blockchain queries. The implementation employs AES-256 for data confidentiality, JWT tokens for stakeholder authentication, and SHA-256 for cross-layer integrity checks. Deployment on Ethereum Sepolia testnet yielded 42 percent lower transaction fees compared to full on-chain storage, maintained response times below two seconds, and achieved 99.7 percent availability across evaluation trials. Findings demonstrate that strategic partitioning of on-chain and off-chain components enables both auditability and economic feasibility in agricultural traceability infrastructure.
In this article, we provide an in-depth analysis of the different causes of food fraud, food safety, and food waste, which are recognized as the main challenges in agri-food supply chains. Leveraging technologies like blockchain- and IoT-enabled traceability systems presents promising solutions to overcome these challenges. Using the PRISMA methodology, we conducted a comprehensive literature review of 41 selected articles to assess the effectiveness of such solutions. The findings reveal that only 48% target primarily improved food safety, while food waste (9%) and food fraud (21%) played a less important role. Only a few papers actively incorporate these attributes into their architectural design and many papers lack practical implementation details, leaving significant gaps in understanding their practical applicability. One finding was that 61% of the proposed solution were build on a public permissionless blockchain (Ethereum) and 39% where build on a permissioned private or consortium blockchain (mainly Hyperledger Fabric and Sawtooth). Critical aspects such as data privacy, confidentiality, final infrastructure governance, or legal frameworks are in most cases missing, e.g., 75% did not discuss the governance of the solution at all. To address the identified limitations, we propose a modular reference architecture that balances transparency and confidentiality through a hybrid blockchain approach. It incorporates a trusted platform layer with secure data storage, publicly verifiable summaries, and role-based access control. The architecture is illustrated through multiple use cases and qualitatively evaluated against characteristics of existing solutions, highlighting its conceptual suitability for regulated agri-food ecosystems.
ABSTRACT The perishable food cold chain is a vital part of the global food system, mainly ensuring the quality of temperature‐sensitive products such as milk, seafood, fruits, and vegetables. However, this system still faces several challenges related to real‐time monitoring, data transparency, and proactive demand planning, which often lead to spoilage, food safety violations, and disruptions. In this work, we propose a comprehensive end‐to‐end system that includes Internet of Things (IoT)‐based environmental sensors, blockchain‐enabled immutable logging, and a hybrid ARIMA–LSTM model for demand forecasting and spoilage risk detection. The system uses ESP32 microcontrollers with DHT11 sensors at key cold‐chain points to collect temperature and humidity data, streamed to Blynk dashboards for real‐time visualization and anomaly alerts. Anomalies and product metadata are permanently recorded through smart contracts on a private Ethereum blockchain, while payloads are stored off‐chain on IPFS for traceability and auditability. Additionally, historical blockchain logs and external sales data are used to train a hybrid ARIMA–LSTM model that predicts future demand and spoilage risks more accurately. Experimental results show that the proposed model achieves a forecasting accuracy of 90% ( R 2 = 0.90), outperforming baseline approaches on multiple metrics including RMSE, MAE, MAPE, and R 2 . The framework is scalable and data‐driven, aiming to improve supply availability and reduce food waste.