Dating back thousands of years, agriculture has been an essential practice in the advancement of human civilization. Over time, humans realized that not everyone in the community needed to be involved in food production, leading to the emergence of specialized labour, tools, and techniques that could generate surplus food for the community. Throughout history, agriculture has continuously evolved and played a crucial role in sustaining humanity.As the population grew, the evolution of agriculture became driven by the need to feed the expanding population while maintaining food quality and traceability, preventing adulteration of products, and maximizing yield. The recent emergence of blockchain technology has brought about significant advancements that prove beneficial for the agricultural sector. The implementation of blockchain has led to benefits and revolutionary changes in agriculture, facilitating modernization and optimization in various aspects of agriculture.This research survey also deals on how blockchain technology has positively influenced different market aspects within agriculture. From the production stage to distribution and beyond, blockchain has made its impact felt, enhancing various aspects of the agricultural. Despite its promising benefits, the adoption of blockchain in agriculture is not without challenges. This study also explores these challenges and discusses the potential future developments in the field.Overall, the survey highlights how blockchain technology has become a driving force in revolutionizing agriculture, offering improved traceability, transparency, and efficiency across the entire agricultural supply chain.Research objectives1.Blockchain-Based Applications for Addressing Agricultural Challenges: Exploring Potential Solutions2.Blockchain for Supply Chain Management in Agriculture: A Promising Approach for Ensuring Food Safety and Security3.Revolutionizing Agricultural Transactions: The Power of Blockchain-Enabled Smart Contracts4.Enhancing Agriculture with Blockchain in AI, IoT, and Big Data: A Powerful Integration5.Benefits and Challenges of Blockchain Technology in Agriculture: A Comprehensive Analysis
Nugun P. Jellason, Ambisisi Ambituuni, Douglas A. Adu, Joy A. Jellason · 7 authors
Purpose We conducted a systematic review to explore the potential for the application of blockchain technologies for supply chain resilience in a small-scale agri-food business context. Design/methodology/approach As part of the research methodology, scientific databases such as Web of Science, Google Scholar and Scopus were used to find relevant articles for this review. Findings The systematic review of articles (n = 57) found that the use of blockchain technology in the small-scale agri-food business sector can reduce the risk of food fraud by assuring the provenance of food products. Research limitations/implications Only a few papers were directly from a small-scale agribusiness context. Key challenges that limit the implementation of blockchain and other distributed ledger technologies include concerns over the disclosure of proprietary information and trade secrets, incomplete or inaccurate information, economic and technical difficulties, low levels of trust in the technology, risk of human error and poor governance of process-related issues. Originality/value The application of blockchain technology ensures that the risks and costs associated with non-compliance, product recalls and product loss are reduced. Improved communication and information sharing can increase resilience and better support provenance claims and traceability. Better customer relationships can be built, increasing supply chain efficiency and resilience.
Cristian Camilo Ordoñez, Gustavo RamÃrez Gonzales, Juan Carlos Corrales
In its fundamental role for food security in South America, sustainable agriculture faces the challenge of addressing the current and future needs of the region while ensuring profitability, environmental health, and social and economic equity. Currently, as support for sustainable agriculture, a significant transformation is observed in the agricultural landscape due to the development of advanced information systems. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain have emerged as crucial tools to document and support sustainable agricultural processes. Blockchain technology has proven to be highly beneficial for sustainable agriculture, effectively addressing a significant issue in the agricultural supply chain by providing solutions for transparent and traceable processes. This technology solves the problem by establishing a permanent and open record of all transactions and activities in the supply chain, allowing consumers and stakeholders to track the origin and quality of agricultural products, thereby fostering trust and fair trade. For this reason, this article conducted a review of the current state of blockchain technology in sustainable agriculture, aimed at researchers and farmers in South America. The advantages and disadvantages of blockchain technology were identified, focusing on technologies developed and tested during the design and pilot phases. The PRISMA methodology was used in this review, and documents were searched in Scopus and Web of Science databases. Six hundred and fifty-six articles were identified and selected (2018–2023 period), but only 104 met the eligibility and inclusion criteria. The findings indicate a 30% increase in the adoption of decentralized applications (DAPs) powered by blockchain in the agribusiness sector compared to the previous year. After a thorough analysis, it has been determined that smart contracts, non-fungible tokens for digital assets, and blockchain oracles will provide promising solutions for sustainable agricultural technology in the future.
The issue of food safety has become a crucial public health issue worldwide. Blockchain technology allows consumers to track the flow of food and effectively record the sources and processes of their products, and reduces the elimination of associated food fraud phenomena, such as counterfeiting and dilution. Using signaling theory, structural equation model method and an online sample of 415 Chinese participants, this study investigates the impact of how blockchain-based food traceability system influences consumers' online purchase intentions of organic agricultural products. The results illustrate that: (1) blockchain-based food traceability system can increase consumers' willingness to buy organic agricultural products. (2) Blockchain-based food traceability system can increase consumers' product quality perceptions, product trust and environmental information transparency perceptions. (3) Product quality perceptions, product trust and environmental information transparency perceptions can also promote consumers' purchase intentions. (4) Product quality perceptions, product trust and environmental information transparency perceptions all have significant mediation effects in the in the relationship between blockchain-based food traceability system and consumer purchase intention. The findings of the research are valuable information for business managers and retailers who want to increase sales of their products, as well as helping relevant policy makers to achieve the ultimate goal of green and sustainable development in the food industry.
The use of blockchain technology in agriculture is changing the way we think about transparency, traceability, and security. Traditional chains often deal with issues like accountability, trust, and efficiency. Our solution eliminates all that by using the smart contracts and blockchain using Ethereum. With this, transactions are streamlined and secured from beginning to end. It also ensures records are tamper-resistant which can be stored securely on the blockchain. What sets us apart from others is our use of QR codes that make up the supply chain. Every transaction is captured through these codes and then organized within a decentralized file system. This level of transparency allows anyone involved to be able to track information while maintaining data integrity. The integration of QR codes with blockchain technology solves this issue by improving transparency, accountability, and security throughout the process of getting food from a farm onto your table.
Abstract Trust, safety, and quality are among the most important factors in the agri-food supply chains. Traceability is a powerful tool to ensure them, but implementing a transparent and effective system is a complex operation. As a result, innovative systems, like blockchain, could be introduced. Although research on its impacts in the agri-food is recent, the literature appears fragmented. The objective is to investigate the studied aspects of the blockchain adoption in agri-food, with the purpose of retrieving meaningful considerations about the current state of the art about strategic high-value supply chains, such as wine and olive oil, particularly subjected to fraudulent behaviors. A productivity measurement was applied to retrieve the evolution of the number of documents through the years, the most productive countries, the sources, the research areas, and the most significant papers in terms of number of citations received. To understand the research trends, a co-occurrence analysis was employed. Results show that most of the existing studies focus on the role of blockchain in the resolution of some critical issues as food safety and frauds. While wine is currently an emerging sector in which this approach can be implemented, olive oil still needs more attention. In both cases, blockchain could potentially help to support the profitability and sustainability of the production. The research underlines the importance of focusing on the environmental and social dimension of the blockchain phenomenon and the use of technology to improve the efficiency of agri-food chains and reduce waste and resource use.
The main aim of the paper is to create a trust and transparency in the food supply chain system, ensuring food safety for everyone with the help of Blockchain Technology. Food supply chain is the process of tracing a crop from the farmer or producer to the buyer. With the advent of blockchain, providing a safe and fraud-free environment for the provision of numerous agricultural necessities has become much easier. Because of the globalization of trade, the present supply chain market today includes various companies involving integration of data, complex transactions and distribution. Information tamper resistance, supply-demand relationships, and traceable oversight are all difficulties that arise as a result of this. Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that can provide information that is resistant to tampering. This strategy can eliminate the need for a centralized trusted authority, intermediaries, and business histories, allowing for increased production and security while maintaining the highest levels of integrity, liability, and safety. In order to have an integrity and transparency in food supply chain in the agricultural sector, a framework is proposed here based on block chain and IoT.
feta cheese is a Greek protected designation of origin (PDO) product that is produced in three main phases: milk collection, cheese preparation and maturation, and product packaging. Each phase must be aligned with quantitative rules, stemming from the legislation framework and best practices. The production complexity, the increased production cost, centralised and monolithic traceability systems, and the lack of a systematic monitoring framework have made dairy products a commodity with increased frequency of food fraud. Given the context of the dairy section in Greece, this study aims to examine (a) whether it is possible to model the end-to-end process of PDO feta cheese considering production rules to develop a trustworthy blockchain-based traceability system (b) how to associate the (‘easy-to-retrieve’, operational) traceability data with the (difficult-to-assess) product characteristics meaningful to the consumer, (c) how to design a technical solution ensuring that information is accessible by the stakeholders and the consumer, while minimising blockchain-related delay, and (d) how to design a graphical user interface and offer tools to consumers so that traceability information is communicated effectively and they can verify it through access to the blockchain. In terms of methods, we analyse and model the process steps, identify measurable, operational parameters and translate the legislative framework into rules. These rules are designed and codified as blockchain smart contracts that ensure the food authenticity and compliance with legislation. The blockchain infrastructure consists of the private Quorum blockchain that is anchored to the public infrastructure of Ethereum. Mechanisms to address scalability in terms of dynamic data volumes, effective data coding, and data verification at the edge as well as relevant limitations are discussed. Consumers are informed about traceability information by using QR codes on food packaging and can verify the data using the blockchain tools and services.
The wheat crop that fulfills 35% of human food demand is facing several problems due to a lack of transparency, security, reliability, and traceability in the existing agriculture supply chain. Many systems have been developed for the agriculture supply chain to overcome such issues, however, monopolistic centralized control is the biggest hurdle to realizing the use of such systems. It has eventually gained consumers' trust in branded products and rejected other products due to the lack of traceable supply chain information. This study proposes a blockchain-based framework for supply chain traceability which provides trustable, transparent, secure, and reliable services for the wheat crop. A crypto token called wheat coin (WC) has been introduced to keep track of transactions among the stakeholders of the wheat supply chain. Moreover, an initial coin offering (ICO) of WC, crypto wallets, and an economic model are proposed. Furthermore, a smart contract-based transaction system has been devised for the transparency of wheat crop transactions and conversion of WC to fiat and vice versa. We have developed the interplanetary file system (IPFS) to improve data availability, security, and transparency which stores encrypted private data of farmers, businesses, and merchants. Lastly, the results of the experiments show that the proposed framework shows better performance as compared to previous crop supply chain solutions in terms of latency to add-blocks, per-minute transactions, average gas charge for the transaction, and transaction verification time. Performance analysis with Bitcoin and Ethereum shows the superior performance of the proposed system.
Introduction and Objective:In the supply chain of essential grains such as rice, fraud, poor supervision and delay in reaching the product to the final destination, are always among the main challenges of the beneficiaries of these chains.Improving the supply chain monitoring and tracking system is the best solution to reduce discrepancy among business partners and information asymmetry in these chains.Blockchain enables the mapping and visualizing of steps in a supply chain easily because of its interconnected and encompassing bridging of actions.it builds trust among the parties included in a supply chain because it provides open access to key data points it captures.Blockchain encapsulates smart contracts and automatically update actions when predetermined conditions of the actions are met.Since blockchain is a distributed ledger consisting of multiple copies, it is almost impossible to tamper with a specific transaction because one has to alter all the copies simultaneously.Blockchain is also advantageous for ensuring and sustaining consensus over the process because all the parties know that the transactions are automated and valid.The application of blockchain technology in the management of supply chains brings many benefits such as traceability, information security, transparency and trust.The traditionality of the method of monitoring and tracking in the rice supply chain brings serious concerns about fraud and lack of quality assurance.In this situation, it is very difficult to create trust and transparency between the stakeholders of the chain.The application of blockchain technology can be the driver of the transition from the traditional management of the rice supply chain in Iran.Identifying the factors affecting the application of this technology in the supply chain and determining their importance can improve the policy-making process in this field.Considering the importance of rice in the food basket of Iranian households and the existing concerns about safety and issues such as fraud in the supply chain of this product, the present study identifies the drivers influencing the use of blockchain technology in the rice supply chain and also, their prioritization took into account.Material and Methods: This study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-survey in terms of research method.The research tool is a pairwise comparison questionnaire based on the objective, criteria and sub-criteria of the decision tree.The decision tree was formed with the aim of identifying and prioritizing the drivers affecting the use of blockchain technology in the rice supply chain, and it includes six criteria and 26 sub-criteria.The findings of previous researches and the opinions of sample experts were used in designing the decision tree.The required information was obtained by completing the pairwise comparison questionnaire by 10 rice market experts in Guilan province during the spring of 2023.In order to analyze the data and determine the relative weight of research criteria and sub-criteria, spherical fuzzy hierarchical analyze was used.This process is carried out in five stages, including creating a decision tree, creating a matrix of paired comparisons using linguistic terms, checking the consistency of the matrix of paired comparisons, calculating fuzzy weights and determining the final rating score of the options.In order to categorize the sub-criteria in terms of the effect intensity, the interval of standard deviation from mean was used.Results: According to the number of decision tree criteria and sub-criteria, seven comparison groups and 62 pairwise comparisons were analyzed.The validity of the research findings was evaluated using the inconsistency index.The value of the inconsistency index in all comparisons were less than 10%, which indicates the validity of the relative weights.The criteria of "smart contract", "traceability and prevention of fraud" and "simplification of transactions" with a total relative weight of more than 57% are three important criteria according to experts' comments, respectively.Among the sub-criteria of the smart contract, "increasing the credibility of the rice supply chain" is the most important with a relative weight of 29.52 percent.Regarding the sub-criteria related to "traceability and prevention of fraud" and "simplification of transactions", "quick identification of rice" with a relative weight of 20.30% and "doing payment without the need for a bank" with a relative weight of 24.65% were the most important drivers.Classification of drivers using the interval of standard deviation from mean showed that there are four sub-criteria in the impact category with very high intensity, eight sub-criteria in the impact category with high intensity, 11 sub-criteria in the impact category with low intensity and three sub-criteria in the impact category with very low intensity.Increasing the credibility of the rice supply chain, no need to physical presence in setting up contracts, safe storage of rice supply chain information, and speeding up data transfer in the rice supply chain are sub-criteria with very high impact intensity. Conclusion:The use of blockchain technology in managing and optimizing the supply chain of agricultural and food products is emphasized by many researchers, operational managers and policy makers.Many challenges in the rice supply chain require promoting the use of new technologies such as blockchain.The findings of this research, including the identification, prioritization and classification of drivers affecting the use of blockchain technology in the rice supply chain, provide a suitable opportunity to formulate a related policy package and operational measures in the supply chain.
Mick Lennon MACHADO, Cristine Garcia Gabriel, Francisco de Assis Guedes de Vasconcelos
ABSTRACT Objective This study analyzes the results of evaluative research on the Brazilian Food and Nutritional Security System. Method Was conducted a scoping review by collecting information from four bibliographic databases: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE/PubMed), and Web of Science. Three researchers systematically selected the studies and extracted data. The researchers categorized the studies included according to an evaluative approach to the topics of financing, social participation, decentralization and government management, and monitoring and evaluation. Results Were found 1,987 references, 17 of which were selected for analysis. It is presented the evaluation of the System and of its public policy as a developing field permeated by different types of research and methods and which needs to be better qualified in relation to its theoretical and methodological approaches. The results and recommendations of the studies analyzed point out important elements to guide decision-making in relation to the System and its public policy. Conclusion In view of the recent weakening of the governance structure of this public policy at a national level, this study contributes to the debate on food and nutritional security and its reintegration into the Brazilian governmental agenda.
Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger technology that allows for the immutable and auditable logging of transactions without needing a central authority or centralized database. First introduced in 2008 as the technology behind the digital currency Bitcoin, blockchain has now found use in a wide range of sectors. Modern agriculture supply networks have emerged to accommodate intricate interactions between regional actors and the agricultural environment. Interactions between various participants in the supply chain, including those involved in manufacturing, processing, and delivery. One of the main reasons fraud happens so often in agriculture is the lack of transparency in the supply chain. Businesses that aren’t transparent run the risk of losing money, alienating their customers, and seeing their brands decline in value. To encourage the growth of an efficient and trustworthy trading environment, several fundamental adjustments to the current supply chain architecture are necessary. The potential for blockchain technology to enhance food and agricultural supply chain transparency is well acknowledged. Companies utilize IoT and blockchain to create more equitable, sustainable, and customer-friendly food manufacturing systems. In this current work, a blockchain-based decentralized application (dApp), ‘ASBlock’, is developed for agricultural-based supply chain management. The primary focus of this developed application is to bring transparency and security to all participating users of the application; the users of this application include farmers or producers, suppliers or retailers, hotels, and end users. The performance analysis shows that the average gas utilization of the proposed ASBlock dApp is ∼ 2.8 ⋆ 104. The average smart contract execution time for all use cases is ∼ 112sec.
This Research Paper seeks to examine the possibilities of blockchain technology. For use in the field of restaurant food tracking and safety. Public health risks and economic costs are at stake when foodborne illness outbreaks occur, making food safety a top priority in the food industry. It can be difficult to quickly identify and address possible concerns about using traditional food traceability systems due to inefficiencies, data discrepancies, and a lack of transparency. In this study, we introduce a novel blockchain-based system developed especially for the purpose of tracking restaurant food. The blockchain decentralised consensus, immutability, and smart contracts are put to use in this system to provide trustworthy and transparent traceable infrastructure. Real-time monitoring and data collection along the food supply chain become possible when the blockchain architecture is combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) devices and RFID technology. We show that our proposed blockchain-based traceability solution is practical and efficient through a thorough assessment and validation procedure. The outcomes show that the system not only improves data quality and reliability but also drastically decreases the time and resources needed for food traceability. In addition, patrons are more likely to return to eateries that place a premium on food safety when they are given more information about the establishment's practises. Additionally, we discuss scalability, data privacy, and interoperability concerns that may arise in future implementations and provide some first ideas for overcoming these issues.
Supply chain management (SCM), product traceability, and product quality certification are some of the initial prominent uses of blockchain technology. This is because blockchain technology is built on trust and cannot be changed. The popularity of blockchain technology is increasing as it is trustworthy and cannot be changed; hence making traceability easier for information such as where food came from, thus essential for managing the agricultural food supply chain (SC). On the contrary, suggested SCM systems premised on smart contract technology and blockchain tend to be specifically apply to production and production processes. Through qualitative research, this paper suggests framework for adoption of smart contracts based on Ethereum in the agri-food SC, with the aim to establish means to adopt blockchain for checking food quality and origins in the agri-food supply chain. Remix IDE is utilised to build and test the smart contract. The significance of the framework is realised through ensuring the traceability of product safety and quality.
Adebunmi Okechukwu Adewusi, Njideka Rita Chiekezie, Nsisong Louis Eyo-Udo
Blockchain technology has emerged as a transformative force in agriculture, offering significant potential to enhance supply chain transparency and traceability. This paper explores the application of blockchain in agricultural supply chains, emphasizing its role in addressing key challenges such as fraud, inefficiency, and lack of trust among stakeholders. By providing a decentralized and immutable ledger, blockchain ensures that every transaction within the agricultural supply chain is securely recorded, from farm to fork. This transparency helps combat issues like food fraud by verifying the authenticity and origin of products, thereby increasing consumer confidence and safeguarding brand reputation. Furthermore, blockchain enhances traceability, allowing for real-time tracking of agricultural products throughout the supply chain. This capability is particularly valuable in ensuring food safety, as it enables rapid identification and response to contamination incidents, thus reducing the scope of foodborne illness outbreaks. The technology also facilitates more efficient supply chain management by streamlining processes, reducing the need for intermediaries, and minimizing paperwork, leading to cost savings and faster transaction times. Despite its potential, the adoption of blockchain in agriculture faces challenges, including the need for technological infrastructure, the cost of implementation, and the necessity of widespread stakeholder collaboration. Additionally, the integration of blockchain with other technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence, is critical to maximizing its benefits and ensuring seamless data flow within the supply chain. In conclusion, blockchain technology holds the promise of revolutionizing agricultural supply chains by enhancing transparency, traceability, and efficiency. As the industry continues to evolve, the adoption of blockchain could lead to more sustainable and trustworthy food systems, benefiting producers, consumers, and the environment. However, overcoming implementation barriers and fostering collaboration across the supply chain are essential for realizing the full potential of blockchain in agriculture. Keywords: Blockchain Technology, Agriculture, supply Chain, Transparency, Traceability.
Despite its status as one of the most ancient sectors worldwide, agriculture continues to be a fundamental cornerstone of the global economy. Nevertheless, it faces obstacles such as a lack of trust, difficulties in tracking, and inefficiencies in managing the supply chain. This article examines the potential of blockchain technology (BCT) to alter the agricultural industry by providing a decentralized, transparent, and unchangeable solution to meet the difficulties it faces. The initial discussion provides an overview of the challenges encountered by the agricultural industry, followed by a thorough analysis of BCT, highlighting its potential advantages. Following that, the article explores other agricultural uses for blockchain technology, such as managing supply chains, verifying products, and processing payments. In addition, this paper examines the constraints and challenges related to the use of blockchain technology in agriculture, including issues such as scalability, legal frameworks, and interoperability. This paper highlights the potential of BCT to transform the agricultural industry by offering a transparent and secure platform for managing the supply chain. Nevertheless, it emphasizes the need for involving stakeholders, having clear legislation, and possessing technical skills in order to achieve effective implementation. This work utilizes a systematic literature review using the PRISMA technique and applies meta-analysis as the research methodology, enabling a thorough investigation of the present information available. The results emphasize the significant and positive effect of BCT on agriculture, emphasizing the need for cooperative endeavors among governments, industry pioneers, and technology specialists to encourage its extensive implementation and contribute to the advancement of a sustainable and resilient food system.
Yan Li, Yun Lin, Ming K. Lim, Weiqing Xiong · 7 authors
To ensure the safety of fresh food, the cold chain logistics is widely utilised, which can provide a low temperature environment. However, due to the high energy consumption, how to reduce carbon emission of cold chain logistics to develop sustainable distribution has become the research focus. In response, this study proposes an intelligent distribution system for cold chain logistics to achieve green operations. Specifically, the framework of the intelligent system based on blockchain technology is proposed to improve operational efficiency and enhance food traceability. Meanwhile, an electric vehicle routing optimisation model taking into account carbon emission is deployed in the intelligent system to plan the distribution routes. The suggested optimisation model seeks to reduce the total cost, including fixed, spoilage, refrigeration, punishment, queuing, charging and carbon emission costs. Furthermore, an ant colony algorithm is embedded in the intelligent system to help with distribution routes design. Finally, this study combines a real case to discuss the performance of the intelligent system, and the results show that the proposed system can significantly reduce distribution cost and carbon emission. Managers can use the suggested intelligent system to design distribution routes and monitor the distribution process.