Global agriculture is a vital industry that billions depend on every day. For that reason, it is more important than ever that food reaches its destination in a safe and reliable manner no matter where it comes from and where it heads. Guaranteeing this a supply chain that is as delicate as it can get, and needs every single component to function as intended to succeed. This is where blockchain technology comes in—read on to see how it has the potential to boost agriculture and thus aid the feeding of billions around the globe.

The Role Of Supply Chain Management In Agriculture

Supply chain management is an important part of almost every industry, but it has an especially vital role in agriculture. First off, the goods that agriculture produces have strict expiry dates and must be handled extremely delicately to make sure that their consumability is not hurt in any way. Also, proper source verification cannot be disregarded, as end consumers must be able to check where their food originates. Last, but not least, customers are also entitled to verify their goods’ origins and all certifications it carries, most of which relates to the journey the food took from the place of production to the shelves. 

Keeping track of all the above is challenging and most related processes are highly centralized which can result in biased behavior, harmed integrity, and thus a hurt overall experience for billions of customers worldwide.

How Blockchain Technology Can Improve Agriculture’s Supply Chain

With all the above considered, it might be hard to see how blockchain technology can offer a more optimal solution to agriculture’s supply chain. The keys to improvement are blockchain’s best traits, namely security, public verifiability, and decentralized integrity. 

Remember when we talked about how it’s close to impossible for supply chain members or end users to reliably check their products’ certification, journey, and origin because of central influence and secretive data management? With blockchain technology, this could change for the better. Products could be registered on blockchains from the first moment, which would enable everyone involved in its journey to verify identity, certifications, and any other data for that matter. No disguise, no biased or obscured information, and only one, tamper-proof source of truth. 

Another aspect of blockchain technology that products could leverage is authenticity verification. There are millions of items out there that are counterfeits, or have fake credentials, which place consumers in danger as these goods are usually unregulated. With blockchain technology, verifying the originality of any type of good can be a few clicks away for anyone, eliminating numerous potential sources of danger.

Which Blockchain Ecosystems Could Aid Agriculture

Theories are great, but practice is what would make an actual difference in this case. Thankfully, there are a few blockchain ecosystems that have the potential to develop solutions that are able to fulfill the promising concept outlined above. Among the few, Cardano (ADA) is the one worth highlighting, as it is one of the leading blockchain projects worldwide. With Cardano’s Atala Trace (IOHK) and EMURGO solutions, any agricultural supply chain has the chance to make blockchain technology an integral part of their processes, and thus provide unparalleled information reliability for users of all kinds.

Ending Remarks

Agriculture is, and always will be, an essential industry for the entire globe. However, in its current state, it has a few blind spots that consumers have no way of uncovering. Thankfully, blockchain technology has the potential to change that for the better and improve agriculture through optimizing its all important supply chain management. The only question that seems to be left is not whether, but when the implementation will happen.