Abstract
Blockchain technology is increasingly being supported for different
agricultural commodity applications, including agricultural commodity
tracing and provenance establishment. But many critical issues need to
be addressed before the use of blockchain technology for this purpose
becomes widespread both technologically and ethically. For that, I
carried out a comparison of the different blockchain frameworks - mainly
permissioned Hyperledger blockchain technology and Ethereum smart in
terms of their agricultural sustainability applications. I also examined
the role of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in supporting
blockchain-driven sustainability. I identified how a lack of earth
observation (EO) data undermines commodity provenance (and related
ecological sustainability) establishment. However, the biggest threats
to widespread blockchain technology adoption, especially for meeting
sustainability standards include scalability issues and the lack of
standard data protocols and governance measures.
Introduction
About three-quarters of the Earth’s land surface has been altered by
humans within the last millennium1.
In addition to the growing demand for agricultural commodities in the
Global South, the import of common agricultural commodities such as
soybean, oil palm to developed countries has resulted in deforestation
being displaced to the tropical forest-rich countries in the Global
South2.
Agricultural intensification in the Global South also has ecological
consequences in terms of increased soil degradation3,
damage to biodiversity4,
fertiliser use5among others. Agricultural intensification, owing to ecological
degradation and biodiversity impacts may have adverse effects on human
health6.
However, at the present time, there is limited traceability of many
common agricultural commodities (and no standardised protocols to
establish commodity origins) which has both ecological, human health and
socio-economic concerns, including an increased risk of deforestation as
a result of their sourcing7–9.
Therefore being able to verify the origin of raw materials as well as
learn more about the production process10is vital to both promoting sustainable agriculture by minimizing its
ecological and food safety-related concerns.
Blockchain is a disruptive technology that can facilitate traceability
in agriculture supply chains through decentralised immutable public
records11.
Blockchain technology can act as a reliable source of truth about the
state of farms, inventories and contracts in agriculture. Additionally,
it can track the origins of agricultural commodities and thus help
create trustworthy commodity supply chains12.
For instance, the Brazilian meat producer JBS is deploying blockchain
solutions to eradicate deforestation and farm-level malpractice by
incorporating geospatial data (in the form of earth observation data and
farm records) to monitor farms across the Amazon, Cerrado, Pantanal,
Mata Atlântica and Caatinga biomes to identify cattle coming from farms
created on recently deforested areas13.
Blockchain technology holds the potential of improving transparency
around farm-to-fork food safety and quality certification14.
In addition to helping track the ecological footprint of the different
agricultural commodities, blockchain technology can help establish the
provenance of protected designation of origin (PDO) and protected
geographical indication (PGI) agricultural commodities and ensure these
can help support sustainability goals10,15.
While earth observation (EO) data are increasingly being used in the
context of ensuring agricultural production fulfils Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)16,
they are yet to find widespread adoption within blockchain solutions.
Additionally, blockchain frameworks have also been deployed for other
agriculture-related activities, including payments without the need for
third-party intervention. An agritech startup, AgriDigital, executed the
world’s first blockchain-based grain settlement. Since then, more than
1.6 million tons of grain have been transacted over the cloud, resulting
in grower payments of $360 million17.
Blockchain technology has been deployed for ensuring food sourcing
transparency, adherence to safety standards and establishment of organic
produce or geographic origins for a variety of products including wine,
pork and fruits18.
A comprehensive list of blockchain projects (and target food products)
focused on the different aspects of agricultural commodity sourcing and
supply has been provided in table 1: