Figure 6: A system overview for automating the Soybean traceability
using Ethereum Smart Contracts11.
This blockchain framework encompasses seven entities- seed companies,
farmers, grain elevators (where grains are monitored for quality), grain
processor (converts grain to final product), distributor, retailer and
customer. Identifiers such as serialized Global Trade Identification
Numbers (GTIN) or equivalents, which include the specific company
prefix, are used to identify soybean seeds sold by seed companies. In
the agricultural product supply chain, standard identifiers facilitate
digital connectivity and tracking capabilities of products and
transactions. Farmers buy seeds from seed companies and plant them. The
farmer records the details of the crop growth in the decentralized file
system, IPFS, at regular intervals. Smart contracts store the IPFS hash
of the crop growth images and the time-stamped crop growth images11).
Apart from ensuring supply chain transparency, smart contracts can be
deployed to ensure that food items meet certain environmental or social
criteria (such as criteria related to sustainability)45.
However, smart contracts are by no means a silver bullet. Smart contract
failures have already occurred. These contracts have been further
classified as prodigal, suicide, and greedy. Prodigal contracts are
those that have fallen into the hands of hackers, rerouting the Ethers
in this instance. This fraud resulted in crypto-currencies reaching a
fraudulent address and becoming the property of the fraudster who was
placed between the contracting party and the crypto-intended currency’s
recipient. Suicide contracts are those that are terminated when the
attacker activates an exit requirement. It is possible that an exit
clause has been implemented incorrectly, as has already occurred, and
the resulting consequences are swift. Under the guise of a legal act,
the incorrect party ends up with all the encrypted funds associated with
the smart contract. Additionally, it should be noted that insufficient
protection of the information contained in one of these contracts
results in funds being transferred to unauthorised locations. Greedy
contracts may be the result of poor practice or miswriting, but the fact
remains that the contracting party will lose legitimacy in order to
receive its encrypted currency. It becomes uncontrollable and terminates
the contract. This is an illustration of economic loss as a result of a
vulnerability failure46and could easily undermine agricultural sustainability blockchain
applications.
Potential Role of Geospatial Data
The data requirements for establishing agricultural commodity
provenance, tracking growing and processing conditions along with
ensuring food safety standards are being met needs are fulfilled using
technological solutions including the Internet-of-Things (IoT), RFID
technology and geospatial products among others.