Figure 7: IoT-Powered Agriculture Blockchain System Architecture48
Farming is the first link in the agri-food traceability process. IoT
smart devices can collect and transmit the traceability data needed in
the business process. The traceability information available can store a
blockchain-based traceability system. The traceability information may
include farming background environment (e.g. soil, water, temperature
and humidity quality), farming staff, date, time, origin and application
of drug variety, irrigation, fertilizing and pesticides49.
Startups such as FILAMENT have used blockchain technology to broadcast
information obtained from IoTs such as weather data, SMA alerts,
machinery protocol and GPS positioning on the farm to support precision
agriculture and improve transparency. Aside from agriculture, IoT
integrated with blockchain frameworks can also support sustainable
aquaculture practices by monitoring rearing conditions (temperature
sensors, water level sensors, oxygen sensors, and pH sensors) for
monitoring any environmental changes and actuators (water pump, pond
heater, fish feeder, and lighting LED) for regulating the corresponding
environment. Sensors and actuators in one fish tank transmit information
to the others, forming a complete fish farming environment. Data
collected and analyzed by the IoT sensors can then be fed into the
blockchain system. Users can have different permissions based on the
type of data they wish to access. Additionally, the policy contract
differentiates between access control for network administrative changes
(network access control) and access control for resources within a
business network (business access control)50.