Figure 5: A Smart Contract Mediated Supply Chain41
Smart contract technology was first developed on the Ethereum blockchain14. Owing to their ability to eliminate third-party roles, Ethereum based smart contracts are increasingly being deployed for agricultural insurance in many parts of the Global South28,42,43. In addition to peerless insurance and payment settlements, smart contracts also allow for establishing agricultural commodity origins and ensuring expected standards (for instance, such as those needed for organic certification are being met). Smart contracts can help monitor and manage all communications and transactions within the supply chain network among all stakeholders. They verify every transaction, which is recorded and stored in a centralized interplanetary file system database ensuring transparency and security14.
An Ethereum blockchain-based solution has been suggested as a way of establishing that organic vegetables are meeting the requisite standards in terms of cultivation conditions and allowing them to sell their produce directly to consumers44. Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts were used to trace, track, and perform transactions in soybean supply chains with the view of improving transparency and visibility. Participants in the supply chain all have Ethereum accounts with unique Ethereum Addresses (EAs) that identify them uniquely. Basically, Ethereum accounts consist of an EA and public and private keys which are used for cryptographically and digitally signing and validating data within each transaction, as well as associating each transaction with a specific account11. The entire soybean farm-to-fork blockchain framework has been demonstrated in figure 6: