Food industry has witnessed a number of environmental, social, and health issues, as well as persistent breaches of customer trust and fraud. Consumers now want to know how food production affects the environment and the people working in the supply chain. Existing technologies allow businesses and consumers to know where and at what time the products were, as well as their nutritional value and more. However, they do not provide any information about what is actually happening at each point in the supply chain. This can be fixed if the blockchain is applied correctly, for instance, giving food producers competitive advantage by providing data on the origin of their produce.

Another important aspect in redefining the modern food supply chain is crop yield prediction, where innovative technologies like satellite monitoring can be used to increase effectiveness and precision. Luckily, there is now a variety of farming software and services from satellite solutions on the agri market for remote crop monitoring and management that offer new ways to increase crop yield, optimize production, and stay sustainable while doing so.

Blockchain Catering to Food Supply Chain

While blockchain cannot solve all the problems of the food industry, it can greatly enhance the management of its supply chain to ensure that the food produced is brought to the market efficiently while verifying its origin and safety. Blockchain can provide cost-effectiveness for the food industry in several ways. The main advantage of blockchain technology is its invulnerability to outside interference, since it is almost impossible to hack. All data in blocks is encrypted with cryptographic algorithms. Unlike many other financial databases, in this model, all transactions are carried out without the participation of intermediaries.

The use of digital documents (purchase agreements, letters of credit, certificates) and automatic data matching made it possible to avoid duplication of tasks and manual checks. Since a lengthy paper process has been replaced by a digital transaction, the time spent processing documents and data has been significantly reduced.

Other benefits of blockchain include the ability to track transaction progress in real time, verify data, and reduce the risk of fraud. Such transactions require close work between the buyer and the seller, banks and permitting authorities, which also work with the digital format of documents.

Blockchain can provide cost-effectiveness for the food industry in several ways:

• Specified reviews of the food industry. Unfortunately food contamination is bound to happen and this product needs to be recalled by the distributor. Since current supply chain data cannot pinpoint the origin of goods or points of movement, companies are using a wide web to ensure that all contaminated food is removed from distribution. Using blockchain technology, food companies can determine the exact point of origin of a product, as well as study the entire route of its delivery.
• Direct distribution. Using blockchain and the digital payments that accompany it, farmers can directly connect with delivery agents to get their food to market. Thus, farmers can work independently and directly with transport agents. Thanks to things like smart contracts and digital tokens, blockchain can facilitate direct collaboration based on trust and credibility. This methodology can reduce transport crossings that make food more expensive. Direct cooperation can ensure efficient and cheap delivery of products to the market.
• Authentication. Organic food is a growing sector of the food industry that comes with strict production and traceability standards to ensure products are truly organic. These processes add to the already high cost of organic food. Blockchain can help reduce these costs by allowing easy and reliable tracking and verifying every stage of the organic food life cycle to provide consumers with confidence in the products they buy. And food producers can spend fewer resources on important but costly regulatory measures.

Importance of Yield Forecasting in Food Supply Chain

Crop yield forecasting methods are used for economic planning of crop sales, for planning the logistics of the harvesting campaign, and subsequent storage of grain. Predicting the yield of grain crops is important for ensuring food security and making managerial decisions in the agricultural sector. Thus, in years of adverse weather conditions, the yield forecast allows to reduce damage, and in favorable years — to determine the possible volumes of grain and to plan export. Thanks to modern crop yield prediction software, based on satellite data analytics, farmers can build predictive yield maps, then detect areas with low yields, study the reasons for its decline in a given section of the field, and take appropriate measures to solve the problem. For example, such maps can be the basis for differentiated fertilization in precision farming.

Today’s food industry needs to fight unsustainable agri practices and redefine the supply chain to satisfy changing food demand. Blockchain’s transparency and advanced yield forecasting with new tech mau help tackle many of the biggest issues facing the food production sector today.

Source: Plato Data Intelligence: PlatoData.io