The rise of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chains

Blockchain is an emerging digital technology allowing ubiquitous financial transactions among distributed untrusted parties, without the need of intermediaries such as banks. This article examines the impact of blockchain technology in agriculture and food supply chain, presents existing ongoing projects and initiatives, and discusses overall implications, challenges and potential, with a critical view over the maturity of these projects. Our findings indicate that blockchain is a promising technology towards a transparent supply chain of food, with many ongoing initiatives in various food products and food-related issues, but many barriers and challenges still exist, which hinder its wider popularity among farmers and systems. These challenges involve technical aspects, education, policies and regulatory frameworks.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Blockchain technology in agri-food value chain management: A synthesis of applications, challenges and future research directions

Agri-food value chain is an area of significant importance because of providing sustainable, affordable, safety and sufficient food, feed, fibre and fuel to consumers, it is critical to ensure these value chains running smoothly and successfully by applying advanced internet technologies. Blockchain technology is a new digital technological approach underpinned by the Industry 4.0 to ensuring data integrity and preventing tampering and single point failure through offering fault-tolerance, immutability, trust, transparency and full traceability of the stored transaction records to all agri-food value chain partners. This paper used systematic literature network analysis to review the state-of-the-art blockchain technology including its recent advances, main applications in agri-food value chain and challenges from a holistic perspective. The findings suggest that blockchain technology together with advanced information and communication technology and internet of things have been adopted for the improvement of agri-food value chain management in four main aspects: traceability, information security, manufacturing and sustainable water management. Six challenges have been identified including storage capacity and scalability, privacy leakage, high cost and regulation problem, throughput and latency issue, and lack of skills. Based on the critical analysis of literature, research gaps and future research directions are proposed in this paper regarding the applications and challenges of blockchain technology in agri-food value chain management. This study makes contributions to the extant literature in the field of agri-food value chain management by discovering the potential of blockchain technology and its implications for agri-food value chain performance improvements such as food safety, food quality and food traceability

An end-to-end bidirectional authentication system for pallet pooling management through blockchain internet of things (BIoT)

Pallet pooling is regarded as a sustainable and cost-effective measure for the industry, but it is challenging to advocate due to weak data and pallet authentication. In order to establish trust between end-users and pallet pooling services, the authors propose an end-to-end, bidirectional authentication system for transmitted data and pallets based on blockchain and internet-of-things (IoT) technologies. In addition, secure data authentication fosters the pallet authenticity in the whole supply chain network, which is achieved by considering the tag, location, and object-specific features. To evaluate the object-specific features, the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) approach is adopted to match key-points and descriptors between two pallet images. According to the case study, it is found that the proposed system provides a low bandwidth blocking rate and a high probability of restoring complete data payloads. Consequently, positive influences on end-user satisfaction, quality of service, operational errors, and pallet traceability are achieved through the deployment of the proposed system

Applying blockchain technology to improve agri-food traceability: A review of development methods, benefits and challenges

Traceability plays a vital role in food quality and safety management. Traditional Internet of Things (IoT) traceability systems provide the feasible solutions for the quality monitoring and traceability of food supply chains. However, most of the IoT solutions rely on the centralized server-client paradigm that makes it difficult for consumers to acquire all transaction information and to track the origins of products. Blockchain is a cutting-edge technology that has great potential for improving traceability performance by providing security and full transparency. However, the benefits, challenges and development methods of blockchain-based food traceability systems are not yet fully explored in the current literature. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to review the blockchain technology characteristics and functionalities, identify blockchain-based solutions for addressing food traceability concerns, highlight the benefits and challenges of blockchain-based traceability systems implementation, and help researchers and practitioners to apply blockchain technology based food traceability systems by proposing an architecture design framework and suitability application analysis flowchart of blockchain based food traceability systems. The results of this study contribute to better understanding and knowledge on how to improve the food traceability by developing and implementing blockchain-based traceability systems. The paper provides valuable information for researchers and practitioners on the use of blockchain-based food traceability management and has a positive effect on the improvement of food sustainability

Smart contract and web dapp for tracing sustainability indicators in the textile and clothing value chain

Mestrado em Engenharia Informática na Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestão do Instituto Politécnico de Viana do CasteloNa sociedade atual, o têxtil e vestuário é um dos maiores setores de mercado do mundo. O rápido crescimento desta indústria está a ter impactos sem precedentes na sustentabilidade do planeta, respondendo por consequências negativas ambientais, sociais e de saúde. As tendências da fast-fashion, juntamente com a falta de transparência na cadeia de valor têxtil global, somam-se a cenários desfavoráveis para o mundo, à medida que os níveis crescentes de poluição e consumo de recursos dentro da cadeia de valor atingem máximos históricos a cada ano que passa. O ciclo de vida de uma peça de roupa precisa de se adaptar a um modelo económico regenerativo em vez de linear, que acaba no equivalente a um caminhão de lixo de produtos têxteis sendo descartado num aterro sanitário a cada segundo [1]. Não só as indústrias precisam de reformular os seus processos para circularizar as suas cadeias de valor e promover ações sustentáveis, mas também os consumidores precisam de participar do processo de manter os produtos no círculo da cadeia de valor, pois cabe a eles decidir o destino final de um produto vestuário aquando o seu fim da vida útil. Com estas questões em mente, esta dissertação visa desenvolver duas soluções que possam mitigar os problemas a cima mencionados e promover ações sustentáveis rumo a uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário. Uma solução business-to-business baseada em smart contracts do Hyperledger Fabric para gerir a cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário com funcionalidade de rastreabilidade foi desenvolvida como prova de conceito para apoiar as reivindicações de sustentabilidade dos participantes na cadeia de valor, da fibra à peça final de vestuário. A actual funcionabilidade de rastreabilidade desenvolvida no smart contract fornece aos operadores da cadeia de valor a capacidade de rastrear um lote até à sua origem, contudo, também limita a escalabilidade devido ao aumento exponencial do tamanho do bloco, especialmente se considerarmos uma cadeia de valor circular. Para os consumidores, foi proposta uma aplicação descentralizada business-to-consumer-to-consumer com elementos de eco-gamificação para promover o envolvimento e motivação do utilizador para a realização de tarefas que contribuam para a adoção de uma economia circular na cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário. Após testar a usabilidade da aplicação com o questionário AttrakDiff, concluiu-se que o sistema precisa de focar a sua usabilidade em prol de um produto orientado à tarefa em vez da orientação pessoal atual da aplicação a fim de promover ações que contribuam para a economia circular da cadeia de valor do têxtil e vestuário.In today’s society, Textile and Clothing (T&C) is one of the biggest market sectors world wide.The sheer size and fast growth of this industry is having unprecedented impacts on sustainability, accounting for negative environmental, social and health consequences. The fast-fashion trends along side the lack of transparency in the global T&C value chain add up to unfavorable scenarios for the world as the increas- ing levels of pollution and resource consumption within the value chain reach historic highs with every year that passes. The lifecycle of a clothing item needs to adapt to a regenerative economic model instead of a linear one that ends up in the equivalent of a garbage truck full of textiles being disposed into a landfill every second [1]. Not only do the industries need to revamp their processes to circularize their value chains and promote sustainable actions, but the consumers also need to partake in the process of keeping the products in the value chain loop as it is up to them to make the final decision upon the end-of-life of an item of clothing. With these issues in mind,this dissertation aims to develop two solutions that can mitigate the aforementioned problems and promote sustainable actions towards a circular economy in the T&C value chain. A Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Business-to-Business (B2B) T&C value chainmanagement smart contract solution builton Hyperledger Fabric with traceability features was developed to support the sustainability claims of participants in the value chain, from fiber to garment. The current traceability feature developed into the smart contract provides value chain operators the capabilities to trace a batch back to its origin, however, it also constraints scalability due to the exponential in crease in block size specially if considering a circular value chain. For the consumers, a Business-to-Consumer-to-Consumer (B2C2C) Decentralized Application (DApp) was proposed with eco-gamification elements fo rpromoting the user’s engagement and motivation to complete tasks that contribute for the adoption of a circular economy in the T&C value chain. After testing the consumer DApp’s usability with the AttrakDiff survey, it was concluded that the system needs to focus it susability towards a task-oriented product instead of the current self-oriented results in order to promote actions that contribute to the circular economy of the T&C value chain

Blockchain’s Roles in Meeting Key Supply Chain Management Objectives

Arrival of blockchain is set to transform supply chain activities. Scholars have barely begun to systematically assess the effects of blockchain on various organizational activities. This paper examines how blockchain is likely to affect key supply chain management objectives such as cost, quality, speed, dependability, risk reduction, sustainability and flexibility. We present early evidence linking the use of blockchain in supply chain activities to increase transparency and accountability. Case studies of blockchain projects at various phases of development for diverse purposes are discussed. This study illustrates the various mechanisms by which blockchain help achieve the above supply chain objectives. Special emphasis has been placed on the roles of the incorporation of the IoT in blockchain-based solutions and the degree of deployment of blockchain to validate individuals’ and assets’ identities

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

Sustainable Development Report: Blockchain, the Web3 & the SDGs

This is an output paper of the applied research that was conducted between July 2018 - October 2019 funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and conducted by the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and RCE Vienna (Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development).Series: Working Paper Series / Institute for Cryptoeconomics / Interdisciplinary Researc

A Blockchain-Based Approach for Drug Traceability in Healthcare Supply Chain

Healthcare supply chains are complex structures spanning across multiple organizational and geographical boundaries, providing critical backbone to services vital for everyday life. The inherent complexity of such systems can introduce impurities including inaccurate information, lack of transparency and limited data provenance. Counterfeit drugs is one consequence of such limitations within existing supply chains which not only has serious adverse impact on human health but also causes severe economic loss to the healthcare industry. Consequently, existing studies have emphasized the need for a robust, end-to-end track and trace system for pharmaceutical supply chains. Therein, an end-to-end product tracking system across the pharmaceutical supply chain is paramount to ensuring product safety and eliminating counterfeits. Most existing track and trace systems are centralized leading to data privacy, transparency and authenticity issues in healthcare supply chains. In this article, we present an Ethereum blockchain-based approach leveraging smart contracts and decentralized off-chain storage for efficient product traceability in the healthcare supply chain. The smart contract guarantees data provenance, eliminates the need for intermediaries and provides a secure, immutable history of transactions to all stakeholders. We present the system architecture and detailed algorithms that govern the working principles of our proposed solution. We perform testing and validation, and present cost and security analysis of the system to evaluate its effectiveness to enhance traceability within pharmaceutical supply chains

ENABLING IOT AUTHENTICATION, PRIVACY AND SECURITY VIA BLOCKCHAIN

Although low-power and Internet-connected gadgets and sensors are increasingly integrated into our lives, the optimal design of these systems remains an issue. In particular, authentication, privacy, security, and performance are critical success factors. Furthermore, with emerging research areas such as autonomous cars, advanced manufacturing, smart cities, and building, usage of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices is expected to skyrocket. A single compromised node can be turned into a malicious one that brings down whole systems or causes disasters in safety-critical applications. This dissertation addresses the critical problems of (i) device management, (ii) data management, and (iii) service management in IoT systems. In particular, we propose an integrated platform solution for IoT device authentication, data privacy, and service security via blockchain-based smart contracts. We ensure IoT device authentication by blockchain-based IC traceability system, from its fabrication to its end-of-life, allowing both the supplier and a potential customer to verify an IC’s provenance. Results show that our proposed consortium blockchain framework implementation in Hyperledger Fabric for IC traceability achieves a throughput of 35 transactions per second (tps). To corroborate the blockchain information, we authenticate the IC securely and uniquely with an embedded Physically Unclonable Function (PUF). For reliable Weak PUF-based authentication, our proposed accelerated aging technique reduces the cumulative burn-in cost by ∼ 56%. We also propose a blockchain-based solution to integrate the privacy of data generated from the IoT devices by giving users control of their privacy. The smart contract controlled trust-base ensures that the users have private access to their IoT devices and data. We then propose a remote configuration of IC features via smart contracts, where an IC can be programmed repeatedly and securely. This programmability will enable users to upgrade IC features or rent upgraded IC features for a fixed period after users have purchased the IC. We tailor the hardware to meet the blockchain performance. Our on-die hardware module design enforces the hardware configuration’s secure execution and uses only 2,844 slices in the Xilinx Zedboard Zynq Evaluation board. The blockchain framework facilitates decentralized IoT, where interacting devices are empowered to execute digital contracts autonomously