The Rise of Blockchain Technology in Agriculture and Food Supply Chains

TL;DR

This paper reviews how blockchain technology is transforming agriculture and food supply chains by enhancing transparency, discusses ongoing projects, and highlights challenges hindering widespread adoption among stakeholders.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of current blockchain initiatives in agriculture and food supply chains, analyzing their potential and identifying key barriers to adoption.

Findings

Blockchain enhances transparency in food supply chains

Numerous ongoing blockchain projects in agriculture

Significant technical, educational, and regulatory challenges exist

Abstract

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.