Blockchain Technology in Wine Chain for Collecting and Addressing Sustainable Performance: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Sustainability standards have not yet been commonly adopted by the whole wine chain, and indicator assessments are not widely spread. A deep understanding of how embedding sustainability into business while controlling costs related to the adoption of sustainability certification standards such as data collection and management practices could allow one to overcome most barriers relevant to sustainability compliance. Blockchain technology (BCT) may answer these needs. In order to verify BCT potential to be used as a sustainability management tool in the wine industry, with a qualitative triple bottom line research approach, this article explores the connections among BCT adoption in agri-food, issues posed by wine sustainability certification, and whether wine companies that already own a wine sustainability certification are prepared to adopt it. Results show that (1) the blockchain allows collecting data and information that are relevant for monitoring and improving sustainability: Soil and water features, climate conditions, treatment with pesticides and fertilizers, production process, traceability, transparency, labor and human rights, quality and safety, waste reduction, authenticity, relationship with stakeholders; (2) wine companies that already own a sustainability certification have little familiarity with blockchain applications (57.1%, n.21) and only 14% of the respondents support their intention to invest in BCT in the coming years; (3) the case study shows improvements in traceability and transparency along the supply chain and an increase in consumers’ trust that was reflected in sales growth, and the main costs are linked to complexity in data management.

Proof of Transaction (PoTx) Based Traceability System for an Agriculture Supply Chain

“…A classical use-case was proposed called from-farmto-fork within the given vertical domain. The two blockchain platforms namely Ethereum and Hyperledger Sawtooth have been utilised to deploy traceable system performances [17]. The performance was analysed with regard to network latency, CPU time, and network usage.…”

Investment strategies and coordination for green food supply chain: a further research considering the inputs of the blockchain-based traceability system

“…Although, the applications of blockchain in supply chain management have been widely concerned, many researches concentrated on the levels of technology and some concepts (Nayak and Dhaigude, 2019; Lahkani et al ., 2020; Lee and Yeon, 2021; Luzzani et al ., 2021; Khan et al ., 2021; Nayal et al ., 2021; Mubarik et al ., 2021). In the blockchain environment, researches about the impacts of blockchain on supply chain operation management were closely related to our research and many efforts had obtained (Choi, 2019; Niu et al ., 2021; Liu et al ., 2021; Jian and Yd, 2022).…”

Blockchain as the “trust-building machine” for supply chain management

“…In other words, consumer and public acknowledgement regarding the material flow and product journey across the value chain are improved (Hasan et al, 2020 ; Köhler & Pizzol, 2020 ). For instance, Luzzani et al ( 2021 ) empirically revealed that the blockchain-enabled collection of transparent information regarding soil and water features, climate condition, treatment with pesticides and fertilizers, production process, traceability, and labour and human rights helped enhance consumers’ trust placed on wine producers, and this was reflected in sales growth. Hence, it is expected that the trustor entity will have more confidence in supply chain commitment and bestow a higher level of trust to the supply chain showing quality data recorded for the whole supply chain process and activities (Cao et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2020 ).…”