Implications for Agricultural Producers of Using Blockchain for Food Transparency, Study of 4 Food Chains by Cumulative Approach

Abstract

In agro-food, Blockchain has been recently implemented in order to improve transparency. Blockchain raises great expectations of data decentralization and better efficiency–cost ratio, integration speed, and data protection that appear as promises of gains in all areas. The fundamental assumption was that transparency prevents or reduces illegitimate forms of power. However, discussions are emerging about how digitization is likely to exacerbate power inequalities in food systems, as transparency can become tyrannical when it contributes to the proliferation of audits, evaluations, and assessment measures. The objective of this research is to contribute by providing knowledge about the implications of this digitization for farmers. For a first exploratory study, we conducted 53 interviews with actors of digitalization of agri-food, and we used 9 press releases, 3 webinars, and 1 article published in a specialized French journal. These materials evoke 12 different agro-food chains recently equipped with blockchain in France. From this pool of chains, we focused on four through in-depth analysis of interviews and literature readings using NVivo software. The first results highlight that the use of blockchain for transparency rarely delivers on its promises. Blockchain tends to centralize control since few actors have access to the distributed ledger, and the visibility brought to farmers, at the consumer level, tends to become a form of control. While blockchain seems to provide some benefits to producers, it raises the issue of overloaded technology and the problem of their data privacy.

Strategies for Traceability to Prevent Unauthorised GMOs (Including NGTs) in the EU: State of the Art and Possible Alternative Approaches

“…It is usually pointed out that appropriately developed blockchain applications can facilitate the work of documentation required for traceability and minimise the risk of fraud in documentation. However, a research team led by Commandré was unable to confirm the fulfilment of these expectations of blockchain technology based on their study results [24].…”

Research Trends in Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives: A Bibliometric Review

“…Another reason for cooperative failings is the conflicts between members and the board of directors, members, and employees across various dimensions [34], suggesting that larger cooperatives are destined to fail if they do not assess these internal governance issues. Scholars are focusing their research on a niche theme such as the efficiency of blockchain technology to address the concerns of agricultural cooperatives related to transparency [35], trust, and traceability in the development of this technology for sustainable and resilient food supply chains [36]. Additionally, blockchain technology is in its early stages, and concerns associated with the types of smart contracts to be selected [37], data privacy, financial constraints, issues related to investments for this type of technology, and regulatory frameworks have to be addressed before implementing and promoting to the agricultural sector in general.…”

A Systematic Literature Review on Agri-Food Supply Chain Transparency

“…The largest segment of the research is dedicated to the exploration of blockchain technology, with 20 papers exclusively discussing its implications and applications in the agri-food supply chain [8], [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. This is closely followed by 16 papers that solely focus on the Internet of Things (IoT) and its transformative potential in ensuring transparency from farm to table.…”