Advantages of blockchain in agriculture

One of the largest and, unfortunately, most inefficient branches of the world economy is agriculture. Long supply chains, old accounting system and bureaucracy are just some of the problems that affect the industry. Blockchain in agriculture is one of the solutions for unfavorable situation.

Advantages of blockchain in agriculture

Efficient quality control

As a result of improper storage and transport, up to 35% of products are unfit to eat before they leave the farm. Lack of humidity, CO2 or temperature control effectively hampers the maintenance of products in the right conditions. Blockchain would allow the use of specialized sensors that collect and store information. It would be clear at what point the products broke down. Moreover, this would make it possible to avoid repetition of the situation and also help to control cultivation, harvesting and processing.

Simplified supply chain

Agricultural products market is a global market so logistic mechanism of their transport is quite complicated. Cartage of refrigerated goods between two continents requires many permits, which increases transport costs, errors and disputes. Blockchain in agriculture would reduce bureaucracy and increase world trade by as much as 15% and GDP by 5%. In addition to reducing logistics costs, there would be an opportunity to enter new market, reduce fraud levels and increase level of trust.

Insurance for farmers

The cause of unfavorable insurance conditions for agricultural industry is e.g. frequent change of weather, long production cycle or invasion of pests. Agricultural insurance is expensive and sometimes impossible to buy. Blockchain may create the opportunity to conceive favorable conditions, comparable to European levels in just a few seconds.

Blockchain in agriculture – the history of product development

When you buy vegetables or fruits you do not receive any information about their history, process of growth and development or chemicals used during fertilization. You do not know where exactly they grew and who was in charge of them. However, if you show interest in the process of buying products development of blockchain technology will help you track down the product’s growth and get all the information you need.

IoT in agriculture

Increase of the productivity on small farms may bring lots of benefits for the global development of agriculture. Thanks to the Internet of Things technology it is possible to read and control information at distance. Furthermore, blockchain would provide secure and reliable data storage, while maintaining an appropriate level of protection against unauthorized access.

Fair earnings for farmers

Farmers as producers, unfortunately, are paid poorly. Most of the profits goes to intermediaries and retailers. Blockchain in agriculture may reduce the number of intermediaries and improve terms of the agreement between the parties. As a result, farmers may be able to set up international trade unions that would protect their rights. Thanks to this, farmers’ income would increase and large part of the population in developing countries can be saved from hunger.

If you want to know something more about blockchain and cryptocurrency in finance – check out Advantages of blockchain in finance or another of our articles.