IBM intends to enhance its track-and-trace blockchain functionality by adding a social impact option thanks to an application that allows coffee consumers to directly support small cereal producers.
IBM Blockchain Transparent Supply
According to an announcement this week, IBM has partnered with JM Smucker Company - the $ 12,2 billion food industry giant behind coffee brands such as Folgers, Café Bustelo and Dunkin "to trace the Colombian coffee supply chain.
The program aims to support farmers who grow Smucker's coffee beans with online donations targeting various local community programs including building schools, clean water systems and other infrastructure.
The blockchain to track the origin of coffee, which IBM claims is ready to be put into production, is built on the IBM Blockchain Transparent Supply platform based on Hyperledger Fabric and has been coordinated with the help of Farmer Connect, a technology supplier specialized in apps sustainable supply chain.
"We are applying digital technology to track coffee and ensure that farmers are paid correctly," said Paul Chang, IBM Global Blockchain industry leader.
“But this initiative takes it one step further, allowing consumers to engage farmers directly and potentially impact their livelihoods. I think this is the next generation of a fair circular economy. "
Blockchain as a tool for a sustainable industry
The detractors of the company's blockchain could see this as another food tracking DLT. (IBM recently announced the completion of a pilot project to track farmed salmon in Norway, using the same Transparent Supply System).
But blockchains, both public and private, are a great tool for keeping an eye on the movement of resources - find out how buy bitcoin - something Big Blue first made with Food Trust, the Walmart-backed food security blockchain.
The combination of the ability to trace origin with sustainability objectives is another virtuous way to explore. IBM has started monitoring the process behind minerals used in car batteries, for example.
Chang explained that the new Transparent Supply platform was created "to make it easier for other companies and other sectors to switch quickly from pilot to production".
Farmer Connect, who creates a QR code that leads to a "Thank My Farmer" website, was looking for a production platform, added Chang. “There are many blockchain projects available for traceability, but not as many for production.
Often, it was a startup that put something together, saying "Hey, look what we can do." This has been happening for several years and we are doing millions of live transactions, "he said.
