Consumers have good reason to worry about the frailty of the global food supply chain. This is not because of lack of food, but because—as we’ve recently seen—breakdown in supply chains can drive up prices. Logistical hold-ups, factory closures, climate change and labour shortages in the agriculture and agri-food sectors create a domino effect that has strikes all levels of the system.
As this crisis worsens, with no end in sight, food-industry juggernauts like Walmart Canada are experimenting with ways to increase efficiency using blockchain, a technology whose reputation tends to be shrouded in the hype over cryptocurrency.
These applications have nothing to do with Bitcoin, and everything to do with increasing the level of safety, transparency and traceability of food from farm to table. Even though these applications are still in the early stages of development, pilot projects have been promising enough that blockchain aficionados envision a future where—similar to the internet—it could be hard to imagine life (and food) without it.
What exactly is blockchain?
First things first. A blockchain is a decentralized network that records, stores and encrypts blocks of data. These blocks are chained together using a branch of mathematics called cryptography—used to protect transaction information, secure user privacy and encrypt communication between parties—to form a chronological digital ledger.
The blocks of data in a blockchain are verified by a network of devices and computers called “nodes” that all have a copy of the same data. There are often thousands of nodes that form the infrastructure of a blockchain. Nodes enable blockchain technology to be decentralized since the network does not rely on a centralized server.
“We need trusted records so ubiquitously through everything we do in society, so I think there is enormous potential for blockchain to become that architecture of trust for society,” said…
