Tech gives transparency in food supply chain

A group of primary sector producers, growers, exporters and retailers have formed a consortium and created a platform where data can be securely shared to provide transparency for buyers and consumers on ethical and environmental claims.

A new blockchain ledger for the primary sector will be administered through the consortium, Trust Alliance New Zealand, which has 23 members representing businesses along the supply chain. The initiative kicked off last year and is launching this week.

Having good information systems that can report to consumers information they want while reducing compliance costs, was ‘‘mission critical’’, alliance chairman and Potatoes NZ chief executive Chris Claridge said.

It would be done through information sharing that could measure, monitor and report on the performance of businesses along the supply chain.

Globally, consumers were increasingly mindful about the ethical and environmental impacts of food purchases.

The tool would be used to enhance the competitiveness of the primary sector by providing the assurances people want, Claridge said.

The platform, called Trackback, enables verifiable data to be shared across interconnected industries, creating a network of information that would otherwise exist in data silos.

‘‘We’re not replacing data sets, we’re providing a methodology to connect and record,’’ he said.

For example, in the potato industry, where a seed was grown and when it was inspected would be recorded, and once the seed was passed on to a grower, that data would be transferred and new data about that crop would be added and passed on to the processors or exporters, and eventually to the consumer.

Data was only shared by permission, but the record could not be lost or tampered with – for example, the safety attributes of a product, Claridge said.

For consumers, QR codes could be scanned on a box of potatoes that would identify where the crop was grown, the cultivars used, the farmer who grew it and social media links to connect to that farmer.

Members will be able to validate data around provenance, compliance and provide traceability, and growers could use the platform to tell their story to consumers and get direct feedback to improve satisfaction and loyalty.

One of the benefits for New Zealand was for exporters of products like ma¯nuka honey, which are often mislabelled overseas, blockchain expert Alex Sims said.

The technology had already proved popular with consumers in Europe. Carrefour, a large French supermarket, had been trialling blockchain technology for meat, milk and fruit in its stores, Sims said.

Members include Potatoes NZ, Foodstuffs North Island, Auckland Council, University of Auckland, Ports of Auckland, Reynolds Group, Sanford, GS1, SGS, Craigmore Farms, Eagle Technology, Trade Monster, NZUE, ORTEC NZ, Augen Software Group, Silver Fern Farms, MyEnviro, ANZ Bank, NZTE, Fernmark, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, Eco Detection, Plant & Food Research and Federated Farmers.