Implementing an authentic publicblockchain system adds value to the entire supply chain by recording incorruptible data that is ‘digitally notarized’ and cannot be changed without leaving a trace of the intervention. Innovative startup Wiise Chain S.r.l. benefit company introduces this system, made with other Italian innovative startup, to the market at competitive costs. The egg of Columbus is sustainable and tracked!
Public blockchain in the agribusiness supply chain, scope and strategies
The public blockchain, as noted, is a distributed ledger, as information is recorded and duplicated on all nodes participating in the network and is shared using peer-to-peer technology. The records of each transaction are kept forever and are immutable.(1)
The data to be recorded may vary considerably, taking into account the characteristics of supply chains and processes, as well as the sectors involved in the system. But above all, strategic objectives, which in a basic configuration are worth ensuring full compliance with legal requirements (traceability of products through registration of incoming and outgoing goods). From this starting point, the system can be developed by collecting data on so-called internal traceability (material flows and processes within the individual organization) and supply chains, upstream and downstream.
An evolved public blockchain system can record all activities performed by each operator throughout the entire agribusiness supply chain, ‘from seed tofork’ and ‘from farm to fork.’ Starting with seed genetics and origin, soil and water testing, veterinary records, and animal welfare. Right down to the identification of individual production batches, analysis of the products themselves, and verification of the conformity of their labels. Maybe even logistics, final distribution, and shelf rotations.
In an ideal configuration, the blockchain system can reflect and validate the virtuous efforts of those companies and supply chains that engage on various sustainability fronts. Demonstrating effective Respect for ecosystems, communities and workers. The application of sustainable procurement criteria can be attested after gap-analysis, correction and identification ofKPIs (key performance indicators). Some examples in the geo-location of cultivated areas, the minimum value of hourly pay, data related to LCA(Life Cycle Assessment) and circular economy, etc. (2)
‘Sustainable Procurement [is the] procurement that has the most positive environmental, social & economic impacts possible over the entire life cycle‘ (ISO 20400).
The level of access to various information can be graduated, depending on the needs of various categories of users. Within the individual organization, supply chain and stakeholder community (social stakeholders). Consumers, for example, may appreciate the easy availability of a range of basic, clear and understandable news. Retail buyers and quality departments can keep supplier qualification procedures up-to-date by having certification reports, analyses, and label compliance statements. Control authorities in turn can optimize inspection activities by verifying online HACCP and related records, including those related to traceability. And so on, without the need to ‘expose in the public square’ news that may be commercially and competitively sensitive, or trade secrets.
Public blockchain in the agribusiness supply chain, the Value Added
The consumer who receives news about the social and ecological needs related to each production sector demonstrates an ability to recognize and reward the value of fair and sustainable supply chains. In Italy – such as the example of the
Cash Mob
ethics has recently demonstrated – but also internationally. The trinomial ‘People – Planet – Prosperity‘ drives Millennials‘ purchasing choices and motivates bottom-up pressure toward ethical consumer choices. Sometimes even radical, such as the elimination of palm oil and GMO soy that is being proposed in the Buycott campaign.
The trust that global ecommerce giants are not yet able to offer consumers is then the critical point on which the competitiveness of healthy, area-based supply chains close to consumers can be played out. In physical presence and mutualistic culture. Public blockchain can thus consolidate trust in Made in Italy and physical retail, not only on the authenticity of products but especially on the integrity of the supply chain. And it is integrity-as well as ethics-that is inevitably lacking in the business models of the predatory giants of planetary ecommerce.
Official public controls can also be optimized, thanks to complete traceability of processes through a public blockchain system. Indeed, the new ‘official controls’ regulation (reg. EU 2017/625) has strengthened the criterion of operator rating. On the basis of which control activities can be planned and focused. And the security of incorruptibility of data that is inherent in public blockchain technology (not also in its imitations) can encourage a reduction in the frequency and intensity of audits, enabling their focus on critical points. Just by recording self-control procedures (e.g., GAP, GMP, GHC and HACCP), manuals and implementation. (3)
Wiise Chain, the public blockchain 100% Made in Italy
Wiise Chain
is the innovative startup formed by the writers. To realize the crasis between Wiise S.r.l. benefit company – which carries out GIFT projects (
Great Italian Food Trade
) and FARE – and ChainForFood. In an ecosystem where the non-profit Egalitè is also present and is open to all who share our goals. Creating value in the supply chain by promoting the contribution to social values by its players. (4)
The public blockchain system developed by Wiise Chain is based on the Bitcoin protocol. (see next paragraph). Perhaps the only system to have withstood, over the past decade, the various ‘hacking’ attempts that characterize the Web. The egg of Columbus, in the writer’s humble perspective, is the idea of inter-operation with the registration systems already in use by individual operators. Which, it should be noted, already record much of the information required to implement an evolved public blockchain system.
It is, therefore, simply a matter of designing an IT architecture that allows the complex of data collected to be communicated and merged into a single system. By linking – depending on the complexity of the organizations – simple PDF and Excel files with different ERP systems (e.g., AS 400, SAP, etc.). Without the need to build new as well as onerous ‘IT cathedrals,’ so as to cut down marginal costs as well. On the basis of a model consonant with shared strategies, on which comprehensive advice is also offered. Taking into account the needs of individuals and the opportunities offered by various markets-national, European and international, offline and online-in relation to traced, ethical and sustainable supply chains. Making use of international standards (applicable to supply chains, e.g., ISO standards, and data transfer, e.g., GS1), as well as regulations that are mandatory in various territorial contexts. (5)
A multilingual B2B ecommerce platform, soon to be installed on Great Italian Food Trade, will then be made available to sustainable players and supply chains that decide to implement the public blockchain system proposed by Wiise Chain. Applying strictly fair business practices and competitive costs that are also affordable for SMEs and microenterprises. In what aspires first and foremost to become an international showcase of virtuous operators, the protagonists of Made in Italy to whom each of us has selflessly devoted a quarter of a century of personal and professional commitments.
Bitcoin, the winning protocol
The Bitcoin protocol is the technical solution adopted by Wiise Chain. This term is often confused with ‘bitcoin,’ the famous cryptocurrency. It is not our ambition to go into the details of the respective technologies. Rather share some basics:
– the cryptocurrency bitcoin (BTC) is a distributed, peer-to-peer (P2P) ‘digital currency’,
– the Bitcoin protocol governs the rules underlying the BTC digital economic network, ensuring the incorruptibility (at least, to date) of its system,
– the source code of that protocol, and the respective software (running on a myriad of computers located on 5 continents)-is itself referred to as Bitcoin.
The term Bitcoin can then be used to refer to the entire ecosystem, which includes all the features mentioned above. Using Bitcoin ‘technology’ therefore means using a system of formidable reliability, regardless of the use of cryptocurrency. Indeed, the technology behind Bitcoin is designed to preserve the integrity of data, the alteration of which presupposes the ability to ‘unravel’ the entire structure, register by register, on all servers and computers that join the network. A virtually impossible task in the state of the art with the computational capabilities now available.
Indeed, a crucial element in the security of our system is the distribution of data over a myriad of nodes located all over the world. Each of them-regardless of the level of access to the various ‘circles’ of information, which is defined by categories of users and is also incorruptible-owns a copy of all the data contained in the blockchain. Thus, each individual operator can download the entire data chain (though without being able to access the related news in its entirety) to his or her PC.
The Bitcoin protocol is governed by a so-called ‘consensus algorithm,’ called Proof of Work. Unraveling tens, hundreds or thousands of copies of the same data at the same time is extremely more difficult than doing it once, and today there is not enough computing power to succeed in this feat. Bitcoin as a distributed system is also much more resistant to errors and cyber attacks, and most importantly it does not have centralized governance like the systems that are still often fraudulently presented as ‘blockchain’.
Full ahead!
Dario Dongo and Gian Luca Mascellino
Notes
(1) The international reference standard is ISO 22005:2007(Traceability in the feed and food chain – general principles and basic requirements for system design and implementation), which was revised and confirmed in 2016. According to ISO logic, each organization can define the scope of its traceability system. From the minimum level of a single operator’s supplies and deliveries (where possible, supplemented with so-called internal traceability) to the broadest extension, from seed and/or feed to the table
(2) Cf. ISO 20400:2017(Sustainable procurement, guidelines)
(3) Reg. EU 2017/625 on official controls and other official activities carried out to ensure the enforcement of food and feed law, animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. V. https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/salute/sicurezza-alimentare-abc-responsabilità-operatori
(4) The valuable text Mariana Mazzuccato is recalled in this regard, The value of everything. Who produces it and who takes it away in the global economy (Laterza, Rome-Bari, 2018). Original title The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy.
(5) Reference is made to the free ebooks ‘
Food safety, mandatory rules and voluntary standards
‘ e ‘1169 penis. Reg. EU 1169/11, food news, controls and penalties‘
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Gian Luca Mascellino, CEO of ChainForFood, founder of the Italian Sustainable Agriculture Movement.
