Overstock backed GrainChain builds Honduras coffee traceability blockchain
Yesterday, agricultural blockchain firm GrainChain announced it signed agreements with stakeholders of the Honduras coffee industry to unite them on its platform. GrainChain is backed by Medici Ventures, the blockchain unit of Overstock.com, having raised $2.5 million from the company last year.
Coffee is one of the leading exports of Honduras. About 20% of the country’s population is dependent on coffee for their livelihood. The coffee supply chain involves several stakeholders. It becomes nearly impossible to keep track of the various processes leading up to the packaging of coffee for sale.
“Growing coffee is such a widespread process with so many variables that it has traditionally been impossible to get people on the same page, which lowers trust across the entire supply chain,” said Francisco Fortin, general manager of Confianza SA-FGR, an insurance provider to the agriculture industry.
The coffee industry is facing a crisis with prices hitting an all-time low in the past few years. A disorganized supply chain only hinders the efforts to recoup the market. By bringing all the stakeholders on a single blockchain-based platform, GrainChain believes the coffee industry in Honduras will receive a much-needed boost.
GrainChain’s platform
Coffee growers will be given a digital wallet, empowering the remote and unbanked farmers to avail financial services and improve their crops. Banks can use the platform to disburse loans faster based on the immutable data stored on the blockchain.
Blockchain also reduces the risks for the banks and farmers by bringing crop insurers on the platform, which can underwrite farmer loans and process payouts with ease. Grainchain’s platform also facilitates smart contracts for settlement, traceability, and sourcing.
“Our platform provides guarantees and visibility through the entire process, which empowers growers and vendors while reducing risk to bankers and buyers,” said Luis Macias, CEO of GrainChain. He added that blockchain for agriculture would encourage investment in the sector and improve the quality of the produce.
The platform also employs IoT devices to measure the quantity, quality, and humidity of agricultural produce to enable faster contract settlement.
Blockchain for crops
Meanwhile, other coffee blockchain projects include startup Farmer Connect, which last week onboarded firms including Douwe Egberts on its provenance platform. The platform is based on IBM’s Food Trust blockchain.
Starbucks partnered with Microsoft Azure for coffee traceability earlier this year. The Azure blockchain platform is also used in R3’s more general food and grains traceability initiative. In India, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has launched a blockchain-based marketplace app for coffee trading.
Blockchain is also being scaled to other agricultural products. Industry giants Glencore Agriculture, COFCO, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus Company are part of a consortium using AI and blockchain for agribusiness.
Sumber :
https://www.ledgerinsights.com/grainchain-coffee-traceability-blockchain/
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
From Farm to Cup
From Farm to Cup, Big Coffee Turns to Tech to Lure Consumers
By Isis Almeida
18 September 2019, 15:00 GMT+7 Updated on 18 September 2019, 19:33 GMT+7
Sustainability-minded millennials increasingly want to know where their cup of Americano or Espresso Macchiato comes from, and some of the world’s top coffee companies are turning to technology for help.
Roasters including J.M. Smucker Co. and Jacob Douwe Egberts are joining a blockchain initiative by Farmer Connect, a startup backed by Swiss coffee trader Sucafina and developed in partnership with International Business Machines Corp. The technology will help firms trace the origin of the beans they buy and sell as well as their pricing along the supply chain.
The digital ledger system, which usually tracks transactions, will also be used to feed customers detailed information about where the coffee was farmed, milled, exported, imported and roasted through a consumer-facing application called Thank My Farmer. Clientele will also be able to directly support sustainability projects, and from next year, make direct payments to farmers.
“Our participation in the Farmer Connect blockchain initiative demonstrates our commitment to providing consumers with the transparency they crave while also creating new ways to support smallholder coffee farmers,” said Joe Stanziano, senior vice president and general manager for Smucker, owner of coffee brands including Folgers, Cafe Bustelo and 1850.
The platform, now available to members, will open up for the rest of the market next year, said Dave Behrends, founder and president of Farmer Connect and a partner at Sucafina. The startup plans to raise as much as $20 million at the end of this year or early 2020, making it an industry-wide initiative, he said.
Price Transparency
Farmer Connect doesn’t own the data companies input, so when it comes to price -- a sensitive topic for many firms -- it will be the users’ decision to give others permission to see the value of their purchases and sales. Behrends expects roughly 90% of the users to disclose where the coffee comes from, but only about 10% to embrace price transparency at the start.
“I would expect that as we evolve as a supply chain and consumers demand more visibility, the pressure will increase for us to be able to prove that we are paying a fair price to farmers,” he said. “That will be something that will become more of the norm.”
Coffee traders have struggled with thin margins and increasingly long payment terms by an ever consolidating roasting industry, meaning some traders may chose not to open up their pricing information. While some roasters require proof traders have paid farmers a fair price, the groups that do so successfully are the ones that allow for margins in the supply chain, Behrends said.
“I think traders are fine sharing data that ensures farmers have been paid a fair price,” he said, adding that some influential roasters could use the data to pressure their margins.
While tapping blockchain will help cut transaction costs, sharing the data with financing banks could also help companies to achieve lower rates, Behrands said. And farmers gain too. Growers will get their own app to receive direct payments, input sales and prices as well as data about themselves. The app, set to be ready in the first quarter next year, will also let farmers verify if the price companies input is correct.
“That’s great for two reasons: now we have verified data of how much is going to farmers, it’s not just a trader claiming that they paid the farmer a fair price,” Behrends said. “And for the farmer confirming that, they are building credit history because they are building a digital track-record of production and income and for a lot of the farmers in Africa, that history makes them bankable and open for micro-credit loans for the first time ever.”
Farmer Connect -- also supported by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, Japanese trader Itochu Corp., importer RGC Coffee as well as Sucafina and the trader’s private label roaster Beyers Koffie -- is open to later expanding to other commodities such as cocoa and tea.
“We believe that Farmer Connect will be the platform of choice for the coffee industry,” said Rajendra Rao, general manager for IBM Food Trust. “We know that both farmers and coffee lovers everywhere will benefit from transparent connectivity.”
Sumber :
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/from-farm-to-cup-big-coffee-taps-blockchain-to-lure-millennials
By Isis Almeida
18 September 2019, 15:00 GMT+7 Updated on 18 September 2019, 19:33 GMT+7
Sustainability-minded millennials increasingly want to know where their cup of Americano or Espresso Macchiato comes from, and some of the world’s top coffee companies are turning to technology for help.
Roasters including J.M. Smucker Co. and Jacob Douwe Egberts are joining a blockchain initiative by Farmer Connect, a startup backed by Swiss coffee trader Sucafina and developed in partnership with International Business Machines Corp. The technology will help firms trace the origin of the beans they buy and sell as well as their pricing along the supply chain.
The digital ledger system, which usually tracks transactions, will also be used to feed customers detailed information about where the coffee was farmed, milled, exported, imported and roasted through a consumer-facing application called Thank My Farmer. Clientele will also be able to directly support sustainability projects, and from next year, make direct payments to farmers.
“Our participation in the Farmer Connect blockchain initiative demonstrates our commitment to providing consumers with the transparency they crave while also creating new ways to support smallholder coffee farmers,” said Joe Stanziano, senior vice president and general manager for Smucker, owner of coffee brands including Folgers, Cafe Bustelo and 1850.
The platform, now available to members, will open up for the rest of the market next year, said Dave Behrends, founder and president of Farmer Connect and a partner at Sucafina. The startup plans to raise as much as $20 million at the end of this year or early 2020, making it an industry-wide initiative, he said.
Price Transparency
Farmer Connect doesn’t own the data companies input, so when it comes to price -- a sensitive topic for many firms -- it will be the users’ decision to give others permission to see the value of their purchases and sales. Behrends expects roughly 90% of the users to disclose where the coffee comes from, but only about 10% to embrace price transparency at the start.
“I would expect that as we evolve as a supply chain and consumers demand more visibility, the pressure will increase for us to be able to prove that we are paying a fair price to farmers,” he said. “That will be something that will become more of the norm.”
Coffee traders have struggled with thin margins and increasingly long payment terms by an ever consolidating roasting industry, meaning some traders may chose not to open up their pricing information. While some roasters require proof traders have paid farmers a fair price, the groups that do so successfully are the ones that allow for margins in the supply chain, Behrends said.
“I think traders are fine sharing data that ensures farmers have been paid a fair price,” he said, adding that some influential roasters could use the data to pressure their margins.
While tapping blockchain will help cut transaction costs, sharing the data with financing banks could also help companies to achieve lower rates, Behrands said. And farmers gain too. Growers will get their own app to receive direct payments, input sales and prices as well as data about themselves. The app, set to be ready in the first quarter next year, will also let farmers verify if the price companies input is correct.
“That’s great for two reasons: now we have verified data of how much is going to farmers, it’s not just a trader claiming that they paid the farmer a fair price,” Behrends said. “And for the farmer confirming that, they are building credit history because they are building a digital track-record of production and income and for a lot of the farmers in Africa, that history makes them bankable and open for micro-credit loans for the first time ever.”
Farmer Connect -- also supported by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, Japanese trader Itochu Corp., importer RGC Coffee as well as Sucafina and the trader’s private label roaster Beyers Koffie -- is open to later expanding to other commodities such as cocoa and tea.
“We believe that Farmer Connect will be the platform of choice for the coffee industry,” said Rajendra Rao, general manager for IBM Food Trust. “We know that both farmers and coffee lovers everywhere will benefit from transparent connectivity.”
Sumber :
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-18/from-farm-to-cup-big-coffee-taps-blockchain-to-lure-millennials
From Coffee Bean to Cup
From coffee bean to cup: Starbucks brews a blockchain-based supply chain with Microsoft
While the coffee chain explores a new tracking system and mobile app, two surveys show that not everyone is fully on board with the much-hyped distributed ledger technology.
Lucas MearianBy Lucas Mearian
Senior Reporter, Computerworld | MAY 7, 2019 2:15 PM PDT
Starbucks is working with Microsoft to develop a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system and mobile app that will allow customers to track the supply chain journey of the beans they buy and the coffee they drink.
In March, Starbucks announced a "digital transparency plan" that would let it verify their coffee beans as 100% ethically and sustainably sourced.
Last year, Starbucks worked with more than 380,000 coffee farms to ensure ethical sourcing. However, digital real-time traceability will allow customers to know more about their coffee beans, the company said.
The “As a Service” model delivers services, not products; flexibility, not rigidity; and costs that align to business outcomes.
"Perhaps even more important and differentiating are the potential benefits for coffee farmers to know where their beans go after they sell them. Starbucks is...innovating ways to trace the journey that its coffee makes from farm to cup – and to connect the people who drink it with the people who grow it," the coffee chain said in a blog post.
This week at the Microsoft Build 2019 conference, the coffee company announced its "bean to cup" program. It uses Microsoft's Azure-based blockchain service, which creates a transparent electronic ledger over which supply chain participants can input transactional data. Combined with a user interface and mobile application, the technology will allow Starbucks customers to trace the journey of coffee beans from the time a grower packages them to the time they hit the coffee chain's counters.
The mobile app will show customers information about where their packaged coffee comes from, where it was grown and what Starbucks is doing to support farmers in those locations. It will also include where and when the coffee was roasted, associated tasting notes and other details.
Starbucks' mobile "bean to cup" tracking app may look like this.
Starbucks is among a growing number of produce retailers to let customers trace their food's journey from farm to store shelf. For example, IBM's blockchain-based Food Trust blockchain network, launched in August 2017, is used by more than two dozen food retailers and suppliers, including Dole, Driscoll's, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever and Walmart.
IBM and Microsoft are not alone. SAP has also launched a blockchain-based service; it's used by companies such as Bumble Bee Foods to track and trace the origin of its tuna. Food suppliers add QR or bar codes to shipping labels that can be scanned and entered into a blockchain database, which becomes a transparent ledger for all participants to see as shipments travel along the supply chain.
Pharmaceutical wholesalers and other firms have also been using blockchain cloud services to authenticate their products and avoid counterfeit drugs.
Just as Starbucks is doing with its beans, jewelry and gem suppliers have also been using blockchain to ensure their stones are ethically sourced and not part of the blood diamond trade, which uses slave labor in war-torn regions of Africa to mine precious gems.
Blockchain and the on-going hype
Consultancy Deloitte LLP today released the results of a survey of 1,386 senior executives in a dozen countries showing that Fintech remains a blockchain leader. But more organizations in other sectors – such as technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and health care, and government – are expanding and diversifying their blockchain initiatives.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said blockchain technology has become a critical priority for their organizations, a 10-point increase over last year's results. Moreover, 83% see compelling use cases for blockchain, up from 74% who said that last year, "and respondents' overall attitudes toward blockchain have strengthened meaningfully."
Last year's Deloitte survey showed blockchain adoption reaching a turning point, with momentum beginning to shift from "blockchain tourism" and exploration toward the building of practical business applications.
The 2019 survey, conducted from February through March, revealed "signs of blockchain's increased maturity" in a variety of industries that have been exploring the technology.
"But not everyone is fully on board," the Deloitte report said. "Though a majority of respondents call blockchain a top-five priority, only 23% have already initiated a blockchain deployment – down from 34% [last year]. Attitudes about blockchain may be improving, but 43% still see blockchain as overhyped, up from 39% last year."
The dissonance could reflect a growing pragmatism, Deloitte noted, one that it also noted in last year's report. That dissonance and caution may reflect the technology's health as it evolves into a more grounded business solution, the consultancy said.
Meanwhile, research firm Gartner released its own supply chain technology survey today showing supply chain leaders are failing to find suitable uses for blockchain. By 2023, 90% of blockchain-based supply chain initiatives will suffer "blockchain fatigue" due to a lack of strong use cases, according to Gartner.
Only 19% of survey respondents ranked blockchain as a very important technology for their business, and only 9% have invested in it. "This is mainly because supply chain blockchain projects are very limited and do not match the initial enthusiasm for the technology's application in supply chain management," Gartner said in its report.
"Supply chain blockchain projects have mostly focused on verifying authenticity, improving traceability and visibility, and improving transactional trust," said Alex Pradhan, senior principal research analyst at Gartner. "However, most have remained pilot projects due to a combination of technology immaturity, lack of standards, overly ambitious scope and a misunderstanding of how blockchain could, or should, actually help the supply chain. Inevitably, this is causing the market to experience blockchain fatigue."
As blockchain continues to develop in supply chains, Gartner recommended organizations remain cautious about early adoption until there is a clear distinction between hype and its core capabilities. "The emphasis should be on proof of concept, experimentation and limited-scope initiatives that deliver lessons, rather than high-cost, high-risk, strategic business value," Pradhan said.
Still, Starbucks sees value
Starbucks has not yet experienced blockchain fatigue. Gerri Martin-Flickinger, Starbucks CTO, said in a blog post that the company has a "world-class team of technologists engaging in groundbreaking innovation.. and this is increasingly critical to how technology has to show up for us."
Starbucks did not detail when the blockchain-based supply chain and mobile app would go live, but it did say it's currently interviewing coffee farmers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Rwanda, "learning more about their stories, their knowledge and their needs in order to determine how digital traceability can best benefit them.
"We're forging new ground here, so we're excited to report more in the coming months," Michelle Burns, Starbucks senior vice president of Global Coffee & Tea, said in the post. "While high-quality, handcrafted beverages are so important, it's the stories, the people, the connections, the humanity behind that coffee that inspires everything we do,.
"This kind of transparency offers customers the chance to see that the coffee they enjoy from us is the result of many people caring deeply."
Sumber :
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3393211/from-coffee-bean-to-cup-starbucks-brews-a-blockchain-based-supply-chain-with-microsoft.html
While the coffee chain explores a new tracking system and mobile app, two surveys show that not everyone is fully on board with the much-hyped distributed ledger technology.
Lucas MearianBy Lucas Mearian
Senior Reporter, Computerworld | MAY 7, 2019 2:15 PM PDT
Starbucks is working with Microsoft to develop a blockchain-based supply chain tracking system and mobile app that will allow customers to track the supply chain journey of the beans they buy and the coffee they drink.
In March, Starbucks announced a "digital transparency plan" that would let it verify their coffee beans as 100% ethically and sustainably sourced.
Last year, Starbucks worked with more than 380,000 coffee farms to ensure ethical sourcing. However, digital real-time traceability will allow customers to know more about their coffee beans, the company said.
The “As a Service” model delivers services, not products; flexibility, not rigidity; and costs that align to business outcomes.
"Perhaps even more important and differentiating are the potential benefits for coffee farmers to know where their beans go after they sell them. Starbucks is...innovating ways to trace the journey that its coffee makes from farm to cup – and to connect the people who drink it with the people who grow it," the coffee chain said in a blog post.
This week at the Microsoft Build 2019 conference, the coffee company announced its "bean to cup" program. It uses Microsoft's Azure-based blockchain service, which creates a transparent electronic ledger over which supply chain participants can input transactional data. Combined with a user interface and mobile application, the technology will allow Starbucks customers to trace the journey of coffee beans from the time a grower packages them to the time they hit the coffee chain's counters.
The mobile app will show customers information about where their packaged coffee comes from, where it was grown and what Starbucks is doing to support farmers in those locations. It will also include where and when the coffee was roasted, associated tasting notes and other details.
Starbucks' mobile "bean to cup" tracking app may look like this.
Starbucks is among a growing number of produce retailers to let customers trace their food's journey from farm to store shelf. For example, IBM's blockchain-based Food Trust blockchain network, launched in August 2017, is used by more than two dozen food retailers and suppliers, including Dole, Driscoll's, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick and Company, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, Unilever and Walmart.
IBM and Microsoft are not alone. SAP has also launched a blockchain-based service; it's used by companies such as Bumble Bee Foods to track and trace the origin of its tuna. Food suppliers add QR or bar codes to shipping labels that can be scanned and entered into a blockchain database, which becomes a transparent ledger for all participants to see as shipments travel along the supply chain.
Pharmaceutical wholesalers and other firms have also been using blockchain cloud services to authenticate their products and avoid counterfeit drugs.
Just as Starbucks is doing with its beans, jewelry and gem suppliers have also been using blockchain to ensure their stones are ethically sourced and not part of the blood diamond trade, which uses slave labor in war-torn regions of Africa to mine precious gems.
Blockchain and the on-going hype
Consultancy Deloitte LLP today released the results of a survey of 1,386 senior executives in a dozen countries showing that Fintech remains a blockchain leader. But more organizations in other sectors – such as technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and health care, and government – are expanding and diversifying their blockchain initiatives.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said blockchain technology has become a critical priority for their organizations, a 10-point increase over last year's results. Moreover, 83% see compelling use cases for blockchain, up from 74% who said that last year, "and respondents' overall attitudes toward blockchain have strengthened meaningfully."
Last year's Deloitte survey showed blockchain adoption reaching a turning point, with momentum beginning to shift from "blockchain tourism" and exploration toward the building of practical business applications.
The 2019 survey, conducted from February through March, revealed "signs of blockchain's increased maturity" in a variety of industries that have been exploring the technology.
"But not everyone is fully on board," the Deloitte report said. "Though a majority of respondents call blockchain a top-five priority, only 23% have already initiated a blockchain deployment – down from 34% [last year]. Attitudes about blockchain may be improving, but 43% still see blockchain as overhyped, up from 39% last year."
The dissonance could reflect a growing pragmatism, Deloitte noted, one that it also noted in last year's report. That dissonance and caution may reflect the technology's health as it evolves into a more grounded business solution, the consultancy said.
Meanwhile, research firm Gartner released its own supply chain technology survey today showing supply chain leaders are failing to find suitable uses for blockchain. By 2023, 90% of blockchain-based supply chain initiatives will suffer "blockchain fatigue" due to a lack of strong use cases, according to Gartner.
Only 19% of survey respondents ranked blockchain as a very important technology for their business, and only 9% have invested in it. "This is mainly because supply chain blockchain projects are very limited and do not match the initial enthusiasm for the technology's application in supply chain management," Gartner said in its report.
"Supply chain blockchain projects have mostly focused on verifying authenticity, improving traceability and visibility, and improving transactional trust," said Alex Pradhan, senior principal research analyst at Gartner. "However, most have remained pilot projects due to a combination of technology immaturity, lack of standards, overly ambitious scope and a misunderstanding of how blockchain could, or should, actually help the supply chain. Inevitably, this is causing the market to experience blockchain fatigue."
As blockchain continues to develop in supply chains, Gartner recommended organizations remain cautious about early adoption until there is a clear distinction between hype and its core capabilities. "The emphasis should be on proof of concept, experimentation and limited-scope initiatives that deliver lessons, rather than high-cost, high-risk, strategic business value," Pradhan said.
Still, Starbucks sees value
Starbucks has not yet experienced blockchain fatigue. Gerri Martin-Flickinger, Starbucks CTO, said in a blog post that the company has a "world-class team of technologists engaging in groundbreaking innovation.. and this is increasingly critical to how technology has to show up for us."
Starbucks did not detail when the blockchain-based supply chain and mobile app would go live, but it did say it's currently interviewing coffee farmers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Rwanda, "learning more about their stories, their knowledge and their needs in order to determine how digital traceability can best benefit them.
"We're forging new ground here, so we're excited to report more in the coming months," Michelle Burns, Starbucks senior vice president of Global Coffee & Tea, said in the post. "While high-quality, handcrafted beverages are so important, it's the stories, the people, the connections, the humanity behind that coffee that inspires everything we do,.
"This kind of transparency offers customers the chance to see that the coffee they enjoy from us is the result of many people caring deeply."
Sumber :
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3393211/from-coffee-bean-to-cup-starbucks-brews-a-blockchain-based-supply-chain-with-microsoft.html
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