Blockchain for gardeners/farmers

On episode 572 Permaculture smackdown 17 Desert or Paradise on of the lady guests brought up how she thinks only half of what she buys that is labeled "organic" actually is organic. She wished there was some way to know the history of a product. This is the exact thing blockchains (not specifically bitcoin) were made for!

I'll link a study, but you can just google "organic food blockchain". I think this would account for the types of things she is talking about. If adopted at a large level, we could design diets around only local food or only food grown a certain way. It would also help account for freshness since you would know exactly when a product was harvested, frozen, etc.

I think combining this with a carbon credits program and adding biodiversity would be ideal, but that's just my thinking.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbloc.2020.567175/full#:~:text=Blockchain%20does%20enable%20faster%20food,a%20complex%20food%20supply%20chain.&text=Practical%20Implications%3A%20This%20study%20shows,organic%20and%20fair%2Dtrade%20food

Database for farmers/gardeners

Database that makes it easier to trace our orange juice and food. With lot number/batch number and such. So that we can trace stuff when there is an outbreak of food poisonings. And also really trace to see if all the ingredients in my chocolate cookie is organic. With the farmers actually entering truthful information. And the governments being stricter about their definitions.

Organic farmers actually have to keep very detail records, some do it on paper but alot of them use software.

I think that blockchain is a buzzword, it will not magically solve stuff. Not all blockchain is decentralized, not all blockchain is open-source. Mostly a blockchain is  just a database so garbage in, will still be garbage out.

But I do like what you are saying, more visibility/transparency/reporting/accountability and checks and balance for farmers.

I read somewhere that they are designing spray on DNA like a wax that has a blockchain ID. The idea is that you can track a head of lettuce, for instance, all the way from the greenhouse the plant start was made in to the end users plate. Company would have all the analytics of the process in-between. Who planted it, what was sprayed on it, who harvested it, how it was stored, when and where it was shipped. They also could correlate if you get sick from the food or not. The tech can also be used to track you health in other ways. No time to research it further. I do not like it. I am leary of anything put on my food, I will grow my own.

I could see this happening in the EU but not in the UK or US. You’d need a well funded government agency with real power. There was a big scandal a few years ago with horse meat turning up in ground / minced beef. Fish and Chip shops advertising cod and serving tilapia. So it’s understandable that people doubt the legitimacy of the existing labelling. If governments can’t properly monitor current food chains, then a niche like organic has little hope. Who would pay? Mainstream organic is already seen as too expensive for most people. Personally, I’d like to see a scheme for regenerative farmers. A farmer at our local farmers market runs on trust - they’re a regenerative farm, you can go and visit of you want. But they’re not organic because the cost of certification is too high and they’d also alienate some of their buyers who think organic is just a 50% hike in price. The farm is no til, no chemicals using manure etc. Everything you’d want . . .

Can you have a low carbon blockchain?

In today’s Guardian:

What's really on your plate: hidden world of food fraud revealed - in pictures

I was going to mention how being "certified organic" is so expensive and onerous on the amount of monthly paperwork that it's almost a built-in failure to adopt mechanism for small farmers. If various governmental food agencies offered this latest product at low to no cost, maybe it will take off.

I'd rather promote from the ground up via CSAs feeding their community more and more calories. I wonder if there are any CSAs or equivalents which address food preservation for out-of-season food? That would be cool, regulars return their jars when empty and pick up some more. Perhaps a grass roots movement for tracking via blockchain or some other system could work too, but at the CSA level it would seem like overkill.