I was fortunate to make money from cryptocurrency early on, but unfortunately not in the easy way.
To fund various stages of my 20s, I wrote articles for the internet. From hotel reviews for places I’ve never been to step-by-step guides on how to fix things I’ve never seen in real life, most of the tasks I took on proved just how dubious the World Wide Web can be. For a while, PR firms sprang up for a few months at a time and wanted articles about Bitcoin, crypto marketplaces and the blockchain. Crypto is a hype-driven industry and these short-lived companies manufactured the hype. I didn’t know the first thing about fintech (as I eventually learned it was called), but it paid better than writing descriptions of dog food.
A decade-and-a-half later, I’m still ambivalent about crypto. (With so many other things to feel strongly about, why die on that hill?) To me, perhaps the most interesting aspect to the concept is how the technology behind it – the blockchain – is being considered for other uses.
Including farming.
Although I’ve described the blockchain in writing many times before, I’m not sure I actually know how it works. Mostly I copied what other people have said, which is something like this: It’s a database where information is grouped – in “blocks” – and these blocks keep replicating themselves while being linked to each other. The important qualities of the blockchain to store or transmit data is that the records cannot be altered retroactively (making them fraud-proof), they’re decentralized (no one person or institution gate-keeps) and they’re public (nothing can be hidden).
More accurate descriptions of the blockchain continue to be above my pay grade as a writer.
Recently, CattleProof, based in Wyoming, became the first company to use the blockchain to be certified by the USDA’s Process Verification Program (PVP). The USDA PVP shield is a way for manufacturers to market its products to consumers as having documented quality management control as confirmed by the U.S. government. CattleProof uses the electronic identification eartag on an individual cow to record information regarding its condition, location, vet care and other pertinent information, and puts it on the blockchain. This allows the USDA to monitor and verify the farming practices of the producer using a fully transparent system. Ultimately, the ability to trace individual cow data quickly and efficiently can make the food supply safer by making it faster to pinpoint the source of diseases.
Nonetheless, some see the blockchain as having an even larger role in farming in the near future. Consumers increasingly want to know where their food comes from. The more specific that story is, the more it will affect their spending decisions. It is probable that someday someone who eats a steak can know everything about the cow that made it – which farm it was raised on, where and when it was slaughtered, where it was processed and how long it took to reach the plate. Such information may lead to the farmer being able to get a premium for the beef and the way they raised it, or allow the consumer to decide which types of farms they want to support. While one of the challenges is making sure the cow’s electronic identification stays with it post-slaughter, creating extra work along the way, it may be found worth the effort in order to get a higher price for the product.
Another advantage of the blockchain already put into use is to cut out some of the “middlemen” in the industry. GrainChain, founded by Luis Macias, connects producers, buyers, storage operators and transporters in the crop industry. With the use of “smart contracts,” farmers get paid once they drop off the grain at the elevator, not having to wait for a bank to process the transaction or for it to go through a broker. Because the contracts are transparent, unable to be altered once agreed upon and can be paid immediately, institutions who usually take a portion of the profits – such as banks, cooperatives or other managers of the supply chain – can be avoided. This may allow some farmers in certain sectors to sell directly to consumers easier, especially since the consumer can verify the quality of the product from the information recorded on the blockchain.
Needless to say, the blockchain still has some hurdles to overcome before becoming commonplace in agriculture or any other field. One drawback is that the verification process that runs the blockchain (called mining) uses an incredible amount of energy. With current climate concerns and pressure already put on agriculture, increasing the use of blockchain in farming is presently untenable until the technology figures out how to function on less energy. Additionally, while the blockchain is fraud-proof, information entered manually can be manipulated, as can sensors that record the data. Finally, as with every new technology, costs can be a prohibitive factor.
I have no doubt that farming will look very different in 20 years than it does now. Whether the blockchain will be a part of agriculture’s future or not is something I can’t say. (In this case, I’m not paid to drive the hype.) Whatever technology is implemented in the future, my only hope is that it benefits the farmer the most, instead of companies and middlemen making money off the farmer.
