Food Supply Chain Tracking

Food traceability and authentication are critical to improving food security and fair trade. Sourcing food contamination, production costs, and certified quality can be difficult in today’s food supply chain. Heifer is utilizing blockchain technology across global supply chains with a variety of partners. Some of our projects are:

Heifer USA: Since 2017, the GrassRoots cooperative, in collaboration with Heifer USA in the state of Arkansas, has been using blockchain technology through Provenance. From that project, we learned that blockchain is a great opportunity to create visibility to small farmers and offer a new level of transparency to consumers. We have seen that GrassRoots has increased brand recognition and reputation.

Heifer Honduras, Project Leverage Success: In 2019, the Honduran coffee cooperative COPRANIL went live on the Blockchain IBM Food Trust and start using blockchain solves the problem of source origin, provide transparency and position the farmers closed the new digital market.

Heifer Honduras, Chocolate4All: In 2020, we are working with the cacao farmers coop APROSACAO and APROBIL in Olancho, Honduras, to use blockchain technology to digitalize the value chain. This initiative is sponsor by the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations for Development (UNDP)

At Heifer International, we believe that the future of the food supply chain is the use of

- Artificial intelligence and robotics integration

- Predictive analysis

- Management of sustainability and residence risks. (ESG factors for sustainability)

- Transparency with blockchain technology.

Land Title Initiative

Land registration and ownership in developing countries is crucial to alleviating hunger and poverty. Farmland and property can make up to 75% of a nation’s wealth yet 75% of the world’s population cannot prove they own the land on which they live or work. Blockchain technology offers a more reliable, cost-effective, and efficient land registry solution. Heifer is partnering with Tetra Tech and others to develop a sustainable business model that helps small-holder farmers obtain funds for land acquisition while participating in agroecological training programs. We are planning to pilot the project in Honduras and Malawi.