Ứng dụng của blockchain trong quản lý chuỗi cung ứng trong nông nghiệp

HAS University of Applied Sciences Research Assignment: What is the influence of the blockchain on internal and external quality management in agricultural supply chains? Gijs Janssen, Kshitij Chhajed and Tu Tran Module: Business Management Tutor: Erik de Rooij 4th April 2021 Summary: Conventional traceability methods may have proven just in the past However, to satisfy the rising consumer demand for greater transparency and traceability these methods will not be enough Internet of things (IOT), QR & barcodes, RFID and wireless security networks (WSN) are the technologies presently being implemented for traceability Food Safety and Quality Assurance systems namely, ISO Standards, General Food Law which promotes implementation of HACCP and various other certifications regarding traceability have ensured that supply chains not overlook this crucial aspect Agricultural traceability demands collection, processing, and storage of large volumes of data across the supply chain These include all the transformations and changes that a agri-food product undergo through the supply chain Although, all the data collected throughout the supply chains is stored on a centralized server, over which the central authorities have greater control This can lead to data manipulation even without the knowledge of the chain members and consent The existence of a decentralized server will greatly reduce any alterations made to stored data as all the actors in the supply chain have equal access to the database A distributed ledger maintaining a growing list of data that is confirmed by all the participating nodes, Blockchain offers a way to maintain data that cannot be altered As its name suggests, blockchain, is built of blocks with data that are connected to each other, altering one block will render the entire chain invalid Although, as blockchains increase transparency to a greater level, all the members in the chain must be willing to completely cooperate with each other to ensure that the system functions effectively Blockchain technology does present limitations in terms of scalability, cooperation of the chain members and lack of knowledge, advances in ICT these gaps can be bridged Table of content Summary: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Research methodology Chapter 3: Keywords definition 3.1 Blockchain: 3.2 Traceability: 3.3 Internal and external traceability: 3.4 Agricultural sector: Chapter 4: Research result 4.1 Current situation of internal and external traceability in agricultural supply chain: 4.2 Blockchain in modern internal and external traceability in agricultural supply chain: 10 4.2.1 Selection of private/public blockchain technology: 10 4.2.2 John Kotter’s Change Management Model: 12 4.2.3 Benefits of blockchain technology: 15 4.2.4 Application of blockchain technology: 17 4.2.5 Limitation of blockchain technology: 20 Chapter 5: Discussion 21 Chapter 6: Recommendations 23 Chapter 7: Conclusion 24 Bibliography 25 Appendix – Reflection 27 Chapter 1: Introduction Agri-food Supply chains are vastly complex, involving multiple actors who are actively responsible in the transformations of the products, leading to a lack of traceability and transparency (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Traceability can be defined on levels, the internal level/environment and the external level/environment The internal environment focuses on an individual actor in the chain whereas external, also referred to as chain environment tracks the products as they move from one actor to the next In the recent times, the concerns of consumers regarding the quality and food provenance are extremely high Resulting in a trend, where the consumers are willing to spend more on products that have certified origins As a result, more and more technologies are being developed to improve the level of traceability and transparency present in the convention supply chains (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) As majority of the existing traceability systems are asymmetric and centralized, they lack in providing the desired transparency to consumers Moreover, these systems are also quite outdated regarding data interoperability and data sharing As a result, they have proven moderately effective in times of crises The E coli outbreak in Germany in 2011 and the South African listeriosis outbreak in 2017-2018 are few of the food epidemic incidents of the past Health organizations and Governments have established directive, safeguards, and laws regarding food traceability, nonetheless, these are not enough (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Additionally, all the number of parties involved in the supply chain, have their own personal objectives, apart from the collective objectives of the entire supply chain These vested objectives can result in conflicts of interest which can disrupt the consistency of the supply chain as a whole Followed by reduced traceability and transparency even for other members within the supply chain (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) Barcodes, RFID tags, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are few of the technologies presently used in traceability of products, nonetheless, these don’t seem to be boosting the consumer confidence in regard to transparency As the data collected and presented using these technologies regarding product identification, ingredient analysis, transportation and storage is a crucial requirement put forth by governments, certification standards and identifying HACCP (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) This data must be safeguarded against any alterations or deletions However, the central authority in the supply chain can easily gain access to the data and data collection technologies regardless of authorization (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) In order to maximize and maintain transparency and traceability, Blockchain technologies can be adopted Defined as a distributed ledger system maintaining a continuously growing list of data records, confirmed by all the participating nodes It consists of a block that includes data, as well as values from the previous block’s hash followed by a value that represents its own hash A chain of these data blocks makes the Blockchain As Blockchain systems are decentralized, it’s not possible for one party involved in the process to have more access to the data than any of the other parties involved This instantly resolves the issue of data tampering and manipulation As the data is shared among all the members, there is absolute traceability however, this is also influenced by the type of Blockchain system implemented Public blockchains enjoy maximum traceability and transparency as anyone can access and enter data Whereas only preapproved parties are allowed access in Private and Hybrid blockchains Technical and social requirement in agri-food sector, for the respective product, determines the type of blockchain implemented Although, there are many limitations to the use of blockchain systems in agrifood sectors, its application can redefine transparency This research focuses on the implementation of blockchain traceability systems to the present agrifood supply chains Furthermore, the effect of the same will not only be examined on an external or Chain level, but also what it entails for each individual member in the supply chain as well Considering which the following hypothesis was formulated; Implementation of Blockchain technology in traceability in agri-food supply chains will result in greater transparency and traceability Chapter 2: Research methodology Using Blockchains as a system for traceability in Supply chains of agricultural and food products, is still a relatively new idea However, many Blockchain systems for traceability are present, although, these are mainly used for tracing crypto transactions, and supply chains of IT commodities etc Research regarding implementation and application of blockchain technology in agriculture was sourced from literature research Research papers, focusing on key words such as internal and external traceability, blockchain traceability and agricultural and/or food products Through this research method, mainly, processed qualitative data was collected from various literature works Conventionally used traceability systems are assessed and their pros and cons are further discussed This is then compared to Blockchain traceability systems and the two are analyzed closely Implementation and Application of Blockchain systems in the present setting also investigated and flaws in the blockchain system are described Through research, environments of traceability were identified; the internal and external as mentioned above Effect of blockchain traceability on these two environments is also explored As this highlights the main influence of Blockchain technology on the internal and external traceability and shows a comparison between blockchain traceability and conventional traceability and how they affect the internal and external environment differently The same can be seen in the Causal model shown below (Fig.1) Figure 1: Conceptual model of research paper Chapter 3: Keywords definition 3.1 Blockchain: Blockchain is a new kind of technology that is used in the supply chain quality management It solves a lot issues regarding distrust on basis of unchanged information and traceability in the supply chain With this system it is possible to have an automatic executions of quality control and with that an auto-run intelligent system (Rui Shi, 2017) What the blockchain also helps with is it brings a new mechanism and ways of thinking to supply chain The technology used for blockchain is a governance model of human ways of working and IT systems, and further develops the traditional centralized system to a multi-centered or decentralized system that works on all the different interest groups to share the power and information in the same IT system Blockchain also improves the qualities of product and services in supply chain by contracts (Rui Shi, 2017) 3.2 Traceability: Traceability is ability to trace or follow the movement of a products to stages of the process or supply chain So, in production, processing and distribution Traceability can be divided into two internal traceability and external traceability Internal traceability in done inside a single actor for example a company or organization This can be used to identify the origin of the product or products ingredients, packages etc When this actor is asked about this information it can easily be found and given (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) 3.3 Internal and external traceability: External traceability also known as chain traceability is the traceability between actors in the supply chain To achieve external traceability all stake holders in a supply chain must be involved and help each other to product a trustworthy outcome in terms of traceability Below in figure there can be seen what internal and external traceability is in an agricultural supply chain (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Figure 2: Internal and external traceability is in an agricultural supply chain (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) 3.4 Agricultural sector: The agricultural sector is everything that is commercially produced by plants or animals Few examples are: Dairy, meat or vegetables It is a very big sector and can have a very complicated supply chain with a lot of different types of actors, that’s why a blockchain would help with bringing clarity to everyone in the supply chain (FAO, 2005) Chapter 4: Research result 4.1 Current situation of internal and external traceability in agricultural supply chain: Traceability, as defined above, is the ability to track and trace the flow of product, transportation, and information in all stages through the supply chain (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) In the case of food products information regarding sources, processesing, tranportation, storage conditions and etc is ideal and must be accesiable and available to all the parties involved Majority of the present systems for traceability are asymetric, centralized and outdated in reagrds to data sharing and interoperability (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) (Behnke & Janssen, 2019) As result of the rapid evolution of Internet of Things and automated processes, more effective technology was created for the purpose of traceability These include thecnologies for product identification, ingredient analysis, transportation, storage, as well as information capture using methods such as barcodes, QR codes, RFID and wireless security networks (WSN’s) (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Golan et al (2004) suggested that complete traceability is never possible due to the detailed information and level of precision it would require Subsequently, supply chains in the present determine what data to trace, based on the food safety system and a consensus among all the actors involved in the chain Food Safety and Quality Assurance systems include mandatory traceability of the food product, ingredients, logistics, etc and includes ISO standards, requirements of the General EU Food Law and also HACCP identified by the chain members (Behnke & Janssen, 2019) Agricultural traceability demands collection, storage, and processing of large volumes of data In the past, prior to Internet and automation, this data was written down and manually transferred onto computers This resulted in multiple errors, nonetheless, in the recent days traceability systems that rely on automatic data input to speed up the process (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Although, the traceability systems presently used, may still provide decent traceability of the product flow However, due to its centralized nature, the flow of information is not completely transparent across the supply chain (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) For instance, a trader is not able to access and view data regarding what chemicals were on the tomatoes during their cultivation prior to marketing them to consumers As this data is present with the grower the trader is unable to market the product rightfully Effective and reliable traceability systems can be advantageous as they reduce the recall and withdraw time for a product dangerous to public health, while boosting consumer safety and confidence (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) International Business Machines (IBM) researchers, in their executive report for strategic investing, highlighted the reliance on ‘security through obscurity’, where central authorities are involved in tampering with data Many central authorities can gain access to the data and devices that record the data regardless of if authorization processes were granted This makes centralized databases more vulnerable to data-loss and manipulation (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) This becomes an even major problem when the actors involved in a supply chain have vested agendas As each actor will have their own system of management which will be based on the objectives and goals of the individual actor in the supply chain As a result of this, multiple conflicts of interest arise in collective supply chain (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) As precision agriculture is on the rise, it becomes more and more crucial to safeguard the data against theft and hacking vulnerabilities Subsequently, the importance of traceability has also risen, not just for consumers but also the members and actors that participate in the supply chain As food safety directly influences public health the lack of transparency and traceability in supply chains can compromise the main purpose of the chain Blockchain technology can be used effectively to ensure that the abovementioned aspects are reduced to a minimum As a decentralized, distributed ledger, blockchain systems maintain a continuously growing list of data records confirmed by all the participating nodes (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) 4.2 Blockchain in modern internal and external traceability in agricultural supply chain: 4.2.1 Selection of private/public blockchain technology: Blockchain implementation is mainly influence by the technical and social requirements of supply chain systems Members of the supply chain can agree upon what sort of access is available to the Blockchains (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) This is necessary as the different types of Blockchain systems will influence the level of access granted to outside parties 10 Create Urgency: - Prior to introducing the change, the members in the chain need to understand the existing problem and should be able to see the possible solution - In order to ensure that the steps following the first one is bought in successfully Kotter estimates roughly 75% of the chain members need to support and accept the change - Low levels of traceability and transparency not just for consumers but also the members in the supply chain - Central authorities and parties can manipulate data regardless of whether they have the permission - Present systems are troublesome and problematic when it comes to data sharing and interoperability - As this problem concerns the entire supply chain, it will involve a great number of participants Therefore, it is also necessary that all these members understand why this is a problem and how it really affects them - Before introducing blockchain technology, ensure that the problem is highlighted, and a ‘need’ for change is generated - As this change will not just affect a single actor but the entire supply chain, all chain members need to agree to the existing problem Consequently, all the major decision makers at different parts of the agri-food supply chain need to support the change Form a Coalition: - This coalition will consist of individuals and groups that will aid in spreading the message As it will be nearly impossible to change the process of an entire supply chain as it will involve various actors with their own objectives and agendas - This coalition must include people from different areas from the organisation and the supply chain to maximise the effectiveness - More members in the coalition means that tasks can be delegated effectively, and the chain-wide change is supported 13 Create a Vision for Change: - Creating a solid vision for change is very important in generating support from all the parties involved which encapsulates the aim and is easy to understand This will ensure that the vision is understood by all employees, even at the lower end of the hierarchy - Blockchain technology will redefine transparency, although the privacy of the actors within the chain will be at stake Therefore, it is of utmost importance that all the members have to be completely cooperative and in consent with one another and the vision Communicate the Vision: - The vision for change needs to be communicated throughout the supply chain, as each actor needs to understand what the change will entail or them and foe the whole supply chain collectively - To so, the coalition built in step will be utilized, therefore a larger and more diverse coalition will be more effective at communicating the vision to all the parties involved Remove obstacles: - After building a change initiative in the first steps, it also crucial to outline factors that are likely to reduce the chance of success - Identify the obstacles as early as possible and utilize available resources to break the same down - As blockchain technology does have limitations, it will be important that all the parties involved are aware of them - Many factors like individuals, legislations and technical obstacles can affect the chance of success Create Short terms wins - Make contracts that have profitability for both all the actors in the supply chain so that it is worth investing for everyone - It helps saving time and time is money The time that is saved by sending files or getting information from other actors can all be saved So that means that it saves time and so the costs can be reduced 14 - It is a simple way of working so it doesn’t take a lot of time to learn it and so more people can be knowledgeable on blockchain - Improve the trust of the data that is given and received Build on the Change - Not only reflect how it will or not will work for one actor and how that actor profits from it but look at the whole supply chain have meeting with couple different actors and see how its suitable for everyone and that everyone profits Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture - Make sure a big part of the company knows what it is and how it’s works so that is not just a random term but that they actually know what has changed - Show the short- and long-term advantages to everyone so that they know what they are doing it for 4.2.3 Benefits of blockchain technology: As mentioned above, blockchain is a technology developed to maximize transparency and security in executing and storing transactions in many business sections including the agricultural sector Areas regard to agricultural internal and external traceability where blockchain can play a significant role include: - Enhance the information security: Technically, a blockchain is a chain of blocks ordered in a network of nontrusted peers Each block references the previous one and contains data, identifies hash (act like a fingerprint), and the hash of the previous block (H., 2018) Once a block is created, a hash is calculated Changing something inside the block causes the hash to change, makes the blocks of chains invalid Moreover, everyone in the blockchain system has a full copy of that blockchain Therefore, it's strenuous to manipulate the set data in the blockchain (H., 2018) Furthermore, to mitigate attempts to corrupt the blockchain and to ensure the “input” security, blockchain technology also uses a process called proof-ofwork It is a process of producing data, which is hard to get but easy to verify (Bradley, 2018) To be able to encode new information into a block, a mathematical problem needs to be solved 15 Figure 5: Risk detecting by memeber in the blockchain system (Bradley, 2018) If a problem is successfully solved, then this new block can be created and added to the blockchain In the end, the results will be checked by the members in the system to prevent cheating (Bradley, 2018) (Fig.5) This function ensures that traceability in the supply chain becomes easier and safer - Reduce the implement of intermediates: The distributed, decentralized structure of blockchain reduces the need for an intermediary middleman (who can easily manipulate such important factors as quality, price, origin, etc of goods in the supply chain) in exchanging information and goods between buyers and sellers (Entefy, 2018) As each block is linked to another, losses of the product can be traced to the level of each actor (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) Knowing this, allows the chain members to determine exactly what is leading to the losses and where (Chen, Shi, & Ren, 2017) This ensures fast and accurate external traceability in the supply chain, minimizing false information and costs incurred - Enhance value of the products in the supply chain: By ensuring greater internal as well as external traceability and transparency from farm to fork, preventing spread of fake information regarding product, quality, origin, etc in the supply chain, blockchain technology helps companies and customers in the supply chain can safely make transactions, especially imported products (Morris, 2018) Moreover, thanks to the highly accurate product’s information stored in blockchain, companies can improve the efficiency of internal traceability, which leads to the improvement of the inevitably in logistic decisions This contributes to limiting product deterioration, which is an important factor affecting the value of the product in the supply chain (Morris, 2018) 16 - Reduce costs and increase speed of transaction: Along with hash and proof of work, blockchain wallet is also applied to minimize the risk of digital transactions and prevent fraud Blockchain wallet generates paired public and private keys, which are used in the process of sending and receiving digital transactions (Euromoney, 2020) (Fig.6) Figure 6: Blockchain wallet (Euromoney, 2020) A public key can be compared to a post-box Anyone can put a letter inside of it, but they can’t get that letter back Only a postal worker who has a private key can open the post-box and get the letter (Euromoney, 2020) Therefore, transactions in the supply chain will be processed faster with the maximum in security.Moreover, maximizing the efficiency of internal traceability by using blockchain also helps companies in the supply chain minimize costs related to storage and logistics (Euromoney, 2020) 4.2.4 Application of blockchain technology: Because of the great benefits in optimizing the external and internal traceability in the agricultural supply chain, blockchain technology is now gradually being recognized and widely applied worldwide Some applications of traceability in agricultural supply chain management by blockchain technology include: - Walmart and International Business Machines (IBM)’s blockchain: As the largest retail company in the world, since 2016, Walmart has collaborated with International Business Machines (IBM), an American multinational technology company headquartered in New York, to apply blockchain solution based on Hyperledger Fabric in their supply chain for pork in China and mangoes in America This partnership, according to Walmart, is essential in response to scandals related to food poisoning for these two products (Kamath, 2018) 17 Figure 7: Walmart tracking pork with blockchain technology (Inside Retail Asia, 2016) China is the largest market for pork consumption in the world Here, the issue of food hygiene and safety for pork is also difficult to control due to the mix of pork sources of unknown origin To lead the trend in providing a safe source of pork in this potential market, in 2016, Walmart decided to apply features of blockchain technology to pork safety and supply chain management in China With this technology, the company can thoroughly trace the quality of the "from-farm-to-table" pork (external traceability) This holistic traceability model has the potential to cut costs of product recalls, reduce process inefficiencies, and enable retailers to track individual pork products in seconds (Kamath, 2018) (Fig.7) Figure 8: Walmart’s mango track from farm to folk by blockchain (GUTIERREZ, 2017) Same as pork, Walmart concurrently conducted a pilot using IBM’s Hyperledger-based blockchain to trace sliced mangoes from South and Central America to North America (Burkitt, 2014) Mangoes as well as mango origins and derivatives are shipped worldwide and susceptible to Listeria and Salmonella contaminations (Kamath, 2018) (Fig.8) 18 Therefore, comprehensive and rapid cross-border traceability are essential for the company to be able to enhance public trust in the information about the supply as well as avoid scandals when mistakes occur Currently, with Walmart’s blockchain solution, mango origins tracking is reduced from seven days to about 2.2 seconds (Kamath, 2018) - Fruitchain by Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL): Infinity Blockchain Labs is an R&D company based in Vietnam and Taiwan, engaged in intermediary services and RegTech using blockchain technology In 2018, the company launched the “Fruitchain” project, one of the first solutions for the traceability of agricultural products in Vietnam based entirely on a blockchain-based platform The project is a revolutionary traceability solution that is set to bring consumer trust and confidence back to the Vietnamese agriculture industry, which is suffering to severe international competition due to lack of transparency (Infinity Blockchain Labs, 2018) Figure 9: Fruitchain project in tracking fruits from Vietnam (Infinity Blockchain Labs, 2018) The solution provides real-time and transparent product information to the customers regarding production, packaging, shipping, and consumption With Fruitchain, fruit producers have a better way to share their product information with their trading partners Also, retailers and distributors have easy access to new product information and changes (Infinity Blockchain Labs, 2018) (Fig.9) - Blockchain and NFC/RFID for smatter supply chain: Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is a contactless solution based on a radio frequency field, designed to exchange data between two devices through a simple touch gesture Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to identify and track tags attached to objects (Grimshaw, 2020) 19 Combining the two of these with blockchain solutions can lead to flows with increased transparency, more security, and automated administrative operations through the use of smart contracts Moreover, the internal and external traceability will happen quicker, easier, and information about product origin, certifications, and the journey through the supply chain will be more securely stored These insights provide key benefits to all stakeholders, from suppliers to consumers (Grimshaw, 2020) In recent years, many researches are conducted in order to evaluate the feasibility of this combination This promises to open up a new development direction for supply chain management in the future (Grimshaw, 2020) 4.2.5 Limitation of blockchain technology: Although there are many benefits to increasing efficiency in agricultural supply chain traceability, blockchain technology has some limitations Limitations of blockchain technology include: - Privacy Concerns: The blockchain traceability system increases transparency, however, at the cost of the privacy of each chain member As they can no longer prevent 3rd parties from having access to unless a Private or Hybrid blockchain system is implemented For the very reason implementation of Hybrid or Permissioned blockchains is preferred over that of Public blockchains (Behnke & Janssen, 2019) - Still not Mature and scalable As mentioned before, the use of blockchain technology in traceability of agricultural is relatively new The conventional systems present for traceability may be complex than the ones in the past However, they are less complex than blockchain technology This presents major issues in system compatibility (Behnke & Janssen, 2019) Even if blockchains provide immutable ledgers, there is no way yet, to validate the date being inserted into the system by sensors or by persons Hence, the accuracy of the data is not guaranteed Furthermore, if data is being input automatically using sensors, tags and etc, regular checks will be required to ensure that the data being input is accurate Consider a faulty sensor that still takes automatic readings and uploads them to the ledger, which means the information across the chain is inaccurate (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) 20 As products and commodities in the agri-supply chain undergo numerous transformations which involves multiple actors, completion of a chain transaction using blockchains (mainly Public systems) consumes considerable amount of time, energy, and computing power (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Moreover, scalability of such traceability systems in context of larger deployments and implementations remains an inherent challenge (Lin, Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) As majority of the works surveyed and presented in various research papers have been tested with a limited number of users and transactions inside laboratory conditions (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) - Lack of Member Consent and Knowledge T Burke, in his report on Blockchain in food traceability also highlights that the agriculture sector has its own un-written rules and fragile relations which should not be disturbed (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) For this very reason, the agri-food supply chains are reluctant to adopt blockchain technologies As implementing a successful blockchain system in a supply chain demands absolute cooperation and compliance from each actor involved Apart from this all the members need to have sufficient knowledge of the even more complex system, which is not readily available (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) Chapter 5: Discussion Based on the results obtained from the research above, blockchain technology is a factor that can significantly change the efficiency of internal and external traceability in a very positive direction The above analysis has pointed out the "critical" limitations of commonly used technologies for traceability such as barcodes, QR codes, RFID, etc in terms of speed, reliability, integrity, and security With blockchain technology, the mentioned weaknesses will not only be overcome but also improved, thereby making traceability faster, easier, and more secure The most specific example is the application of blockchain technology on pork and mangoes product of the world's biggest retail company, Walmart Thanks to this technology, the company has optimized the traceability system both internally and externally, which helps it comprehensively resolved the food safety and hygiene problem, bringing the absolute trust of customers 21 Although blockchain technology brings many great benefits in traceability, it also carries a certain number of limitations As mentioned above, this is a relatively new technology and has a different operating process from commonly used traceability technologies Therefore, the widespread application will face many difficulties and problems in many aspects such as facilities, knowledge, synchronization of links in the supply chain, etc Moreover, discrepancies in input data are possible with this technology Therefore, further researches are needed to be able to limit or completely overcome these boundaries, which can "perfect" the mastery of blockchain technology 22 Chapter 6: Recommendations - Influence of traceability on Supply Chain Quality Management (SCQM) As result of increased transparency and traceability due to applications of blockchains, supply chains and all its constituting members, will need to update how quality is managed in the supply chain Blockchain systems can enable chains to promote a more integrated SCQM framework into their practices Enhanced transparency restricts induvial players in the supply chain from prioritizing thier personal objectives and will be expected to work more in concert for the entire supply chain This will not just influence how quality management is undertaken on the level of the whole chain but also on individual level As every alteration or addition made to the product can be seen by all the parties directly involved To still function frictionless in such an environment, all the members will have to agree to maximum cooperation and will have to work collectively (Demestichas, Peppes, & Alexakis, 2020) - Combine with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology: As mentioned above, blockchain technology faces a tremendous challenge regarding the accuracy of the input data The error is likely due to human intervention in entering data into the system or the inaccuracy of automatically sensors and tags during data recording Therefore, AI, an intelligence demonstrated by machines is considered a perfect technology to tackle these limitations This technology has the function of controlling large amounts of data with almost absolute accuracy Not only that, the characteristics of selflearning and automatic scenario prediction are considered very suitable to be able to perfect blockchain technology (Rouger, 2019) - Need to have appropriate management policies Supply chains of numerous agri-food commodities include members and actors from all around the world, as the product also is transported across multiple destinations Therefore, it is crucial to implement a highly homogenous blockchain system which will remain consistent even across countries Nonetheless, as the laws and regulations differ from one country to another, appropriate management policies need to be developed and implemented to ensure the integrity of the system Further research needs to be conducted on implementing blockchains on an international level, involving actors from different countries to explore limitations in the technology at that setting As this will create an understanding of the effective management strategies and policies that can help in the functioning of the system (PwC, 2019) 23 Chapter 7: Conclusion Blockchain traceability systems can be used quite effectively for increasing the level of transparency and traceability observed in agri-food supply chains Apart from boosting consumer confidence, if used right blockchains can help supply chains and the actors involved to greatly improve internal and external traceability As the blockchain data is stored on de-centralized servers no central authority has the same level of access to the data as the supply chain members themselves Compared to existing traceability systems like RFID’s and Wireless sensor networks (WSN), Blockchains offer greater security, transparency, adds value to the product and also helps eliminates intermediaries Nonetheless, as blockchains are still relatively new in the field of agri-food supply chain traceability, some limitations also exist Scalability of the blockchain, incompatible with existing syst ems, and lack of knowledge and trust are still obstacles in the large-scale implementation of blockchains Nonetheless, with developments in ICT, many of the limitations can be overcome Moreover, supply chains of agri-food commodities will have to provide their consumers with the transparency they demand and to the same all the individual actors in the chain will have to exhibit utmost cooperation and compliance To conclude, the qualitative data gathered and analyzed suggests that the level of traceability and transparency will be greater with the implementation of Blockchain traceability systems, when compared to conventional 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European: European society of radiology 26 Appendix – Reflection - Gijs Janssen: I think the group really worked well together and were agreeing on certain subjects About the main question and the main subject, the project was about we had some good discussions that did took a lot of time Also, we made some major changes close to the deadline therefore we had some pressure of time But in the end, I think we really worked well and have finished a nice and informative paper - Kshitij Chhajed: After lengthy discussions, the group came to an agreement on the research assignment Although, we soon realized that what we wanted to was quite different than what we had planned and so more lengthy discussions followed As soon as all of us agreed to the recent changes, the tasks were divided Due to the changes made quite close to submission the completion took extra effort In the end it was a good group effort and the product come along smoothly - Tu Tran: This research experience was very interesting for me Our whole team collaborated very well and has published a report, in my opinion, was a "miracle" Although there has been a change at the last minute to a research question, we have generally done a very good job of our task The topic of this report has given me a lot of interest I feel I have updated a lot of new and useful knowledge for my future career 27 ... the blockchain system has a full copy of that blockchain Therefore, it's strenuous to manipulate the set data in the blockchain (H., 2018) Furthermore, to mitigate attempts to corrupt the blockchain. .. from Blockchain at Walmart: Tracking Food from Farm to Fork: https://www.altoros.com/blog /blockchain- at-walmart-tracking-food-fromfarm-to-fork/ Infinity Blockchain Labs (2018, 07 09) Infinity Blockchain. .. Petway, & Johnahten, 2017) 4.2 Blockchain in modern internal and external traceability in agricultural supply chain: 4.2.1 Selection of private/public blockchain technology: Blockchain implementation