Blockchain For Overloaded Food Supply Chains

As consumers, we expect access to food regardless of the season. For example, residents in Florida can get watermelon in December, avocados in February and any kind of berry in April.

It all seems a bit magical when we sit back and think about the logistics of it all. But hidden behind the haze of food supply magic is the harsh reality of increasingly pressured supply chain resources that rely on dated global flows of container shipping across seas and air freight. Communication and tracking can easily become disjointed with this process.

Due to COVID-19, there is increased attention on food supply chains. At the height of the pandemic, lockdowns around the world meant that restaurants, cafes, and other food outlets experienced lower demand for fresh food. Lack of staff and logistics complicated the issue. Many farmers made the difficult decision to limit their operations and cut costs wherever possible. This created rifts in global supply chains.

As the world slowly begins to open up, we are experiencing the other end of the spectrum as demand increases. The reopening of the world is now overwhelming the food supply chain just as it was trying to recover and process new ways of dealing with the changes of food supply. To put it mildly, the global food supply chain is overloaded.

Food supply chains are long, complicated processes, with many companies involved to ensure that various varieties of food are available worldwide. With so many links within the chain, communications end up getting lost along the way. Due to this, it has become increasingly difficult to find out the cause of a problem because every participant in the food supply chain maintains their own paper-based records or uses outdated legacy systems. This reflects an ongoing struggle for food supply chains but COVID-19 really brought these issues to the forefront.

Although global manufacturers, producers and distributors have pulled together as best as possible during these uncertain times, many are wondering what a more resilient food supply chain needs to look like as they grapple with the ups and downs of the pandemic and move into what the new normal is going to consist of. This includes using blockchain technology and other emerging technologies as a solution for supply chain woes. Blockchain has the ability to not only solve the immediate needs of an overworked food supply chain, but fully transform it to be able to handle unprecedented situations in the future with ease.

The BlockSpaces platform provides a solution to seamlessly interact with other organizations in the supply chain. Within any ecosystem or business process, there are layers of technology that require integration. Our workflow automation platform utilizes a library of pre-built integrations to connect everyday business applications with multiple networks to provide data visibility and efficiencies beyond individual, disparate systems and information silos, making it ideal for those in the supply chain.

Our team deeply believes in blockchain and understands that the technology may seem daunting for many in the food supply chain. This is why we deliver a code-free interface without requiring significant technical expertise making connecting to a blockchain-friendly environment seamless. Our platform allows developers to advance products faster; saving weeks of time that would otherwise be spent developing and maintaining connections to third-party APIs, blockchains and ERPs.

There are lessons from the urgent demand that can help members of the national and international food supply chain focus on adaptability. The challenge is making the transition and navigating the ways in which necessary changes to the system will impact everyone, including new attitudes when deciding to use emerging technology to help tackle the supply chain issues at hand. Blockchain is the technology that will give the food supply chain the update that it desperately needs and the BlockSpaces platform is here to help make the transition as smooth as possible.

If you are in the food supply chain sector and are interested in being a part of the future of blockchain, BlockSpaces is now accepting reservations for our early access Pilot Program.

Why join our pilot program?

Clearly, we get a lot of value from the feedback we receive from pilot customers. But, what are the big wins for you?

• Impact development: Give feedback on features and put your mark on the results.
• Get a head start: Discover new features and upcoming versions before anyone else and win ample time to plan a successful start.
• Safe roll-out: Your technical resources gain confidence to roll out the software to all users from thorough testing and issues fixed.
• Free guidance: Get advice in utilizing the new features, and receive free consultancy and software usage.

Improved Connect: Benefit from a multitude of improvements resulting from feedback from ALL pilot customers in addition to your own.