Blockchain technology can be an ally for source identification and traceability of agricultural products. This is what highlights Ulisses Mello, director of IBM’s research laboratory, in an exclusive interview for the report Datagro Portal.
According to Mello, the blockchain works as a kind of public digital record of transactions in which the data storage is decentralized in the servers that make up the chain. The expert adds that in a sequence of blockchain the inserted data become immutable, standardized and encrypted, forming a database of trust, in which one block of information is interconnected to the other. “Soon, if someone changes a data, it will corrupt the entire original record, invalidating that data chain,” he says, adding that “this reduces the chances of transaction fraud, since everything is publicly registered and universal access.”
According to Mello, blockchain technology, for example, would allow the immediate identification of negative occurrences, such as batches of adulterated foods. According to the expert, IBM has been developing with Belagrícola a project focused on the identification of grain origin and quality through blockchain technology. In Mello’s evaluation, in agribusiness blockchain technology has great potential for growth in productive chains that naturally require a kind of differentiation, such as organic and non-genetically modified grains. “The blockchain can be a kind of certification,” he says. “The technology is there, the challenge now is convincing and application.”