Australian Grain Exporter Teams with AgriDigital on Agriculture Blockchain
The CBH Group, a West Perth, Australia-based grain exporter, is partnering with AgriDigital, a Sydney, Australia-based start-up to explore blockchain technology’s application in the agricultural industry.
Emma Weston, chief executive officer of AgriDigital, said distributed ledger technologies and blockchain have already demonstrated opportunities in agriculture.
Blockchain’s Benefits
Weston said the distributed ledger technology can improve trust and efficiency across the agricultural supply chain, such as cost savings in the back office, giving digital title to commodities, eliminating double data entry, offering a chain of custody and giving full traceability for commodities.
The companies will assess blockchain technology benefits in grain handling. A pilot will commence this month at Blue Lake Milling, an oats processor owned by CBH in Bordertown, South Australia. CBH has operations extending along the value chain from grain storage, handling, transport, marketing and processing.
The pilot, one of the first of its kind in the world, will use AgriDigital’s smart contract library and agriculture blockchains.
The pilot’s purpose is to prove blockchain’s application providing full supply chain traceability, and deploying the settlement of commodities on a blockchain by tagging title transfer to payment in a single transaction.
Weston said the two companies are proving blockchain technology as well as demonstrating that a major grain industry player and a startup can collaborate to solve challenges.
Also read: Blockchain joins efforts to improve food traceability amid rising waste and safety fears
A New Direction for CBH
The pilot is one of the first CBH Group has undertaken to explore the possibilities of new technology across the business, said Andrew Crane, CBH Group CEO.
Crane said the company has evolved, grown and innovated since it became established more than 80 years ago. The company now continues its story in exploring options to deploy new solutions to improve its supply chain and cut costs to benefit its growers.
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