Australian Wheat Farmers Trial Blockchain to Sell Grain
According to a compilation by the Huobi Blockchain Research Center, the annual cost of wheat cultivation in Australia is enormous and a troubling problem for growers. In order to reduce bankruptcies and solve the payment problems that growers often face, one company is trying to use blockchain to address these issues.
AgriDigital, based in Australia and launched by Australian startup Full Profile, is a cloud-based integrated platform that seamlessly combines the management of contracts, deliveries, invoices, payments and inventory, and earlier this month it concluded a pilot connected to a private Ethereum blockchain computer network. According to a report by the Australian Financial Review, this was the world's first online clearing of a physical commodity on a blockchain.
The report also highlighted how David Whillock, a wheat grower at Whillock Pastoral near Geary in New South Wales, delivered 23 metric tons of cargo to the international exporter Fletcher, located in Dubbo (a city in eastern Australia). Using blockchain gave Whillock the confidence to maintain his cash flow and business.
Wheat Losses
The Victorian Farmers Federation Grains Group pointed out that grain growers lost 50 million USD in 2014, with grain trade bankruptcies becoming a major problem.
According to reports, Full Profile co-founder Emma Weston said that ensuring grain moves from grower to consumer is still a tricky matter. For example, slow payment processes and other problems lead to higher risks and costs.
Pilot Run?
In addition to eliminating counterparty risk, the technology of the AgriDigital platform can also be used to provide financing solutions for grain buyers.
Weston said blockchain can inform the seller whether their buyer has the ability to pay, and the seller can trust that the buyer will pay on time.
She said:
"Using this new technology, we can eliminate counterparty risk, allowing buyers and sellers to trust each other in transactions just as they did in the past."
Future Opportunities
As 2016 draws to a close, many achievements have been made in blockchain-related fields over the past year.
The Huobi Blockchain Research Center has learned that the banking industry has been one of the sectors experimenting with blockchain. Recently, the French central bank conducted an interbank blockchain pilot, while blockchain has also been used to combat cybercrime, and the energy industry is also making use of this technology.
Not surprisingly, as 2017 arrives and competition in the agricultural sector becomes increasingly fierce, blockchain technology can provide an ideal solution to many of the troubles currently facing growers.
The effectiveness of this technology remains to be verified, but given that it has already affected many other industries, it may also bring the same effect to agriculture.
Source: cryptocoinsnews.com
Author: Rebecca Campbell
Compiled by: Huobi Blockchain Research Center