A new report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company argues that blockchain, Internet-of-Things sensors, and advanced food-sensing technologies could help fix a broken food system. The n
A new report from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company argues that blockchain, Internet-of-Things sensors, and advanced food-sensing technologies could help fix a broken food system.
The numbers driving the argument are stark. One-third of food production becomes waste while more than 800 million people face chronic hunger. Each year, contaminated food sickens 600 million people and kills 420,000. Food production generates 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change threatens to reduce crop yields by as much as 25%. A global population headed toward 10 billion by 2050 will strain supply chains that are already fragile.
"Ensuring traceability is vital to providing transparency and building consumer trust in the content, quality and sustainability of the end-to-end food supply chain," said Paul Bulcke, chairman of Nestlé. "New technologies, such as blockchain and satellite imaging, can strengthen traceability programs and lead to better transparency and value across the supply chain."
The WEF report, Innovation with a Purpose: Improving Traceability in Food Value Chains through Technology, identifies twelve technologies the report calls the "Transformative Twelve." These could reshape how food moves from farm to consumer. The twelve include blockchain, IoT sensors, and food-sensing technologies.
Blockchain creates a permanent, unchangeable record that documents and consolidates supply chain information at each stage. IoT sensors track merchandise as it moves and monitor conditions in real time. Paired with other systems including equipment, tools, data platforms, and AI, these sensors can identify what something is, where it came from, and how it's holding up. Food-sensing technology takes a non-destructive approach, using hyperspectral imaging, visual analysis, and spectroscopy to examine the composition and quality of products, upload findings to the cloud, and have machine learning systems process and interpret those images.
If blockchain-enabled traceability reaches scale by 2030, the report estimates it could cut food loss by 1% to 2%. Mobile service delivery systems could boost farmer incomes by 3% to 6% while reducing food loss by 2% to 5%.
David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, sees humanitarian applications. "To get to zero hunger, the world needs innovative tools and approaches," he said. "Blockchain technology has the potential to increase supply chain efficiency by allowing us to track in real time where food shipments are from the point of origin to the moment it is dispatched for delivery from our warehouses. Through blockchain, the humanitarian community can share this information and, in times of emergency, the partners can call forward stocks for families in urgent need."
The WFP is a partner in the WEF's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network, which focuses on pilot programs for emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and blockchain.
