Application of Blockchain Technology in the Swiss Food Value Chain (Foodchains)

The Foodchains project targets at evaluation and a prototypical design of a blockchain-based approach toward the digitization of the food chain within the Swiss agricultural sector. Specifically, the use case of a dairy product tracking approach – "from the cow to the cheese" – was investigated and supported by a newly prototyped IT system, representing by an Android App-based, distributed system, which can collect in an easy-to-use manner raw product data, transport data, manufacturing data, and sold product data – once collected and made available in a digital representation –, such that these are traceable in a customized and stakeholder-defined manner.

The set of four hypotheses that contribute to the fulfillment of the goals of this project include:

H1: Can decentralized blockchains strengthen the trust in the Swiss value chain "milks"?
H2: Consumers value regional products.
H3: Consumers of milk and dairy products are interested in tracking and tracing the unique geographical location of raw materials via a QR code and a distributed application operated on a smartphone
H4: The term "quality" in conjunction with raw milk, milk sold, and dairy products in general is applied, if production and ambition of producers and dairies are sustainable.

The final report of the Foodchains project is available as a public PDF document here.

In addition, the key project's takeaway message was taped as well and is available as a set of short videos in three different MP4 versions:
a. Foodchains Video in Swiss and High German (no subtitles)
b. Foodchains Video as with a. including High German and French Subtitles
c. Foodchains Video as with a. including English Subtitles

University of Zurich, IFI, CSG

Foodways AG, Bern.