A blockchain-based human-machine reconciliation mechanism for increasing customer confidence in the agricultural supply chain management

Safety, quality, and validation of crucial criteria in agriculture and food supply chains are becoming more important as agricultural production and distribution become more globalized. There is a significant need for effective traceability solutions that can be used as quality management instruments to guarantee the safety of agricultural products in light of the growing number of food safety and contamination problems. Traceability of agricultural and food products in the supply chain may be transformed by blockchain technology. Because of the complexity of the ecosystems that make up our agricultural supply chains, it may be difficult to assess fundamental criteria such as country of origin, crop development phase, quality needs, and yield monitoring. This article proposes using Ethereum and smart contracts to simplify business transactions for tracking and monitoring agricultural supply chain products. Our built decentralized application (dApp) provides transaction records without the need for an overarching authority to mediate. This has the added benefits of being very reliable and secure. The proposed approach uses smart contracts to monitor and control all participant interactions and transactions throughout the supply chain. Transparency and traceability in the supply chain ecosystem are ensured by the blockchain's immutable ledger and the Inter- Planetary File System (IPFS).

I. Introduction

In recent years, supply chain visibility and audibility have been increasingly important in the global food business. Consumers' worries about the safety of their food, the ethics of its production, and its impact on the environment have been major motivators of this trend. Due to its complexity and inherent tangles, the food supply chain stands out as a pivotal focal point among the numerous sectors within the food industry [1]. Building consumer trust and confidence necessitates ensuring the reliability of data about farming, processing, and distribution. Industries worldwide are forced to adapt their methods to match the changing expectations of consumers in an era characterized by increased consumer awareness and demands for openness. Due to its complex nature and susceptibility to difficulties like food fraud, mislabeling, and ethical concerns, the food business, particularly the food supply chain, has become a focal focus of these shifts. There has never been a time when it has been more important to build and maintain customer trust along the food supply chain, and new technologies provide exciting new ways to do so [2]. Ranchers, processors, distributors, retailers, and government agencies are just a few of the many players in the traditional food supply chain. Because of this complexity, accurately and transparently tracking each supply chain step can be difficult. Mislabeling, counterfeit goods, unauthorized product replacements, and inadequate disclosure have all declined consumers' trust. Innovative solutions are needed to address these issues, particularly those that improve traceability, lessen information asymmetry and provide customers with access to trustworthy data [2]. Ranchers, processors, distributors, retailers, and regulators all play roles in the conventional food supply chain. It is challenging to provide a complete and reliable account of a product's journey from farm to table because of the information gaps that arise as a result of this complexity. The industry's capacity to respond rapidly to problems like recalls and contamination outbreaks is hampered by these loopholes, which in turn undermines consumer confidence [3].