Teach start-up Grain Discovery is setting its sights on transforming the agriculture industry by using blockchain technology. A transaction involving corn allowed the Grain Discovery platform to create a more modern, transparent and secure agricultural supply chain.
"Farming technology in the agricultural industry is incredibly advanced," explains Rory O'Sullivan, CEO of Grain Discovery. "However, the way grain is bought and sold hasn't changed much since our grandparents were farming. In the age of Amazon and eBay, we reckoned the industry deserves better."
The company's online marketplace allows farmers and buyers to advertise their deals in real time and complete their trades through blockchain, resulting in secure and instant payment and built-in traceability that continues beyond the farm gate.
Grain discovery focuses on untangling the complicated supply chain paths for grains. The platform allows users to have more control and enables them to see the path their food traveled, to calculating the carbon intensity behind the production of food and biofuels.
"We are participating in a number of other pilot projects this year, including tracing soybeans from seeds in Canada to export market in Japan and coffee from Columbia to your local cafe," says O'Sullivan. "This transaction was the vital first step towards realizing out goals."