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CoBank: Blockchain hurdles for commodity system

Blockchain technology is not taking off in agriculture as some had expected. CoBank’s Tanner Ehmke says the shared supply chain technology is being used by Walmart to track leafy greens and by Cargill internally but hasn’t been picked up industry-wide in the commodity sector. He tells Brownfield Ag News, “Commodities are co-mingled from multiple locations and sent through a very vast network of handlers and shippers and that has complicated the adoption of blockchain.”

Ehmke says most farmers don’t see a need for it, “Really think about it. If you’re a farmer and the current system of marketing your grain works for you, why do you need to use blockchain?  You know, most people just don’t need it.”

But, he says, it does have potential for farmers, “For some farmers who want to connect with sellers and they are able to segment out their commodities, this may at some point down in the future be of value to them.”

Ehmke says it will take years for blockchain to take off and another technology could come along to replace it, so only time will tell.