AgroTrust: food traceability system

The issue of traceability of the food chain has become a priority for all production realities that recognize the need for market recognition of the quality of their products. Companies benefit from the recognition of the territoriality of production, the sustainability of the production chain, the path of the product during processing and distribution, as elements that determine the quality and hygiene of food. On the other hand, consumers are immersed in a globalized market in which it is difficult to recognize the exact origin and nature of a product; for this reason, more and more, buyers are interested in having complete information about the origin, sustainability, processing phases, and many other aspects that contribute to identifying a quality product. In other words, the tracking of the Supply Food Chain is in the interest of all market players.

The well-known slogan “from the producer to the consumer” expresses the consumer’s need for a genuine product, with a history and an identity, original and safe. The EU legislative system has introduced a series of regulations, controls and certifications to ensure the protection of consumers regarding the safety of the product and the transparency of the production and transformation process. However, problems linked to the inefficiency of the control system or the persistence of episodes of fraud and counterfeiting reinforce the need to introduce new solutions.

Today, the most important resource for companies is represented by technological innovation: a company can equip itself with traceability and certification tools that are much more secure and accurate because they are based on data, and use product traceability as an added value. When made accessible and shared, data becomes the primary means of digitally transforming the marketplace and strengthening trust between producer and consumer.

AgroTrus project was born to respond to the needs described above and is one of the winners of the i4Trust program for the creation of Data Spaces in Europe; a project that aims to meet the needs of operators in the agri-food chain through the digital certification of product quality. The use of blockchain technology reconstructs the history of each agri-food product, collecting data on origin, processing, distribution, and transforming them into information available to the consumer. A sort of digital ID card that can be consulted on every smartphone using a QR Code reader.

AgroTrust is inspired by the Digital Twin paradigm and, although at this stage it is applied to the rice industry, it is an easily scalable solution and applicable to other sectors of agribusiness, cereals, fruit, legumes and so on. The project was born to give life to a solution that ensures the correct traceability of the product in order to strengthen the trust between the consumer and the entire Supply Food Chain and ensure food safety for citizens, enhancing farmers and quality products.

The project involves a consortium of IT and agricultural companies, and our Digital Innovation Hub plays the role of facilitator for access to FIWARE technology and the development of an innovative and sustainable business model.

The AgroTrust project was born within the i4Trust program, which aims to create new ways of access and new spaces for sharing data in an attempt to develop innovative services that revolve around the value of data. The project is funded by the European Union and promoted by three realities that focus their activities in the use of data: the FIWARE Foundation, a well-known European platform based on open source technologies and created to support the digitization of businesses and public administration; iSHARE, a reality that for years has been carrying out the development of data sharing networks to facilitate the exchange of information between different organizations from the technical, administrative and operational point of view; FundingbBox Acelerator, one of the most important European realities in the field of supporting the growth of start-ups and SMEs with an innovative character.