At the National Conferences held in March 2018, representatives of the two National Congresses expressed their views on the “blockchain”. Yu Minhong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairman and CEO of New Oriental Education Technology Group, said that the blockchain can completely decentralize the connection between people. However, what is the blockchain technology? Why is it popular? What will it bring to the poultry industry?
Application to the livestock industry Bettina Warburg, head of global operations at the Future Research Institute in the United States, explains it in an easy-to-understand way. She believes that blockchain technology is a decentralized database that stores assets and transaction information on a peer-to-peer network. It is basically a public registry that records who owns what is traded. These transactions use cryptography to ensure security. Over time, these transaction histories are packaged into data blocks that are linked together by cryptography to keep them safe. These transaction records are not tamperable, unforgeable, and distributed in this network. Every computer in this network has a backup of this history.
According to consumer survey data, 73% of consumers care about how the products they choose are produced, and more than half of them will choose a trusted source of food. With the upgrading of the consumption structure and the continuous updating of technology, the application of the blockchain is gradually extending from the financial industry to various industry sectors.
In the fields of agriculture, including poultry and animal husbandry, the blockchain, as a decentralized, non-tamperable super-book, is trying to provide innovative safeguards for food traceability and safety. It is currently used in poultry and animal husbandry. Covers two directions: one is a more efficient meat backtracking system. Everything from the farm to the table will be recorded. The other direction is to build a sense of trust between the brand and the consumer through the technology itself, so that consumers can clearly see where the raw materials come from.
Consumption upgrading has become an unavoidable trend. Consumers are paying more and more attention to healthy and high-quality foods, which has prompted the transformation of traditional agricultural giants. New e-commerce giants and technology companies have also joined the war to use technology for traditional agriculture. The field is subversive and takes a share in the big market of agriculture.
At present, Tyson Foods, the world's largest supplier of chicken, beef and pork, has applied to blockchain technology. Tyson Food CEO Tom Hayes disclosed in a recent interview that Tyson Foods is fully developing blockchain technology and explains why he is confident in the blockchain. He said that Tyson Foods is not using blockchain technology to tap bitcoin or speculation.
In contrast, world-renowned giant food companies such as Tyson Foods and Hillshire Farms are using blockchain technology to reduce food waste and trace back sources of pollution. Tyson Foods has partnered with IBM and is working on the blockchain. At the same time, other companies in the food industry, such as Wal-Mart, Nestle and Unilever (UL), have joined the ranks. “I think the blockchain will have a huge impact on the food business,” Hayes said. “In the past, it took a few weeks to track the package, and now it only takes a few seconds.” IBM Chairman and President CEO Ginni Rometty said: "The blockchain is for trusted transactions, just like the Internet."
“The blockchain is a very important technology that will change the way the world works; IBM has established a food safety blockchain with Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart partners that will shorten the world's food safety issues in global supply chains. Time.” Martin J. Schroeter, senior vice president of IBM Global Markets, said.
In January 2018, Wal-Mart, which sold 20% of US food, just completed a blockchain pilot project. Before using the blockchain, Wal-Mart conducted a traceability test on mangoes in a branch. It took 6 days, 18 hours, and 26 minutes to trace the mango to the original farm. With the blockchain, Wal-Mart can provide all the information consumers want in 2.2 seconds.
It is reported that Cargill has selected four farmers to participate in the Honeysuckle White brand turkey blockchain pilot project. Each turkey sold has a “transparent code” on its outer packaging, which consumers can send to the company. For short messages, or go to the official website of Honeysuckle White to find out everything about the turkey. Once the password is entered, the user will enter a detailed page with farm information, farm and farmer images, and even a short video.
This page connects consumers to farmers and lets consumers know how a turkey is growing up.
According to the "Daily Economic News" report, in the "Step by Step" farm of Zhong'an Technology - the block chain chicken breeding experimental base of the 6th team of Shengli Town, Jingjiang Town, Jingjiang City, Jiangsu Province, saw more than 10 acres. On the open ground, hundreds of ecological free-range chickens are free to forage and leisurely, which is very different from the daily life of caged chickens. Every chicken here has an IoT ID card – chicken. This chicken brand integrates the Internet of Things, blockchain, artificial intelligence and anti-counterfeiting technology chicken cards, can tell consumers "what chickens you eat", "how many steps to take every day" and other information. Based on the all-ecological blockchain technology of Zhongan Technology's An-chain cloud output, the whole process records the step-by-step chicken from the chicken seedlings to the chickens, slaughtering and transportation, etc., until the user's table full-process information.
“At present, Zhongan Technology has signed more than 400 ecological chicken breeding bases across the country.” According to reports, Zhongan Technology has reached cooperation intentions with farms in Anhui, Henan and Guizhou, and is expected to land in the country within the next three years. 2,500 farms directly benefited 15,000 farmers and indirectly helped 150,000 poor people. Based on an average of 30 mu of farms to farm thousands of ecological free-range chickens, it is estimated that by 2020, the annual sales volume of “step chicken” will reach 20 million.
