Food Aggregation & Blockchain

Currently somewhere between 4-6% of the food we eat on Salt Spring is actually grown here - the rest is imported, which is not a resilient situation at a time of global crop failures and shaky supply chains. For years, local buyers (grocery stores and restaurants) and local food producers have tried to bridge the gap between so that local demand can boost local food supply, but their efforts have been stymied both by issues of price, trust and unpredictability.

 

Specifically, farmers and other food producers, for the most part, can only get the prices they need to stay viable by selling at local farmers markets or by exporting, whereas buyers (again, for the most part) say they can't pay those prices because their customers aren't willing to pay more for local food. Add to this that farmers can't match the industrialized convenience of off-island food deliveries (coming by truck and ferries) that buyers need, and so they're reluctant to accept assurances when buyers try to order food in advance from local producers. Finally, a rapidly changing climate means that food producers can't be sure exactly what food will be ready at a given time.

We believe these 3 issues can be solved, or at least mitigated, by a food aggregation system that features a Blockchain-based database that is transparent, open and easy to update. The idea is to aggregate island-wide food production from operations of every scale, so buyers know that unpredictability will be buffered by volume - if ginger or carrots or lamb isn't available from one farm, it will be available from another in the timeframe they need it. This in turn allows buyers (once they trust the system) to start putting in orders in advance for the next growing season, which allows food producers to plant more acreage, raise more livestock, gather more mushrooms or clams, etc., knowing the market will be there for the food they produce. 

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Over time we will integrate capacity for measuring carbon sequestration on a granular level, so that we can encourage regenerative agriculture and know best how to help stop climate change, and it's possible that that sequestration could be monetized as carbon offsets, something Blockchain facilitates well. But we feel the best way to encourage food producers to use the system is to pay them better to do the thing they're already doing: producing food. Our intent is to solve the trust and unpredictability issues, and let a trusted system - boosted by a community awareness campaign about the critical need to keep local food production alive - naturally lead to buyers feeling comfortable paying more for healthy, local food that arrives on schedule and supports the whole island economy.

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We are in the process of designing this food aggregation system with a generous grant from ThriveARB via Charmverse, and are very grateful for their support.