Implications for Agricultural Producers of Using Blockchain for Food Transparency, Study of 4 Food Chains by Cumulative Approach

Ysé Commandré (), Catherine Macombe () and Sophie Mignon ()
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Ysé Commandré: MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier, #DigitAg - Institut Convergences Agriculture Numérique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, UM - Université de Montpellier
Catherine Macombe: UMR ITAP - Information – Technologies – Analyse Environnementale – Procédés Agricoles - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Sophie Mignon: MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School - UM - Université de Montpellier, UM - Université de Montpellier

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Abstract: In agro-food, Blockchain has been recently implemented in order to improve transparency. Blockchain raises great expectations of data decentralization and better efficiency-cost ratio, integration speed, and data protection that appear as promises of gains in all areas. The fundamental assumption was that transparency prevents or reduces illegitimate forms of power. However, discussions are emerging about how digitization is likely to exacerbate power inequalities in food systems, as transparency can become tyrannical when it contributes to the proliferation of audits, evaluations, and assessment measures. The objective of this research is to contribute by providing knowledge about the implications of this digitization for farmers. For a first exploratory study, we conducted 53 interviews with actors of digitalization of agri-food, and we used 9 press releases, 3 webinars, and 1 article published in a specialized French journal. These materials evoke 12 different agro-food chains recently equipped with blockchain in France. From this pool of chains, we focused on four through in-depth analysis of interviews and literature readings using NVivo software. The first results highlight that the use of blockchain for transparency rarely delivers on its promises. Blockchain tends to centralize control since few actors have access to the distributed ledger, and the visibility brought to farmers, at the consumer level, tends to become a form of control. While blockchain seems to provide some benefits to producers, it raises the issue of overloaded technology and the problem of their data privacy.

Keywords: blockchain; food chain; transparency; panopticon; food governance; food discourse; farms; farmers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-pay
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-03351947v1
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Published in Sustainability, 2021, 13 (17), pp.9843. ⟨10.3390/su13179843⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03351947

DOI: 10.3390/su13179843

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