In Blockchain They Trust

Once a block of transactions is complete, it is linked to the preceding block to create a chain of records. Since the data entries provide a secure audit trail, network members are assured the ledgers are beyond reproach (although some, like MIT Technology Review, claim blockchains are hackable). [...]down the line in Canopy’s development, as the vehicle accident information flows to the blockchain platform, it could set off a series of smart contracts to member tow truck firms, car repair shops, rental car agencies, and law enforcement. “There’s a growing segment of direct-to-consumer brands that retail only organic, free-range, grass-fed, responsibly raised, and naturally sustainable lamb, beef, chicken, and pork of the highest quality from small farmers,” says Leslie Moore, owner of Farmer Girl Meats, an e-commerce farm-to-table business based in Princeton, Kansas. Impact Ranching, which goes live in 2020 and will have many agricultural industry collaborators, also may obviate farmers’ reliance on the costly third-party certifications required by the USDA. “Since the data in the ecosystem is verifiable and immutable, the information theoretically would allow farmers to self-regulate, reducing the time-consuming bureaucracy they presently confront,” Tokerud says.