Since its launch in March 2018, the digital farmer’s market has been giving market its first signal that the platform works. Those who want to order regional food directly from the organic farmers will find on the website of Käferbohnen about game meat to Marmorguglhupf much that Austrian producers deliver to their door.
In the startup scene, there is a big trend to connect regional producers directly with consumers via Internet platforms and thus avoid the big retailers. Also Nahgenuss, myAcker from Austria or Biorfarm from Italy are working on the domestic market with similar concepts.
Tokens as a reward for consumers
But markta around founder and CEO Theresa Imre is now taking the next step. If that succeeds, then the digital farmers market will be clearly different from other projects. With the help of Blockchain, markta wants to accomplish two things: firstly, a transparent and complete traceability of food, and secondly an incentive system for consumers to reward sustainable purchasing decisions.
“We are one of the partners in the project” Sustainable Development Goals and Blockchain – Programming a Sustainable World “, which is supported by the Austrian Development Agency,” says markta boss Imre about trending topics. “The aim is to work with the Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics, the RCE Vienna and the UNIDO to develop concrete application areas and use cases for the sustainable use of blockchain. In the second project phase, we will test and implement these concepts with markta as one of the use cases. ”
“Passing on savings to customers”
In order for tokens to enter the digital farmer market, users will be given profiles on the Internet platform. You should be able to collect crypto-tokens with it. “Through a token program, we can reward and control certain ordering patterns,” says Imre. “This makes it possible, for example, to make last-mile logistics routes in the city more efficient and environmentally friendly, and to reduce packaging materials.”
So if you go to pick-up points in the city, place orders with neighbors or product reviews, you could be rewarded with tokens in the future, which in turn make the next order cheaper – a loyalty program with the help of Blockchain. “With the token program, we can also achieve better margins through larger order volumes,” says Imre. “We can pass on the savings of purchasing costs, packaging materials and logistics channels to our customers.”
How do you track an apple?
The second trick with the blockchain: markta wants to guarantee the traceability of food on the blockchain and to make the supply chain transparent. Such approaches are followed by many Blockchain projects – including Everledger around series founder Leanne Kemp, who wants to track diamonds (Trending Topics reported). “The traceability of the supply chain is above all a clear USP compared to the goods from the supermarket,” says Imre. “We want to offer more in terms of quality, origin and production conditions than often misleading advertising claims about regional foods and thus take on a pioneering role.”
But how can food in practice actually be reliably tracked? Does every apple get a chip stuck on? “Theoretically yes,” says Imre. “But there are already the first established approaches such as the Ambrosus Blockchain set on sealed containers.” Using IoT sensors can mark entire pallets or boxes, whereby origin, supply chain and quality are traced from field to plate on every step could.
When markta expands its business with blockchain and token, it is not yet clear, but it should happen in 2019. Imre: “The conception phase will run until the middle of the year, then it’s time for implementation.” We are curious.