3 Benefits of a Blockchain-Based Food Ecosystem

A recent study estimates that as much as 50 percent of all food produced is thrown away in the US, due to the demand for ‘cosmetically perfect’ fruit, veg and other food products. And even though, theoretically, the world generates enough food to feed everyone, 842 mln people suffer from hunger worldwide.

There’s no denying that the global food system needs some optimization. When we walk through food stores, we don’t always realize how much hard work has gone into the produce that you see on the shelves. Even the ones that do make it to the shelves get rejected by shoppers, purely based on looks or because it’s not labeled into a certain category, like “eco,” “natural” or “organic.”

Even worse, when it does fall into one of these categories, prices are artificially inflated to near enough extortionate levels. This puts even further pressure on local farmers who typically only receive around 15 percent of the sales price on your groceries.

This is where FoodCoin comes in. It’s an ecosystem based on Blockchain technology, designed to create a global marketplace for food and agricultural products.

The system exploits the opportunities available within Blockchain, like smart contracts, crypto payment processing and product origin authentication, to reconnect farmers directly with consumers, stimulating local economies in the process.

A system like this holds numerous benefits and might be the answer to many of the issues surrounding today’s global food systems.

Fulfilling the gap in the food need

The most basic need of any human being is food and water. But, as we mentioned above, many food products are either thrown out due to not being “aesthetically pleasing” enough or being sold at expensive prices because of certain categories.

This creates a scarcity of food resources and disqualifies certain people from buying basic foods because of the high price.

The price of products in food shops are often further inflated because of the delivery, marketing and storage costs that are added to an item.

The FoodCoin Ecosystem (or FCE) aims to eliminate these high costs and wastage by connecting local farmers and consumers, either businesses or individuals, through the 1000 EcoFarms platform.

This allows consumers to purchase high-quality food and agricultural products at reasonable prices. And by exposing local farmers to a wider customer base they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to, it gives them the opportunity to sell perfectly fine products that would normally be rejected by food chains and supermarkets.

Supporting the local economy through social currency and local spending

Smaller independent farms can find it difficult to compete with large organizations. This is the same on the other side of the equation, where local independent shops, cafes and restaurants are often pushed out by big corporate chains.

This process supports both the growth and sustainability of local farms and the survival rate of independent businesses. If these two pillars of any local community thrive and develop, it has a knock-on effect by creating jobs and fuelling social development.

The FoodCoin Ecosystem also plans to take this concept a step further by creating their own digital currency, FoodCoin. It is currently on pre-sale with some promising results.

So far 1,700 participants have taken part, contributing $3.1 mln.

At the moment the cryptocurrency is based on the Ethereum-Blockchain and will be used for purchases on the 1000 EcoFarms platform, but the plan is to use the raised funds to create a unique Blockchain for FoodCoin to exist on.

This will not only reduce, or completely eliminate transaction costs but there’s also the added opportunity for it to be incorporated as a local, social currency.

Social currencies are independent from official currencies and studies have shown it to stimulate growth in local organizations and save money, especially when purchasing locally grown produce. In addition, it enables local communities to stand on their own two feet without influences from external factors.

Transparent and seamless support of charitable causes

Another benefit to using a Blockchain-based ecosystem, especially within the food sector, is the positive impact it can have on charitable donations on a global scale.

A big focus of the FoodCoin Ecosystem is to support nonprofit and charitable organizations. 10 percent of all FoodCoins issued will be sent to social projects in cooperation with governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Unfortunately, it can often be a challenge to find and screen charitable organizations that you can trust 100 percent.

However, using Blockchain as a foundation, the FCE is making this process much simpler.

In conjunction with 1000 EcoFarms, the company has setup charities like Stop Hunger and Donate to Farmer.

These charities are slightly different in that users can individually choose people and recipients of donations directly, making the process a whole lot more transparent and trustworthy.

Aid can be in the form of food and agricultural products or FoodCoins for purchasing these necessities.

Conclusion

At its core, FoodCoin’s Blockchain-based ecosystem is a platform to connect farmers with local food and agriculture businesses that significantly reduces the costs related to production, distribution and selling of these products.

In addition, by exploiting the benefits of modern technology, FoodCoin becomes a weapon against waste and hunger that supports the growth in local communities and charitable causes on a global scale, in one easy to understand ecosystem.

The projects’ ICO is scheduled in November 2017, with the pre-sale started Aug. 23, 2017.