Design of a blockchain-based decentralized architecture for sustainable agriculture

Exchange of information, financial transactions, and involvement of intermediaries play an important role in agriculture. However, current ICT-based agriculture systems are centralized and fail to address problems such as information asymmetry and reliability. Besides, consumers are keen to know the origin of food (traceability), intermediaries focus on transparency of shareable data and tracking of transactions are the areas to be studied in depth for smart and sustainable farming. Disruptive technology like blockchain is suitable to effectively manage smart farming. Blockchain promises reliability and authenticity of source of information as it can track the origin of a transaction. Several researchers have proposed conceptual frameworks and models. However, there is a limited study on real-time architecture that uses blockchain and decentralized applications to address the issues for smart farming. This research in progress paper presents the current gaps and focuses on incorporating blockchain to a smart and sustainable farming by developing an effective architecture. The research outcomes of the proposed study will benefit the agriculture value chains, intermediaries, farmers, and food suppliers in Australia.