“Farm-to-fork transparency using blockchain” — sounds sleek, futuristic, and gets you a seat at any agri-tech panel discussion. But on ground? Not even onions want to be traced. The tech exists, the pitch decks are ready — but implementation is… meh.
Blockchain can record every step in the food chain: who grew it, where it went, how it was handled. But here’s the problem — producers and intermediaries aren’t exactly lining up to expose their entire process to consumers. Why? Because with transparency comes accountability. And with accountability comes uncomfortable truths — chemical use, origin fraud, double-handling, pricing markup, storage lapses… suddenly, all the stuff hidden under the carpet shows up on the chain. And since there’s no clear and immediate economic benefit for the producer, they see more risk than reward. Consumers want it. Platforms like it. But the middle layers — where most of the mess happens — are not ready to be unmasked. So who should push it? Retail giants. Governments. Exporters. Anyone who gains trust (and margin) from being clean. Because unless the power holders demand the traceability, the rest of the chain will keep looking away.
Blockchain tells the truth. But in food systems built on hiding things, truth is a tough sell.
