Veracruz Almonds Goes for Blockchain Traceability

Article by: Hari Yellina

Following the use of blockchain at their award-winning plantations in Idanha-a-Nova and Fundo, Portugal, Veracruz Almonds is leading the way in food traceability. This comes as the almond grower aims to boost its exports to UK and European distributors and suppliers. Veracruz will be able to track the whole lifetime of their production process, from sowing seeds to harvesting, processing, and distribution, with end-to-end traceability for suppliers, retailers, and consumers, thanks to the system, which collects interconnected data on crucial elements.

Veracruz will begin collecting data on the processing of their blanched, matchstick, and flour kinds when the new 15.3-million-euro state-of-the-art factory opens next year. This information will be utilised to optimise output, assess affects, and anticipate issues during the production process. The following steps will include packing, transportation, and distribution, with the ultimate goal of making the enormous and complex almond supply chain transparent and traceable to consumers at home via a simple QR code on the packaging.

This thorough information gives Veracruz with an all-encompassing picture of their product, as it is one of the essential pillars of precision farming. These indicators allow you to measure a variety of factors independently and compare them to other times of the year in order to speed up your response and decision-making process. “Technology has the capacity to revolutionise the food sector,” said David Carvalho, founder and CEO of Veracruz Almonds. “Over the next five years, we expect to invest over 6 million euros in innovative tech that will enable us to use our resources even more effectively while substantially reducing waste.”

“Blockchain opens up hitherto unimagined possibilities for smart food traceability, transparency, and safety,” says the author. It has the potential to tackle some of the industry’s biggest difficulties, particularly in almond farming, where crops are subject to unpredictable elements like weather, water scarcity, and pests. “By leveraging the power of blockchain to improve traceability at every stage of the manufacturing and distribution process, we can provide consumers with complete visibility of their products’ journey from orchard to plate, which is becoming an increasingly important part of the purchasing process.”

Veracruz Almonds has also just developed a cooperation with Aerobotics, a South African startup that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to record and interpret drone photographs in farming. This technology can automatically detect which trees have been planted, count and compare living and dead trees, and determine whether the trees are healthy. In 2022, Veracruz Almonds plan to fly over their farms every 2 weeks, which will allow information to be collected, and detailed reports to be drawn up, to provide accuracy on the health of the sector.