Blockchain: a tool for supply chain certification

Blockchain technology allows to develop product certification processes, offering greater guarantees on the history of food, from the collection of raw materials to the flow between operators in the supply chain, up to the final consumer. This new technology can therefore represent a strategic element for the agro-food (and not only) supply chains, on the one hand to defend production from climatic variability by taking prompt action to manage production factors, contain costs and minimize production and environmental risks, and on the other to guarantee brand safety and protect specific territorial features from illegal competition with counterfeit products. In this work we introduce the Blockchain technology and its usage and implications for the supply chain certification. Initially its main aspects are illustrated together with its historical origins; in the next sections the specific issues related to supply chain and the certification of products are examined, and then we propose an adoption scheme of blockchain technology for fostering a sound and effective certification of the production in the entire supply chain