Big Data's Potential to Improve Food Supply Chain Environmental Sustainability and Food Safety

Big data is emerging as an important information technology to guide decisions within agri-food supply chains. Big data can be used potentially to differentiate and identify final products based on underlying farm production attributes demanded by consumers in the supply chain. This paper considers the challenges faced by the supply chain in responding to consumer demands and adoption of big data technologies in agricultural production through closer evaluation of two examples—one of which considers the use of a sustainability metric and the other considers the potential to increase food safety. We conclude with some comments about likely future issues and implications of the potential widespread adoption of big data