From farm to fork: overcoming challenges in the food supply chain

Data and technology can enable sustainable transformation in food and agriculture supply chains through improved transparency, traceability, and collaboration across stakeholders.

On Tuesday 21st May, Innovation Forum hosted a virtual event in partnership with Cargill, exploring how data and technology can drive sustainable transformation in the food and agriculture industry, and transform farming through sustainable practices. The panel explored topics such as aligning data to improve transparency, leveraging digitalisation for sustainable sourcing, and how digital transformation can empower farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture.

The discussion focused on how the alignment of methodologies and the sharing of cross-commodity, cross-supplier sustainability data and insights are enabling enhanced traceability and more sustainable sourcing across agricultural supply chains. This is providing brands and consumers with greater transparency into the journey of their food, from origin to point-of-purchase. The discussions underscored the need for collaboration, innovative data collection methods, and the strategic use of advanced technologies to overcome the challenges and seize the opportunities in building more sustainable agricultural supply chains.

To follow is a summary of the key points, challenges and solutions discussed.

Technological solutions, transparency and regulatory compliance
Challenges

While technology is crucial, it must be seen as an enabler rather than a complete solution, emphasising the importance of actionable data.
Building trust in agricultural supply chains requires transparent sharing of data about the origins and movements of crops. This transparency is essential for both consumer trust and regulatory compliance but can be difficult to achieve due to the complexity and number of actors in the supply chain.
While blockchain can enhance trust by providing immutable records, its implementation is not always necessary or beneficial in all contexts. Determining when and where to use blockchain technology effectively is a challenge.
Greenwashing is an increasing concern.

Opportunities

The use of AI and machine learning can provide accurate, reliable data and prevent greenwashing speculation. Machine learning and AI are successfully used to predict sustainable practices, detect cover crops and monitor land-use changes.
AI helps maintain data quality by identifying outliers, aiding in timely responses to issues such as deforestation and supporting projects such as Nestle’s project to decarbonise its dairy supply chain.
The use of advanced technologies including AI and machine learning enhances data accuracy and visibility, while blockchain, though often overhyped, can be useful in specific contexts where trust is a significant issue. Practical applications also involve using remote sensing and modelling to reduce survey fatigue and enhance data reliability. Blockchains can be useful to eliminate distrust, providing secure and permanent records.
Regulation such as the EU deforestation regulation (EUDR) are reshaping data practices, necessitating early preparation and alignment across IT and sustainability departments. Companies are focusing on these practical steps to ensure compliance.
Data protection can be managed through encryption and selective data sharing (masked/unmasked data).

Data collection, scalability and farmer collaboration
Challenges

Smallholder farmers and other upstream actors may lack motivation to participate in data collection efforts. Finding ways to incentivise these stakeholders, such as through compensation, is necessary to ensure comprehensive data collection.
Repeated data requests from multiple sources can lead to survey fatigue, decreasing the willingness of suppliers to provide data. Innovative data collection methods, including remote sensing, are needed to alleviate this burden.

Opportunities

Practical methods such as equipping stakeholders with offline solutions can help digitalise transactions and support data sharing both upstream and downstream.
Suggestions for incentivising smallholder farmers include paying farmers for their data to encourage engagement.
Utilising remote sensing technologies and sampling methods can reduce the burden on suppliers for data collection.
Segmenting supply chains to understand and collaborate with individual farms is essential to maintaining the personal aspect in large-scale operations.

Sectoral change, collaboration and standardisation
Challenges

Transformative sectoral change is needed to address global challenges such as climate change and human rights issues, including forced labour and child labour.
Monitoring and mitigating human rights risks (e.g. child labour or forced labour) in complex supply chains require specific metrics and consistent data collection, which can be difficult to standardise and enforce.
Achieving industry-wide changes and addressing global challenges requires collaboration across different sectors and stakeholders, which can be difficult to coordinate and manage effectively.
Transparency in supply chains is complex due to varied digital capabilities and language barriers across different parties (smallholders, large corporations, etc).
Different companies and stakeholders often use varying methodologies and standards for data collection and reporting. This inconsistency makes it challenging to compare and integrate data across the supply chain, leading to inefficiencies and potential inaccuracies.

Opportunities

Partnerships and involvement from shareholders and farmers are critical, particularly in meeting new regulatory demands and driving positive change.
Industry collaboration on naming conventions and data standards, such as GS1 location data and WBCSD Product Carbon Footprint initiatives, helps ensure consistency and comparability of data, facilitating more effective sustainability measures.
Developing scalable frameworks for data sharing that can handle the volume and complexity of data in agricultural supply chains is essential for efficiency and accuracy. This requires significant investment in technology and infrastructure.
Standardising methodologies and providing transparent data builds trust and helps manage risks.

Webinar panel

Allison Kopf, CEO, TRACT
Joanna Fowler, IT Sustainability Manager, Nestlé
Matt Wood, Senior Director, Sustainability Digital, Data & Analytics, Cargill

The event was moderated by Innovation Forum's Ian Welsh. This webinar was held in partnership with Cargill.