Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say.
Here at BeefLedger, time is racing at a serious rate of knots. Here’s why.
Presenting to the United Nations in Nanjing, China
Next week, we’re heading back to China at the invitation of the China Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to present our project to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s e-Agriculture Solutions Forum.
We’re rapt to have our work recognised at this level, and are looking forward to sharing our journey and experiences with the 150 or so delegates from around the world. We’ll also be attending the adjacent Trade and Technology Show for a couple of days in Nanjing, where we get to share our thoughts and capabilities and check out what else people from around the world are doing.
Engaging with the Ministry at this level is also part of BeefLedger’s commitment to supporting Australia’s ability to benefit from becoming part of the solutions for China’s ambitious Healthy China 2030 Plan. This policy vision, first articulated in 2016 and re-enforced by President Xi Jinping as recently as this week, includes a commitment to strengthening supply chain credentialing and streamlining the provision of data to enable efficient importation of foods and medicines.
Given the history and risk of beef fraud in China (a $2b cost to Australian producers annually, as estimated by PWC), improving data security and credentialing protocols in the context of China’s support for blockchain-technology enabled initiatives can play a pivotal role in the long-term value creation of the Australia’s beef exports to China.
NTI Collaboration – working with the insurance sector
Another step forward for the BeefLedger team is the recently inked collaboration agreement with NTI – the nation’s leading trucking insurance provider. The collaboration scopes out a field trial of a range of transport “tracking” technologies, to provide greater visibility of the movement of live animals and packaged products.
It’s a great chance for us to scope a range of technologies and consider the data that will be collected from the perspective of different actors in the supply chain; in this case, the insurance sector.
Credentialed Distribution – China
Our pending visit to China will also see us catch up with a number of our restaurant and wine partners in Shanghai. We are planning some events in mid-December to showcase our first shipment of credentialed product and will be working through the finer details.
The showcase events will see invited participants experience the exceptional quality of the product itself (a fine Angus beef from Blue Lake Station on the Limestone Coast in South Australia), after they scan and validate the product’s journey and confirm the credentials of the packaging.
This is a case of 21st century technology supporting Australian agricultural production excellence.
Our whirlwind trip will conclude with further discussions with Hong Kong distribution partners with whom we are working to showcase the value of a technology-credentialed imported beef offering. The “Australian beef” monicker is widely used in Hong Kong and Taiwan as a “point of different”. This “country of origin” claim is not only found in Japanese and Korean BBQ restaurants, but is also a feature of many Taiwanese beef noodle shops where the “beef” is the hero.
A world first: Export shipment locked in
Our first export run is now locked in, with processing and packaging dates confirmed.
We believe this will be the world’s first ever independent blockchain-credentialed shipment of beef. And certainly the first from Australia. Importantly, we are actually integrating Blockchain data security with a range of other innovations in packaging, to deliver a multi-layered credentialing outcome.
The credentialing offered is only the beginning, with many layers to come in the future. But our priority has been to get something tangible in front of collaborators so we can begin to gain active feedback based on user experience.
Product will leave Australia in the second week of December for Shanghai. There’s still some loose-ends as we focus efforts towards D-Day, and we’d like to say a big thanks so far to those who’ve gone out of their way to accommodate our (at times) out of the ordinary requirements.
So, a big shout out to the team at Northern Cooperative Meat Company, Orora Limited, Blue Lake Station, TrackTech and UDT for the efforts to date. A few other collaborators will soon come into their own, as we turn our focus to documentation and transactional procedures … you know who you are!!
