It’s been a while since the last official Chairman’s Highlights, but if you’ve been following us on social media you’ll know that BeefLedger is cranking up the momentum. So, what’s news?
The integration of the “real world” of beef exports to China and technology development continues apace. We are strong believers in getting products into the hands of people so that we can get continual feedback and refine and improve the work.
And that’s exactly what we’ve done.
First Ever Shipment of Blockchain Credentialed Beef Landed
As part of our Export Smarts Contract project, which is jointly funded by Food Agility CRC (www.foodagility.com), QUT, Asta and BeefLedger, we successfully delivered the first ever blockchain-credentialed shipment of Australian beef into China in January 2019.
This shipment saw beef processed from prime black Angus cattle drawn from Blue Lake Station (Limestone Coast, South Australia) delivered into Shanghai where we showcased the meat and the technology at two Industry Dinners.
The Dinners were a spectacular success. Thanks to all those involved in delivering two truly memorable events.
The product itself is now on sale, to both wholesale customers like restaurants, and household consumers directly. The feedback has been exceptional and the quality of the beef has been second to none.
Strategic Alliances Formed
We also caught up with a range of stakeholders in China from the technology, market distribution, value-adding and regulatory fields. BeefLedger will be back in China at the end of March (see Chef Exchange information below), and will be cementing a number of formal Strategic Alliances and Agreements while there.
Stay tuned for these announcements.
Say “No” to Fake Steak
BeefLedger beef is now being enjoyed in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Changshu, Chengdu, Wuhu and Guangzhou. This is just the tip of the iceberg as we focus on providing discerning consumers with products that they can be confident in. We look forward to supporting other Australian beef brands to sustain provenance-based value in the fluid and rapidly growing China market place.
BeefLedger supports Australian Day in Guangzhou
We were stoked to sponsor the Australian Day activities in Guangzhou for AustCham (South China). Mike Harding facilitated our involvement and we were really pleased to see so many people enjoy Australian hospitality and, of course, BeefLedger products.
Limestone Coast Collaboration
Since returning from China, the BeefLedger + QUT Team have been to the Limestone Coast working with local stakeholders to further enhance the provenance value narrative and export opportunities for the region. This has meant reaching out across different sectors, including engaging with the region’s exceptional wine producers like Di Giorgio’s.
Discussions with Di Giorgio’s wine maker gave us new insights into beef and wine pairings, with strong suggestions that the region’s Chardonnays should not be overlooked when matching wines to beef. It’s certainly something we look forward to exploring in the future.
Chef Exchange
We continue to promote the BeefLedger credentialing technology and products of excellence throughout China, and later this month will be partnering up with Chefs Outta Water (COW) to deliver an 8 Day – 5 City Culinary Exchange program.
The COW initiative is the brainchild of Simon Millcock and Chef Chris Holen. Simon’s from South Australia and Chris from Oregon in the US. Over the past 3 years, Simon and Chris has taken the idea of “global but local” and applied it to the promotion of cross-regional economic exchange with food as the platform.
COW-supported exchanges have seen events take place in China, Norway, North America, Mexico and Australia involving chefs from these countries as well as other places like Portugal and Korea. Aside from China (March / April; and possibly September), the 2019 program will see COW exchanges take place in other parts of SE Asia.
The COW-BeefLedger program for March / April will see Australian beef and BeefLedger technologies showcased in Guangzhou, Foshan, Huizhou, Shanghai and Changshu. The September program already has Expressions of Interest from partners in Shenzhen and Beijing.
Technologies in the Field
We’re passionate about integrating technologies with products of excellence. So, as part of our real life shipment of beef, we took the opportunity to road-test a whole host of technologies. These technologies touched on product tracking as well as packaging security, and often a combination of both.
At the heart of the field work is the need to identify viable, reliable and economic technologies that can capture and deliver data that can impact operational performance right through the supply chain, as well as validate payments at critical junctures. BeefLedger is as such at the forefront of working with a broad range of Internet of Things innovators and technology providers, as well as wider supply chain stakeholders, to evaluate and determine technologies that are “fit for purpose”.
Our approach is to be “technology agnostic”, so we are open to field testing as many different technologies as possible. We thank all those who have supplied their technologies to date for their openness to participating in the field tests, and look forward to working with IOT specialists to progress scaleable IOT-blockchain interactions.
On a personal note, I’d like to thank Mike Briers AO (CEO of Food Agility) for inviting me to present our learnings at a recent meeting of the IOT Alliance, and to all those in attendance for their questions and feedback.
