Source: COUNCIL ON FOOD, AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS, INC., THE submitted to NRP
IMPACTS OF A DIGITALLY DRIVEN GLOBAL ECONOMY: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR U.S. AGRICULTURE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1023118
Grant No.
2021-67023-34034
Cumulative Award Amt.
$50,000.00
Proposal No.
2019-08476
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 15, 2021
Project End Date
Jan 14, 2022
Grant Year
2021
Program Code
[A1642]- AFRI Foundational - Social Implications of Emerging Technologies
Recipient Organization
COUNCIL ON FOOD, AGRICULTURAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS, INC., THE
55 DUDLEY RD
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8520
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) conference focuses specifically on the social and policy implications of digital technologies in the agricultural and food sectors. The rationale for this conference is: Modern monitoring and commerce-driving technologies in supply chains, agricultural production, and international markets are disrupting the agricultural and food marketplace. These technologies will challenge the U.S. competitiveness in food, agricultural, and resource markets. We can address these challenges with thoughtful consideration of ramifications on market prices and related policy, information, and standards.The agricultural and food system depends upon a value chain that includes production and processing, associated services, and a domestic and global trading system encompassing all activities from the production of agricultural inputs to the delivery of food products to consumers. The emergence of blockchain technologies and e-commerce into these business interactions and trading activities disrupt the configuration of the food-supply chain and impact relationships among participants at various stages.The specific objectives of this conference are the following:Address the implementation of blockchain and e-commerce technologies in domestic and global food supply chains and how their implementation impact supply chain participants.Address the implications of these technologies for agriculture and the infrastructure needed to engage farmers and rural communities.Address the opportunities and challenges for agriculture due to future adoption and innovations.Address the immediate and future domestic and global policy implications of a more digitally driven global agricultural economy.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6046220301050%
8036110303050%
Knowledge Area
803 - Sociological and Technological Change Affecting Individuals, Families, and Communities; 604 - Marketing and Distribution Practices;

Subject Of Investigation
6110 - Economy of the United States and sectors thereof; 6220 - Marketing, processing, and supply firms other than cooperatives;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics; 3030 - Information and communication;
Goals / Objectives
Address the implementation of blockchain and e-commerce technologies in domestic and global food supply chains and how their implementation impact supply chain participants.Address the implications of these technologies for agriculture and the infrastructure needed to engage farmers and rural communities.Address the opportunities and challenges for agriculture due to future adoption and innovations.Address the immediate and future domestic and global policy implications of a more digitally driven global agricultural economy.Inform future NIFA program initiatives that will address how data are collected, assembled into information and impacting the digitization of food system and linkages to the supply chain and its impact on food nutrition security.
Project Methods
The conference will include two main strands of engagement across government, private, and public sector participants:What are the policy and market implications of blockchain technology?How can we create dynamic policy for e-commerce?The conference commences with a series of speakers during a morning session followed by breakout groups discussing issues such as developing a dynamic policies and ensuring market efficiency and access. Following the afternoon breakout sessions, the group will reconvene, distill the overarching themes and then move forward to develop strategies and approaches to address these themes. The outcome of the event will be a white paper highlighting the discussion, the lessons learned and the future challenges to the food system and policy development. The event will be recorded and transcribed so that we can easily put it into conference proceedings. A facilitator will keep the group on track for our task of outlining future research needs at the intersection of technology and agricultural markets.

Progress 01/15/21 to 01/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience: The conference brought together social and data scientists, legal scholars, IT specialists, industry leaders, and the public sector to assess the benefits and risks on agriculture and food supply chains. Changes/Problems:Initially, we planned an in-personevent. However, the pandemic erupted, and we switched to a virtual event. NIFA supported the transition, and we ended up doubling the event's impact, resulting in two virtual events while reaching a diverse audience with stakeholders located throughout the food supply chains. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The two conferences increased participants' knowledge and skills. The presentations addressed immediate and future data needs, Data ownership, and access. The presentations also discussed howthese technologies expand market access for small and medium-sized enterprises and how they will affect cost and agricultural competitiveness.In addition, digitalization and blockchain technologies will redistributerisk throughout the supply chain, and tracing will profoundly impact food security issues. It is estimated that the use of smart contracts (which are proposed to be embedded within blockchain) could reduce human involvement in contract performance and payment obligation interchanges by up to 50% (IBM).Digital fingerprints require (computational) energy to generate. Perhaps especially relevant to when cryptocurrencies use blockchain. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The two conferences are available online, and we introduced links to the conferences on our website (www.CFARE.org and www.CFARE.live). In addition, we are completing a report on the topic that will summarize the information in an electronic form and be used in the future to inform stakeholders further. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? ↵ The Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) conferences (April 2021 & November 2021) focused on digital technologies' social and policy implications in the agricultural and food sectors. The meetingsdescribed modern monitoring and commerce-driving technologies in supply chains, agricultural production, and international markets before and during the pandemic. The presentations showed how these advancementsdisrupted the agricultural and food marketplace and affected food security. Other presentations showed how these technologies challenge the U.S. competitiveness in food, farming, and resource markets, contributing to better monitoring and verifying produce and cattle production. Finally, with thoughtful consideration of ramifications on market prices and related policy, information, and standards, the various presentations showed how it contributes to e-commerce and direct marketing while offering more accurate monitoring and managing supply chains. The agricultural and food system depends upon a value chain that includes production and processing, associated services, and a domestic and global trading system encompassing all activities from the production of agricultural inputs to the delivery of food products to consumers. The two conferences showed how the emergence of (blockchain) technologies and e-commerce into these business interactions and trading activities disrupt the configuration of the food-supply chain and impacts relationships among participants at various stages. The events became much more timely since the importance of these technologies throughout the pandemic was key to many supply chains. Concerning the specific objectives of this conference, the presentations showed how the implementation of blockchain ande-commerce technologies led to the emergence of supply chains that support agricultural and food supply chains during the pandemic. The talks also illustrated how digital and blockchain technologies affect the food supply chains, from cattle production and dairy to retail stores and consumers. In addition, the presentations discussed how we could harness the opportunities emerging to improve agricultural competitiveness while highlighting the challenges we face. The importance of monitoring prices and how digital platforms can support it. We are completing areport intended to serve and inform NIFA program initiatives. The report will discusshow data is collected and traded using electronic platforms(e.g., for vegetables and fruits) and how this information can impact our food systems while identifying the linkages to the supply chain and its impact on food nutrition security.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: https://www.cfare.live/april-2021/agenda
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: https://www.cfare.live/november-2021/agenda
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: https://www.cfare.org/events
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: C-FARE Report titled "Impacts of a Digitally Driven Global Economy: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Agriculture"