CNH2-S: Sustainable field-to-market supply chains enabled by blockchain networks

该项目旨在通过在食品供应链的消费者和农民之间建立更直接的渠道，实现更可持续的粮食和能源系统。消费者对支持可持续和环境友好的食品和能源生产方式越来越感兴趣。如果他们能确保可持续发展目标得到实现，他们会考虑为有助于清洁空气、水和自然环境的产品支付更多费用。农民和供应商也对改善从农田到市场的供应链感兴趣。信息技术和计算系统的进步可以让农民和供应商以消费者可以激励的方式跟踪他们的做法。区块链网络是一种安全存储和共享记录的计算方法，可以满足这一角色。然而，我们对区块链如何提高消费者对可持续产品的认识，激励农民参与可持续实践，并形成一个具有长期环境效益的动态系统的科学理解是有限的。该项目将评估区块链网络连接农民与消费者的可行性，从而增加提高可持续性的农业实践。这项研究将产生更广泛的影响，包括为农业和其他行业的区块链网络设计和原型的基本机制和指标的发展。将编写课程材料，教育K-12教师和代表性不足的少数民族学生了解b区块链网络的工程方面，以便更好地为未来的技术进步做好准备。此外，这些材料将被纳入生态系统流域整合（PEWI）模型，用于K-12教室。该项目将为区块链网络开发一个框架，将农民、供应商与消费者连接在一起，形成从“田间到市场”的供应链。该框架从经济成本、可及性、能源使用和信息效率等方面研究了最佳区块链网络设计。要考虑的一些因素包括网络结构、信息存储介质和事务模型。最佳设计还将考虑到消费者和农民的接受程度，以鼓励广泛参与。驱动假说是，当激励可以直接追溯到原始供应商时，消费者将愿意为产品支付更高的价格。这些发现可能导致开发市场驱动的激励制度的新方法，使消费者能够支持可持续的做法。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project seeks to enable more sustainable food and energy systems by creating more direct channels between consumers and farmers across food supply chains. Consumers have growing interest in supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly food and energy production practices. They will consider paying more for products that contribute towards cleaner air, water, and natural environments if they can be assured sustainability goals are being met. Farmers and suppliers are also interested in improving field-to-market supply chains. Advances in information technology and computational systems could allow farmers and suppliers to keep track of their practices in ways that consumers can incentivize. Blockchain networks are a computational approach to securely storing and sharing records that could fill this role. However, our scientific understanding of how blockchains could work to increase consumer awareness of sustainable products, incentivize farmer participation in sustainable practices, and lead to a dynamic system with long-term environmental benefits is limited. This project will evaluate the feasibility of blockchain networks to connect farmers to consumers and thereby increase agricultural practices that improve sustainability. Broader impacts from this study will include the development of fundamental mechanisms and metrics for the design and prototype of blockchain networks in agricultural and other industries. Curricular materials will be developed to educate K-12 teachers and underrepresented minority students on the engineering aspects of blockchain networks to better prepare them for future technological advances. Additionally, these materials will be incorporated into the People in Ecosystems Watershed Integration (PEWI) model for use in K-12 classrooms.The project will develop a framework for blockchain networks that connects farmers and suppliers to consumers in a field-to-market supply chain. The framework investigates optimal blockchain network designs in terms of economic cost, accessibility, energy use, and information efficiency. Some of the factors that will be considered include the network structure, the information storage medium, and the transaction model. The optimal design will also account for consumer and farmer acceptance to encourage broad participation. The driving hypothesis is that consumers will be willing to pay higher prices for products when the incentive can be traced directly to the original supplier. The findings could lead to novel approaches for developing market-driven incentive systems that empower consumers to support sustainable practices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.