Doctoral Dissertation Research: Blockchain and the Frontiers of Provenance and Risk in the Cattle Ranching Industry

本博士论文研究项目通过探索养牛场主在畜牧业中使用技术来调查记录和核算所有权和责任的当代手段。研究人员将专注于采用区块链的美国牧场，区块链是比特币等加密货币的记录保存机制。农业是美国经济中第一批在与加密货币无关的现实世界中实施区块链的部门之一。从历史上看，牧场主已经证明了所有权，并通过品牌和铁丝网的组合控制牛的移动，这两个都有重大的社会影响，超越了养牛业。牛肉生产商现在正在测试区块链的承诺，即公开详细的交易信息，旨在使消费者能够自我验证其食品的来源和质量，而不是信任通常不透明的供应链。该项目培训研究生科学数据收集和分析方法，探索采用尖端技术的动机和潜在的社会影响。该项目测试的假设，肉类生产的基础设施主要是围绕风险的概念组织。粮食生产所固有的一些不确定性，如天气，实际上是不可能预测的;其他一些不确定性，如捕食损失或过失责任，在很大程度上是可以预测的。可预测的损失可以量化为风险，从而通过保险或其他转移手段加以管理。调查人员将在牛仔中进行观察性研究，与立法者和技术推广者进行访谈，并进行档案研究，调查使用品牌，铁丝网和区块链作为提高所有权确定性的来源技术的背景和动机。这项调查将揭示整个牛肉供应链的风险分布，包括谁承担风险负担以及谁能够利用风险创造价值。这项研究将有助于更好地了解风险是如何被设想和商品化的。这种理解的深远影响包括美国肉类供应的安全性，供应链的一般配置，以及农业创新与财产所有权和责任概念之间的关系。该奖项反映了NSF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 doctoral dissertation research project investigates contemporary means of recording and accounting for ownership and responsibility by exploring cattle ranchers’ use of technology in animal husbandry. The researcher will focus on U.S. ranches that have adopted blockchain, the record-keeping mechanism underlying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Agriculture is among the first sectors of the U.S. economy to implement blockchain in real-world cases unrelated to cryptocurrency. Historically, ranchers have proven ownership and controlled movement of cattle through a combination of branding and barbed wire, both of which had significant social impacts beyond cattle husbandry. Beef producers are now testing blockchain’s promise of making detailed transactional information publicly available, aiming to enable consumers to self-verify the provenance and quality of their food rather than placing trust in often opaque supply chains. This project, which trains a graduate student in methods of scientific data collection and analysis, explores the motivations and potential social ramifications of cutting-edge technology adoption. The project tests the hypothesis that the infrastructure of meat production is primarily organized around notions of risk. Some uncertainties inherent to food production, such as weather, are practically impossible to predict; others, such as predation loss or negligence liability, are to a greater extent predictable. Predictable losses can be quantified as risk and thus managed through insurance or other means of transfer. The investigator will perform observational research among cowhands, conduct interviews with lawmakers and technology promoters, and undertake archival research, inquiring into the context and motivation for the use of branding, barbed wire, and blockchain as provenance technologies that increase certainty of ownership. This inquiry will reveal the distribution of risk across the beef supply chain, including who bears the burdens of risk and who is able to leverage it to generate value. The research will contribute to a greater understanding of how risk is conceived of and commodified. The far-reaching impacts of such an understanding include the safety of the US meat supply, the general configuration of supply chains, and the relationship between agricultural innovation and notions of ownership and responsibility with respect to property.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.