Creating trust through digital traceability: sustainable food chains and new ways to connect producers and consumers.

数字化工具有可能解决英国食品和农业可持续发展的关键挑战，但前提是它们必须快速、便宜、简单，并针对用户的需求。他们能相信标签上写的吗？这些肉是在当地道德地饲养的吗？种植这些土豆用了什么化学物质？购买它们可以支持该地区的小企业，并确保他们的家庭健康，营养餐？为了找到答案，他们用智能手机扫描产品的QR码，以获得免费、清晰的信息，其中可能包括地图或网络摄像头链接到生产该产品的农场。一位农民在一场牛拍卖会上想知道该买哪头公牛，作为扩大牛群的一部分。他们能相信他们所看到的吗？动物是否像看起来那样健康？哪些血系最具生产力？他们能确定这些动物得到了很好的照顾，没有暴露在破坏性的疾病中吗？他们扫描动物的耳标进行销售，并获取有关其血统，遗传学，健康和以前在全国各地的运动数据。在这些情况和许多其他情况下，数字技术可以通过重新连接消费者和生产者来促进更可持续的生产和消费，但我们需要更多地了解如何最好地让不同的用户参与进来，他们需要什么样的信息，以什么形式提供信息，以及如何在信息过载和公众日益不信任的情况下推广新技术。食物应该告诉我们什么故事，这些故事如何通过数字方式讲述？该项目将创建和测试数字化工具，通过特定产品和动物的可追溯性将食品消费和生产联系起来。这些工具有一个重要的共同点：特异性。通过扫描QR码或RFID耳标，消费者和农民获得的不仅仅是在网站上简单地提供通用信息-他们可以访问“物联网”，其中物理对象（产品，动物）嵌入数字技术，并通过灵活的信息网络相互连接，用于各种目的。该项目将使用深入的、定性的社会科学实地研究技术，通过“野外”（在线、农场和商店）现场测试，吸引用户并确保他们的投入。它将评估数字技术如何在农民和购物者之间建立新的关系并改善现有关系。该研究将解决的问题，如：1。数字技术对食品和农业部门以及消费者-生产者重新联系的有效性如何？2.如何开发和加强现有技术的能力和可获得性，以利用重新连接和信息交流的潜力？3.数字技术如何支持农业和食品业务的可持续性、消费者的生活质量、可持续消费实践和可持续的未来农村？研究人员将与一系列食物链和农村发展项目合作伙伴合作。他们将持续参与研究进程，并从研究结果中受益。合作伙伴包括：Defra;英国牛肉和羊肉执行;红色拖拉机保证;约克郡农业协会的食品，农业和农村网络;欧盟领导人农村发展方案的地方行动小组，以及约克郡理事会东骑马经济发展部。这项研究将通过以下方式产生影响：广泛利用项目伙伴的网络来传播和讨论研究结果;通过农业和食品贸易报刊提供研究结果;用户团体广泛参与研究;在农业展览和食品节上进行实地研究。该项目将开发和试用与相关用户群体相关的应用程序，在田间与农民和商店与消费者一起在线和“野外”现场测试。

Digital tools have the potential to address key challenges to make food and farming in Britain more sustainable, but only if they are quick, cheap, easy and specific to users' needs.A shopper is wondering what to buy for Sunday dinner but concerned about where their food comes from. Can they trust what it says on the label? Was that meat reared locally and ethically? What chemicals were used to grow those potatoes? Can buying them support small businesses in the region and also ensure a healthy, nutritious meal for their family? To find out, they scan the product's QR code with their smartphone to access free, clear information, including perhaps a map or webcam link to the farm where it was produced. A farmer at a cattle auction is wondering which bull to buy as part of expanding their herd. Can they trust what they see - is the animal as healthy as it looks? Which bloodlines will be most productive? Can they be sure that the animals have been well cared for and not exposed to damaging diseases? They scan the ear-tag of the animal for sale and access data about its pedigree, genetics, health and previous movements across the country. In these situations and many others, digital technologies can promote more sustainable production and consumption through reconnecting consumers and producers, but we need to know more about how best to involve diverse users, what information they need and in what form and how to promote new technologies in the face of information overload and increasing public distrust. What stories should food be able to tell us and how can these stories be told digitally?This project will create and test digital tools to link food consumption and production through the traceability of specific products and animals. These tools have one important thing in common: specificity. By scanning QR codes or RFID ear-tags, consumers and farmers gain more than the simple provision of generic information on websites - they can access an 'Internet of Things', where physical objects (products, animals) are embedded with digital technologies and interlinked by flexible networks of information for diverse purposes. The project will use in-depth, qualitative social science field research techniques to engage users and secure their input through live testing 'in the wild' (online, on-farm and in-shop). It will evaluate how digital technologies can forge new and improve existing relationships between farmers and shoppers. The research will address questions such as :1. How effective can digital technologies be for the food and farming sectors and for consumer-producer reconnection?2. How can the capabilities and accessibility of existing technologies be developed and enhanced to exploit the potential for reconnection and information exchange?3. How can digital technologies support farm and food business sustainability, consumers' quality of life, sustainable consumption practices and a sustainable future countryside?The researchers will work with a set of food chain and rural development project partners. They will have continuous input into the research process and benefit from its findings. Partners are: Defra; English Beef and Lamb Executive; Red Tractor Assurance; Yorkshire Agricultural Society's Food, Farming and Rural Network; a Local Action Group of the EU LEADER rural development programme, and the Economic Development Department of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The research will generate impact by making extensive use of the project partners' networks to disseminate and discuss research findings; by making findings available through the farming and food trade press; by the extensive involvement of user groups in the research and by conducting research in the field at agricultural shows and food festivals. The project will develop and trial apps relevant to the user groups involved, testing these both live online and live 'in the wild', in fields with farmers and shops with consumers.