Trace coffee back to the smallholder and pay them directly
Sector: Secondary sector · Industry: Food and beverage industry · Organisation: Farmer Connect SA · Maturity level: Production
Swiss company Farmer Connect SA runs a platform on IBM Food Trust where every tier of the coffee supply chain records its events. Through the consumer app Thank My Farmer, coffee drinkers scan a QR code on the pack and see where the beans came from along with information about the farm, and can support projects in the region of origin. The consortium includes the Colombian growers' federation FNC, ITOCHU, The J.M. Smucker Company with its 1850 brand, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Beyers Koffie, RGC Coffee, Sucafina, Volcafe, Yara International and Rabobank.
Documentation status
- Project status: Production — Presented at CES in January 2020 and initially launched in the same year in the USA and Canada through products from Beyers Koffie; 1850 by J.M. Smucker was the first US brand in the app.
- Evidence: Evidence medium
- Editorial review: pending
Description
The Swiss company Farmer Connect operates a platform on IBM Food Trust that allows coffee to be traced back to the individual producer farm. In coffee trading, up to a dozen intermediate stages lie between smallholder and end customer, so producers remain anonymous and end customers cannot verify origin and sustainability claims. With the Thank My Farmer app, a QR code on the packaging suffices to view the origin of the beans and information about the producer farm.
Farmer Connect presented the solution at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2020 and initially launched it in the USA and Canada the same year through products from Beyers Koffie. The 1850 brand of the J.M. Smucker Company was the first US brand to use the Thank My Farmer app and promoted transparency of its Colombian origin. The technical basis is IBM Food Trust on Hyperledger Fabric, in which all stages of the coffee supply chain record their events without any competing stage managing the records of the others. The consortium includes actors from the producer side through trade and roasting to financing, such as the Colombian producer association FNC, ITOCHU, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, RGC Coffee, Sucafina, Volcafe, Yara International and Rabobank. Besides pure traceability, the application offers a channel through which consumers can directly support projects in the origin region. The case is therefore less a pure traceability project and more an attempt to make an anonymous trade chain visible to both the end customer and the producer.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
For roasters, traders and brands, the case shows how origin claims can be verified across a multi-stage chain without any single actor gaining data sovereignty. Companies with similarly fragmented raw material chains, such as in cocoa, tea or spices, can transfer the consortium structure of producer associations, traders and brands.
B2C — consumers perspective
Coffee drinkers can trace via a QR code on the packaging from which region and farm the beans originate. Additionally, the app allows direct support for a project in the origin region.
Employees perspective
In raw material purchasing and quality assurance, the work shifts from checking individual certificates to analysing continuous supply chain data. Sustainability and brand managers receive a reliable basis for their communication but must ensure data collection reaches down to smallholder farms.
Benefits
General
- Origin claims are verifiable across the entire chain for the first time instead of only being certified step by step.
- End customers receive direct insight into the origin via a QR code on the packaging.
- Producer association, traders, roasters, brands and financiers collaborate in a consortium.
- A direct reimbursement channel reaches projects in the origin region.
B2B — organisations
- Reliable basis for origin and sustainability claims in brand communication.
- A transferable consortium model for other fragmented raw material chains.
B2C — consumers
- Traceable origin of purchased beans via a QR code.
- Possibility to directly support projects in the origin region.
Employees
- Continuous supply chain data instead of isolated individual certificates.
- Clearer basis for sustainability reports and due diligence obligations.
Challenges
General
- Data collection must extend to smallholder farms, which is technically and organisationally demanding.
- Competing trade stages must agree on common data collection standards.
- The benefit for the producer depends on end customers actually using the app.
B2B — organisations
- Maintaining supply chain data causes ongoing effort at every stage.
Employees
- Quality assurance and purchasing must continuously monitor the completeness of data collection.
Technology foundation
The platform relies on IBM Food Trust and thus on Hyperledger Fabric as a permissioned ledger for supply chain events. A shared ledger is necessary here because up to a dozen competing stages intervene between producer and end customer in coffee trading, and none of them should manage the records of the others.
Implementation examples
Thank My Farmer for coffee from 1850 and Beyers Koffie
In the coffee trade, there are up to a dozen intermediaries between smallholder farmers and the end customer; producers remain anonymous and lack bargaining power, end customers cannot verify origin and sustainability claims, and brands cannot prove their supply chain.
Farmer Connect operates a platform on IBM Food Trust that allows coffee to be traced back to the farm. Through the Thank My Farmer app, end customers scan a QR code on the package and see origin and producer information.
The solution was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2020 and launched the same year in the USA and Canada with products from Beyers Koffie; 1850 by The J.M. Smucker Company was the first US brand in the app. The consortium includes the Colombian producer association FNC, ITOCHU, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, RGC Coffee, Sucafina, Volcafe, Yara International and Rabobank, covering production, trade, roasting and financing. Besides traceability, the application offers a channel through which consumers can directly support projects in the origin region.
Anonymity of producers, lack of verifiability of origin claims for end customers, and the difficulty of building a common data basis across competing trade stages.
Tags
Supply chain, Coffee, Proof of origin, IBM Food Trust, Consumer app, Smallholders