# Trace agricultural commodities across supply chains

> Nestlé piloted an open blockchain platform with OpenSC to achieve end-to-end traceability for dairy and palm oil supply chains. During the initial phase, the food corporation tracked milk from farms in New Zealand directly to company processing plants and warehouses. Additional pilot applications focused on palm oil sourcing to verify sustainability claims and transparently demonstrate responsible procurement practices.

**Sector:** Secondary sector · **Industry:** Food and beverage industry · **Organisation:** Nestlé, OpenSC (WWF-Australia & BCG Digital Ventures) · **Maturity level:** Pilot

Canonical URL: https://www.sapientblock.com/en/use-cases/nestle-agrarrohstoffe-entlang-lieferkette-lueckenlos-rueckverfolgen

## Documentation status

- **Project status:** Pilot
- **Evidence:** Evidence medium
- **Editorial review:** pending

## Description

Nestlé launched a pioneering pilot project to map raw material flows from producers to industrial processing via the OpenSC platform. The system immutably records every transaction step in a shared data ledger, creating a common data basis for all partners. This enables food manufacturers to comprehensively prove sustainability and origin claims to partners and consumers.

In July 2019, Nestlé initiated the trial of open blockchain technology in cooperation with OpenSC, a venture founded by WWF Australia and BCG Digital Ventures. The initiative aimed to make the flow of critical agricultural raw materials independently verifiable and to securely record data about cultivation locations and processing stations. In the first phase, the pilot focused on milk transports from New Zealand farms to the company’s processing facilities and warehouses. In parallel, feasibility studies for palm oil supply chains were conducted to digitally verify deforestation risks and procurement policies. The technology allows data points from various actors along complex supply chains to be combined without a central party claiming absolute data sovereignty.

## Benefits

- Faster resolution of quality issues at interfaces
- Reduction of manual coordination processes between suppliers and processors
- Transparent traceability of raw material origins
- Increased trust in ethical production standards
- Complete documentation of raw material origins and delivery routes
- Enhanced tamper resistance of sustainability certificates
- More efficient verification along multi-stage supply chains
- Reduced bureaucratic inspection effort in operational procurement
- Direct insight into shipment and raw material status

## Challenges

- Integration effort into existing ERP and inventory management systems of supply chain partners
- Capture of reliable primary data at the interface with agricultural producers
- Standardisation of data formats across diverse international suppliers
- Training in new digital documentation systems at the operational level

## Technology foundation

The OpenSC platform is based on permissioned DLT architectures such as Hyperledger Besu and links decentralized ledgers with digital tracking technology. It allows immutable storage of origin and transaction data across distributed actors.

## Sources

- [Nestle implements blockchain system for control of supply of food](https://tadviser.com/index.php/Project:Nestle_implements_a_blockchain_system_for_control_of_supply_of_food)
- [Nestlé breaks new ground with open blockchain pilot](https://www.nestle.com/media/pressreleases/allpressreleases/nestle-open-blockchain-pilot)
- [Nestlé Tests Public Blockchains For Dairy Supply Chain](https://www.forbes.com/sites/benjaminpirus/2019/07/09/nestle-tests-public-blockchain-for-dairy-supply-chain/)