JM Smucker SJM (NYSE), a US leading Coffee manufacturer has adopted IBM’s Food Trust blockchain technology. This will allow its coffee customers to trace the 1850 Colombian coffee brand right from the farm to the point of sale; it will also provide a means to be able to reward the coffee farmers for their hard work.
JM Smucker has partnered with Farmer connect, a company that is focused and dedicated on improving transparency and sustainability in the Agricultural supply chain. They hope to draw coffee lovers and producers closer together as the press release indicates.
Consumers can trace the coffee back to the region of origin by easily scanning a QR Code that comes with the bag of Coffee. Their devices will direct them to the Thank Farmer Website, where information about the location of the coffee is provided. This will help them build transparency and confidence in customers.
“We know that consumers are increasingly interested in transparency in the supply chains for the products they enjoy and we have been committed to helping promote this as part of our coffee sustainability strategy,” said Joe Stanziano, senior vice president and general manager of coffee at The J.M. Smucker Company.
JM Smucker achieves this transparency by using the blockchain to record data about the supply chain events which includes: beans used, ports they were shipped to etc. All of this info is recorded on an immutable ledger thereby creating accountability in the part of the team.