LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- At the 2020
Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Farmer Connect and IBM (NYSE: IBM)
today announced a new consumer mobile application called "Thank My
Farmer," which will allow coffee drinkers to trace their coffee to
understand its quality and origin, and even support the farmer who
grew the beans. Developed with leading companies across the global
supply chain including Beyers Koffie, The Colombian Coffee Growers
Federation (FNC), ITOCHU Corporation, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE),
The J.M. Smucker Company, Rabobank, RGC Coffee, Volcafe, Sucafina
and Yara International, Farmer Connect is a traceability
platform powered by IBM Blockchain designed to help increase
traceability, efficiency and fairness in the coffee supply
chain.
Coffee drinkers today consume more than half a trillion cups per
year, and as many as two-thirds of consumers aged 19-24 surveyed
say they prefer to buy coffee that is sustainably grown and
responsibly sourced. But despite progress by international
certifying bodies, there still a lack of knowledge around the need
for coffee farmers to earn a sufficient living for bringing their
product to market.
Its large, global supply chain makes tracing coffee difficult.
Once grown, beans make several stops, including at coops,
exporters, shippers, importers, roasters, distributors, and
retailers before finally reaching the consumer. Each participant in
this complex system tracks only their small segment of the journey,
and each uses its own system to log data. This means that
information about the product is fragmented.
Consumers hoping to close the gap between their neighborhood
barista and the farmer who grew their coffee now have a solution,
thanks to the same blockchain technology behind IBM Food Trust.
Farmer Connect is introducing the "Thank My Farmer" app, a
consumer-facing application that pulls information directly from
the blockchain in a standardized way that can be used across the
industry. It connects the user to farmers, traders, roasters and
brands. The information is presented on an interactive map,
allowing each product to tell a story in a simple and scalable way.
The "Thank My Farmer" app also presents sustainability projects in
coffee communities and an opportunity for consumers to support
them.
Blockchain technology brings all the parties in the coffee
supply chain together, simplifying the exchange and tracking of
information and payments, and enabling greater trust. It creates a
permanent digitized chain of transactions that cannot be altered.
Each network participant has an exact copy of the data, and
additions to the blockchain are shared throughout the network based
on each participant's level of permission. Farmers, wholesalers,
traders and retailers can interact more efficiently using
comprehensive, near real-time access to this data, and consumers
can have new insights about the origins of the products they
consume.
"The aim is humanizing each coffee drinker's relationship with
their daily cup," said David
Behrends, Founder and President of Farmer Connect.
"Consumers now can play an active role in sustainability governance
by supporting coffee farmers in developing nations. Through the
blockchain and this consumer app, we're creating a virtuous
cycle."
The new mobile application will launch to the general market at
the beginning of 2020. Users in the U.S. and Canada will be able to scan QR codes
on 1850® brand premium single-origin coffee. European
consumers will be able to access the "Thank My Farmer" app through
a new single-origin brand, Beyers 1769, roasted at Beyers
Koffie.
As the app expands in 2020, large and small companies will be
invited to join, and coffee drinkers will be able to support the
communities where their coffee is grown by funding local projects.
Farmer Connect is currently incorporating self-sovereign identity,
a new form of digital identity built on distributed ledger
technology, in collaboration with the Sovrin Foundation. This
closes the loop on a circular economy that will enhance smallholder
livelihoods while delivering transparency and a better experience
for the consumer.
This work with Farmer Connect is another example of IBM's impact
extending blockchain technology adoption across many industries and
use cases, transforming entire business processes and providing
consumers with more trusted insights. IBM has convened
groundbreaking blockchain networks in areas including food safety,
global shipping, trade finance, responsible mining and many
more.
"This project is another example of how blockchain technology
can enable a channel for real change," said Raj Rao, General
Manager, IBM Food Trust. "Blockchain is more than aspirational
business tech, it is used today to transform how people can build
trust in the goods they consume. For business, it can drive greater
transparency and efficiency."
For more information on Farmer Connect and the "Thank My Farmer"
app visit ibm.com/food. You can see it in action during CES by
visiting the IBM Booth, LVCC Central #14028, or by watching this
video.
About Beyers Koffie
Beyers Koffie is a leading,
sustainable private label coffee company serving the major players
in retail and coffee roasters in Europe, dating back since 1880. Beyers offers
a wide range of coffee products: beans, roast and ground, pads, and
a large variety of capsules produced in 2 sites in Belgium and Italy. http://www.beyers.eu
About the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC)
In 1927 the Colombian coffee growers organized themselves to create
an institution that would represent them both nationally and
internationally, defend their rights and seek ways to improve their quality of
life. The Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) is a non profit
and politically independent organization. As the foremost coffee
association in Colombia, FNC is
present in every rural region where coffee is grown. Its work
revolves around 540 000 coffee growers and their families ensuring
Colombian Coffee is grown in a sustainable manner, strengthening common
interests within coffee growing communities while positioning
Colombian Cofee as the best coffee in the world. The FNC advocates
for economic sustainability and believes it represents the most
important pillar of sustainability. The FNC sees Farmer Connect as
a platform that has the potential to generate more transparency
along the supply chain and help promote remunerative prices for
coffee producers. http://www.cafedecolombia.com
About IBM
IBM is recognized as the leading enterprise blockchain provider.
The company's research, technical and business experts have broken
barriers in transaction processing speeds, developed the most
advanced cryptography to secure transactions, and are contributing
millions of lines of open source code to advance blockchain for
businesses. IBM is the leader in open-source blockchain solutions
built for the enterprise. Since 2016, IBM has worked with hundreds
of clients across financial services, supply chain, government,
retail, digital rights management and healthcare to implement
blockchain applications, and operates a number of networks running
live and in production. The cloud-based IBM Blockchain Platform
delivers the end-to-end capabilities that clients need to quickly
activate and successfully develop, operate, govern and secure their
own business networks. IBM is an early member of Hyperledger, an
open-source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry
blockchain technologies. For more information about IBM Blockchain,
visit https://www.ibm.com/blockchain/ or follow us on Twitter
at @ibmblockchain.
About ITOCHU Corporation
The history of ITOCHU
Corporation dates back to 1858 when the Company's founder Chubei
Itoh commenced linen trading operations. Since then, ITOCHU has
evolved and grown over 160 years.
With approximately 110 bases in 63 countries, ITOCHU, one of
the leading sogo shosha, is engaging in domestic trading,
import/export, and overseas trading of various products such as
textile, machinery, metals, minerals, energy, chemicals, food,
general products, realty, information and communications
technology, and finance, as well as business investment in
Japan and overseas.
www.itochu.co.jp
About JDE
For more than 264 years, we have been
inspired by the belief that it's amazing what can happen over a cup
of coffee. Today our coffee & tea portfolio is available in
over 140 countries around the world through iconic household names
including Jacobs, Tassimo, Moccona, Senseo, L'OR, Douwe Egberts,
TiÒra, Super, Kenco, Pilao & Gevalia. For more information
visit www.jacobsdouweegberts.com
About The J. M. Smucker Company
Inspired by more than 120 years of business success and five
generations of family leadership, The J. M. Smucker Company makes
food that people and pets love. The Company's portfolio of 40+
brands, which are found in 90 percent of U.S. homes and countless
restaurants, includes iconic products consumers have always loved
such as Folgers®, Jif®, and Milk-Bone® plus new
favorites like Café Bustelo®, Smucker's® Uncrustables®
and Rachael Ray™ Nutrish®. Over the past two decades,
the Company has grown rapidly by thoughtfully acquiring leading and
emerging brands, while ensuring the business has a positive impact
on its 7,000+ employees, the communities it is a part of and the
planet. For more information about The J. M. Smucker Company, visit
jmsmucker.com.
The J. M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks
referenced herein, except for the following, which is used under
license: Rachael
Ray is a registered trademark of Ray Marks Co.
LLC.
About RGC Coffee
RGC Coffee is a 50-year-old privately held importer of green
coffee. Privately-owned & operated, providing in-depth
expertise to roasters and retailers in the premium and specialty
coffee markets. As a forward-thinking company, RGC promotes
sustainable development to preserve and enhance the communities and
ecosystems where coffee grows. RGC Coffee 3E (Elevate, Empower,
Elevate) Sustainability Program currently covers 23 active projects
in 5 Latin American origin countries to help promote the
social well-being of farmers, their families & communities.
We believe that collaboration is the key to unlocking the
power of our work in sustainability. To learn more about RGC
Coffee, please visit rgccoffee.com
About Volcafe Ltd.
Established in 1857, Volcafe is one of the world's largest coffee
merchants, providing beans for over 80 million cups a year. We
pride ourselves on our quality and range, sourcing from small farms
selling a few kilos of coffee cherries in Papua New Guinea to large plantations in
Brazil dealing in hundreds of
tonnes of export-ready product. Our reputation has been built on
great client relationships based on service, quality, reliability
and sustainability, and we continually aspire to be 'the world's
best sustainable coffee partner'. We play our part in sustainable
coffee through our in-house programme, Volcafe Way, through which
over 250 Volcafe agronomists in ten origins help achieve our goal
of farmer economic sustainability.
http://www.edfman.com/commodities/coffee
https://volcafeway.com/
About Rabobank
Rabobank is an international financial
services provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles.
It offers retail banking, wholesale banking, private banking,
leasing and real estate services. As a cooperative
bank, Rabobank puts customers' interests first in its
services. It serves approximately 8.3 million clients around the
world and is active in 40 countries. It is committed to making a
substantial contribution to welfare and prosperity in the Netherlands and to feeding the world
sustainably. www.rabobank.com
About Sucafina Group
Sucafina is a leading sustainable "Farm to Roaster" coffee company,
with a family tradition in commodities that stretches back to 1905.
Today, with more than 900 employees in 28 countries, the Group is a
leading player in the world of green, roasted, instant coffee
merchanting. With its main trading arm based in Geneva, Sucafina sources coffee from most
producing countries, often directly from farmers, to provide its
partners with sustainable value across the global supply chain.
Learn more at www.sucafina.com
About Yara International
Yara grows knowledge to
responsibly feed the world and protect the planet, to fulfill our
vision of a collaborative society, a world without hunger and a
planet respected. To meet these commitments, we have taken the lead
in developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work
closely with partners throughout the whole food value chain to
develop more climate-friendly crop nutrition solutions. In
addition, we are committed to working towards sustainable mineral
fertilizer production. We foster an open culture of diversity and
inclusion that promotes the safety and integrity of our employees,
contractors, business partners, and society at large. Founded in
1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has a worldwide presence with
about 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries. In
2018, Yara reported revenues of USD 12.9
billion. www.yara.com
CONTACT: Christina Trejo,
Christina.Trejo@ibm.com, 848.702.4607
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