In Uruguay the National Milk Institute (INALE) initiated an initiative to incorporate blockchain technology into artisan cheese factories due to the high level of work demanded by the sector. To carry out the project, INALE is in alliance with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) of the ORT Uruguay University.
The initiative is called “Promoting the traceability of artisan cheese through blockchain technology” and with it they seek to venture into technological traceability through the chain of blocks and show the production process of artisan cheeses.
Even this is a mock-up project, however, The FAO published on its website other main objectives that they intend to obtain if the proposal is accepted. One of them is to initially introduce, through training, workers to what blockchain technology is.
In addition “They plan to create aworkable prototype” in which the main actor is to promote traceability in the block chain through the creation of beneficial businesses for the artisanal cheese factory.
This same prototype would later be an object of study which will be inserted in “commercial farms” to give an account of its operation and the opportunities for improvement that it could offer.
According to the article published by the FAO, The main contributions to the project is “Promoting the traceability of artisanal cheese making through blockchain technology” are:
“1) Identify processes and collection of relevant and verifiable data that serve as inputs to design a prototype of a traceability system taking into account the characteristics of production and the users of the artisanal cheese sector in Uruguay. 2) Train artisanal cheese producers in the use of digital tools. 3) Introduce technology and innovation that promote digital transformation in the artisanal cheese factory”
Despite being a proposal that has not yet been validated, both the FAO and the OTR are betting that this becomes an initiative that is applied worldwide, and also that it be moldable depending on the localities in which it is applied and what they have to offer at the production level.