The US cattle industry is going blockchain. CattleProof’s established cattle verification service, “Verified,” has been approved, giving it the historic title of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Certified Verification Program (PVP). CattleProof is a Wyoming company that uses distributed ledger technology to store individual cow data.
Blockchain for Livestock Verification
Electronic identification tags attached to each animal provide a combination of information, marking the animal’s condition, location, and many other characteristics, which are then permanently stored on the blockchain. This change makes it easier to track with farm-to-fork traceability and allows farmers to monitor animal health in real time for better care and monitoring of their cattle.
A Major Step Towards Legislation
USDA’s PVP service can enable firms like CattleProof to set the standard for regulatory requirements while introducing innovation for cattle-related issues. It will allow companies like CattleProof to put together a set of voluntary standards that will be reviewed by the government, thus becoming the first decentralized network of cattle monitoring.
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It is consistent with a broader pattern in the agricultural industry where industry stakeholders continue to look to technology as a way to address regulatory requirements while improving efficiency and transparency in their operations.
CattleProof: A Unique Solution
What makes CattleProof different is that it is a USDA approved PVP that uses blockchain. Services include “Born in the USA” certification and digital certificates with backlinks directly to animal data. The company is also affiliated with Heartland Payments, which offers direct transactions for certified cattle.
This is established by giving consumers the opportunity to verify the authenticity of their livestock and ultimately improve consumer confidence in the trade of meat products. In addition, the system allows farmers to offer something different about their product, in a competitive market place traceability and ethical availability to consumers can give them an edge among competitors.
The approval is also proof that on-farm adoption of blockchain technology is gaining momentum. A recent proposal by the USDA to amend the rules on organic products to establish traceable supply lines adds importance to its growth.
As blockchain continues to gain traction in agriculture, it is poised to transform the agriculture industry in ways that include improved security, reduced fraud, and improved supply chain efficiency. This success may be a precursor to open different programs up to similar programs in other sectors, strengthening the role that technology will play in modern farming methods.
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