Malcolm Campbell, vice-president (research), did a live interview about blockchain Dec. 13 on Business News Network.

During the interview with BNN anchor Andrew Bell, Campbell discussed how the technology could track complex global food supply chains, helping to combat food fraud, improve food safety and boost transparency.

Blockchain is a ledger of transactions that can track everything from bitcoin transfers through to the exchange of goods and services. In agriculture, seed companies could use blockchain to log the variety of seeds sold to farmers; farmers would record the pesticides they use, how often they used them and where.

A blockchain ledger is saved in thousands of different places all linked together. Every time anyone makes a change to the ledger, the history of that change is logged on all the copies; each step would be verified and approved.

As everyone can see what everyone else is doing, there is no opportunity for fraud. Consumers and regulators would be able to access all of this information through a QR code.

Campbell spoke about how large companies such as Walmart are already using blockchain technology, and its potential to improve transparency and authenticity.