Who Are We & Why the Bold Awards?
We are The New Fork (TNF) and are building a blockchain – the Open Food Chain (OFC)- to serve the food industry.
The OFC platform is a globally accessible, open and public blockchain that fosters transparency, traceability, and trust all across the entire food supply chain including farms, food packaging, distribution, retailing and consumer nutrition.
Sound familiar?
That’s right, that is precisely what the Bold Awards “Agritech Technology” category recognises. We could not think of a better alignment in values between your initiative and ours.
It is often said that Blockchain is a solution looking for a problem. OFC comes in from the other end; and the support we have received has been the proof in our pudding. What launched as a Food and Blockchain Meetup event in 2017, led to attracting a global network of 2k+ people working in food and tech – and that was only the beginning. Although the likes of Origin Trail, IBM Food Trust, Vechain scores high on interoperability, OFC differentiates by being farmer friendly, and cost efficiency.
The OFC is powering a breakthrough – not just in the digital economy, but in the world. We have real-world outcomes that benefit agriculture and food production and would like the Bold Awards to join our journey.
Level of Impact
What do all 8 billion human beings on this earth have in common? We all need food. Everyday, across the globe, food consumption is our way of survival. And yet most of us have no idea what we are eating in terms of quality, what it took to produce it, and who it has impacted.
The reality is that our food system is broken, and yet the food system increases with our expanding population, and well our population itself is under stress. Waste levels are around 40%, and obesity is bigger than hunger.
From a commercial perspective food fraud has one of the most significant financial impacts on the global food business, with estimates ranging from $30 billion to $40 billion each year.
Product recalls cost businesses an average of $10 million in direct expenses and are further harmed by indirect reputational damages. Food safety affects about 600 million people, nearly one in every ten individuals.
Not to mention the impact on our environment. Every year, a staggering 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted, accounting for one-third of all food produced. Food waste is also believed to cause 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The impact of OFC is therefore literally world wide.
Scalability
While there are existing agrifood innovations, we see very little mass adoption industry. Few industry players know how to start, develop, and optimize cost-efficiently. Scalability therefore is one of our core pillars. So, in addition to its technical innovation, OFC innovates on how industries govern digital solutions.
Today, TNF in partnership with industry leaders like Refresco, Ahold, Delhaize, Wageningen UR, globally scattered blockchain experts, and a highly skilled, dedicated team in Amsterdam are revolutionizing the food industry.
Our scalability is powered by our highly competitive and unique architecture, interoperability, and affordability.
There are no transaction costs, so one can trace endless volumes without influencing the costs. Payments are made for the first connection to OFC and the maintenance of the system, depending on the service level.
We are proud to have our first live implementation of OFC – known as JuicyChain (website: juicychain.org). Juicychain currently unites over 50 companies from the juice industry, from production to bottling.
The participation of multinationals with a collective turnover of 25+ billion euros sharing their data volumes and sustainability claims, from is evidence for a working solution. We are currently uniting over 50 companies from the juice industry, from production to bottling.
OFC implementation has also started in fish and soy.
Transparency
The agrifood industry remains the least digitized industry and consumer trust is at an all-time low. According to the Food Marketing Institute 94% of shoppers simply aren’t confident in what they are eating anymore, and blockchain can help with this $30 billion to $40 billion per year issue.
Low consumer trust in the system, ‘radical transparency’ is top of mind for businesses. OFC provides clarity on the origin of products and provides credibility to claims like food safety and sustainability.
Producers, suppliers, farmers, and other actors produce an enormous amount of data that needs to be structured in the blockchain. All this data is collected and processed resulting in a continuous flow of data.
OFC operates in an authentic and open way to encourage trust and engagement, while ensuring optimisations and cost-efficiency for industry players. Our blockchain is an interoperable infrastructure for safe and easy data sharing.
H-factor (Human & Social)
People’s health and wellness are at the heart of our OFC blockchain platform and believe that it’s the heart of The New Fork company too. The worldwide obesity crisis has surpassed hunger as the world’s most serious nutritional problem today.
Participation in the process is key to societal and economical solutions for mankind. Food waste occurs at all stages of the food supply chain: on producer’s fields, during transportation to markets or storage facilities, in shops, restaurants, canteens and homes. This is a human problem, not just a business problem.
Through a safe and easy data sharing infrastructure OFC reconnects consumers to efficient supply chains and the food industry continues to show healthy, unexploited growth.
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