Feasibility And Technology Gap Analysis For Digitalized Farm-To-School Matchmaking Marketplace That Utilizes Blockchain Technology

Ana Jakimovska CEO Wildkale.com Project DirectorHannah Leighton Value Chain Manager ripe.io/ripeCommunity Project CoordinatorKaitlyn Sirna Senior Program Manager CADE - Center for Agricultural Development &Entrepreneurship Project ConsultantThe research partnership will evaluate the feasibility of connecting ripe.io's blockchaintechnology with Wildkale's marketplace technology while leveraging ripeCommunity's and theCenter for Agricultural Development and Entrepreneurship's ("CADE") community engagementto create a "smart" farm-to-institution marketplace.The new technology's purpose is to increase the amount of school and other institutions' foodpurchases from small- and mid-sized local farmers. The feasibility study will be based on asurvey of NYS schools colleges and farmers to understand the institutional procurementrequirements such as purchase thresholds RFP (Request For Proposal) processes and farmerwholesale readiness including liability insurance and certifications. We will also conduct atechnology gap analysis to understand how to connect our existing technology tools to create anew technology that solves the farm-to-institution food procurement pain points. The proposedtechnology will match local farmers and school food buyers according to the institutions'definition of "local" automate procurement bidding and awarding of contracts use blockchain toprovide food quality and traceability information and support awarded contracts' fulfillmentpayments. Because of their distributed nature blockchains are excellent platforms formarketplaces and can facilitate a dynamic data-driven marketplace with a live RFP mechanismto engage participants. The school buyers and farmers are matched by a shared trusted need fordata that can be combined and used to create smart contracts and notify the schools and farmerswhen matches in quality timing quantity etc. are made plus provide fulfillment and paymentservices.