Agriculture giants team up on blockchain platform to track grains in Brazil

The world's largest grains and oilseeds companies, American giants Bunge and Cargill, have joined together to create the joint venture Covantis, which will use blockchain technology in the agricultural sector in Brazil.

The unprecedented project foresees the exchange of information between all members of Covantis, which also includes the participation of other agribusiness giants such as the French Louis Dreyfus Company, the Chinese state-owned company Cofco International and the Dutch multinational Glencore Agriculture.

Together the companies that make up Covantis move around 550 million tons of grains and oilseeds every year.

Companies negotiate around 500 thousand contracts for purchase and sale each year in Brazil and the first tests for the platform were carried out at the Port of Santos between July and August this year and involved 11 companies, including trading companies, originators and grain producers.

"Covantis should become the leader of operations in our sector and will be able to streamline processes, modernize and digitize them."

Marcos Amorim is the director of the contracts committee of the National Association of Cereal Exporters, whose associated trading companies are actively working with Covantis.

Within the trading companies, the process generates a somewhat messy work flow, that is currently managed by email, phone and WhatsApp.

With Covantis all this information circulates using blockchain technology, which, according to its participants, helps the flow of information, prevents fraud and ensures the security of shared data.

Sechanova also says that Covantis' ambition is to gradually bring together all the grains and oilseeds shipments in bulk from its founding companies in the world.

Argentina and the United States are the next countries in which Covantis plans to use its blockchain solution.