New Research Project on the Digitalization of Food Supply Chains

(23.08.2021) The German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) are funding the research project SPECK (Systemic Optimization of the Meat Value Chain using the Example of Pig Farming through the Development and Embedding of Digital Tools) on digitalization in food supply chains from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2024.

As part of the SPECK research project, the critical information infrastructures (cii) research group of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology is working in collaboration with the research groups: Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and Solar and Systems Engineering of the University of Kassel, the Research Group Industrial Management and Industrial Production (IIP) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, as well as partners from industry. The aim of the research project is to optimize the meat value chain by developing and embedding digital tools (e.g., distributed ledger technology).

Agriculture and especially animal husbandry are currently facing major challenges, such as ensuring food quality and enabling sustainable value chains. To address these challenges, regional and global food security, animal welfare, efficient use of raw materials, climate and environmental protection and their interactions play a prominent role. In order to address the challenges of product quality and sustainability, the digitization of food value chains appears necessary so that relevant data can be generated and analyzed. Digitalization harnesses the potential of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), which can improve the productivity, quality and sustainability of food.