Blockchain and IoT technologies in smart farming to enhance the efficiency of the agri-food supply chain: A review of applications, benefits, and challenges

Innovative and sustainable agriculture encounters significant challenges due to the extensive variation in farming practices. This is also crucial for the agri-food supply chain and, therefore, for food security. To enhance the efficiency of the agri-food supply chain, it is essential to optimize the farming systems. The combination of blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies aims to revolutionize agriculture by optimizing traditional practices into more efficient, transparent, and sustainable systems. This proposed article offers an in-depth examination of this integration while addressing the global challenges of food security, resource efficiency, and environmental sustainability. This proposed article begins with an analysis of the size of the global blockchain and IoT market, focusing on their specific application in agriculture. It then presents the fundamentals of these technologies, providing an overview of IoT in smart agriculture, the basics of blockchain technology, and their convergence in this sector. The proposed article examines several key applications of these technologies, including supply chain transparency and traceability, irrigation and resource optimization, livestock monitoring and disease prevention, as well as agricultural finance and smart contracts. Finally, it examines the benefits of integrating IoT and blockchain in agriculture, including enhanced traceability, optimized resource management, and improved data security, while also highlighting the challenges associated with their implementation, such as high costs, scalability issues, energy consumption, data privacy concerns, and regulatory hurdles. This proposed study also highlights the opportunities presented by these technologies while examining the challenges to their widespread adoption in the agricultural sector.