Thanks to the project To track the Modena-based company has equipped itself with an innovative digital tracking system: based on blockchain technology, it makes the data of the flour and semolina production chain immutable while at the same time allowing the integration of information on the environmental impact
A system that precisely and immutably tracks the production chain of flours thanks to blockchain technology that allows, at the same time, to integrate voluntary information such as environmental sustainability throughout the entire life cycle of the product, from the field to sale, according to the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) methodology.
The news comes from the fruitful collaboration between Molini Industriali, an agri-food company from Modena, and Ri.Nova, which at the end of June, after two years of work, will conclude the activities related to the TRACCIARE project – Blockchain for the traceability of cereals. Funded by the Emilia-Romagna Region under the PSR 2014-20, and implemented thanks to the contribution of three other operational partners (Elleciesse Finance, Eagri, Lca-Lab), the project has given excellent results: the new system is in fact operational and functioning within the Molini Industriali plant, leader of the initiative.
Thanks to this new tracking system, the Modena-based company, active in the production and distribution of professional flours, will be able to control and record every small step of each individual product: starting from the cultivation of wheat in the farms, through the delivery to the storage center and the subsequent control and processing phases, up to the possible packaging or loading of the bulk, all the actions of the supply chain will be monitored and then processed by blockchain technology. A cutting-edge technology based on encrypted and unmodifiable data blocks.
“We have come full circle after more than 18 months of activity,” explains Francesco Vacondio, director of Molini Industriali and project manager. “Initiatives like this are easy to imagine but difficult to implement: we, with the contribution of Ri.Nova and the other partners, have succeeded. The operational problems encountered during the development phase have been overcome and today we are at full capacity.
The tests carried out on a small production of flour went well, soon customers will be able to appreciate the new traceability system we have created. But this is just the beginning. We buy soft wheat and sell flour, we are subject to traceability by law and customers often ask us for products with predefined and particular characteristics. This system simplifies our work by guaranteeing the security of product data, now we will have to learn to make the most of it”.
Claudio Selmi, scientific manager of the project on behalf of Ri.Nova, was also satisfied. In addition to coordinating the activities, he worked on the front line to identify the environmental sustainability indicators of Molini Industriali flour by adopting the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. “Thanks to excellent teamwork, we have achieved a double objective,” Selmi emphasizes. “The primary one, namely the implementation of the traceability system for the Modena mill’s flour: developed by Eagri with blockchain technology that is increasingly gaining ground in various sectors, the system records all the information acquired on the wheat starting from the field to its transformation into flour.
We also hit the second target, the one related to the level of environmental sustainability of the supply chains, which can be integrated into the traceability system. By processing the data collected, we obtained some sustainability indicators, such as the carbon footprint, which provides the carbon dioxide emissions during the life cycle of the flour up to the factory gate, highlighting the production phases where more work is needed to improve environmental performance”.
The Initiative is implemented within the framework of the Regional Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 – Type of operation Support for pilot projects and for the development of new products, practices, processes and technologies in the agricultural and agro-industrial sector – Focus Area 3A – Project “Tracciare – Blockchain for the traceability and management of data of cereal milling products”.
