Distributed Ledger Technology for the Cotton Supply Chain, Discussing Forthcoming Literature

Persistent problems in the cotton value chain can be addressed by distributed ledger technology (DLT). Particularly, tracking and managing information across the supply chain is suspected to provide economic value to the actors and end-users of cotton. In order to promote the trust, transparency and traceability that is popularly called for in modern cotton marketing, a digital backbone must deliver these qualities with the digital assets created by cotton production and marketing. In order to develop foundational research of DLT for cotton applications, identification of the problems and potential solutions must be discovered and discussed. Three problems in cotton DLT can help alleviate until at least a true versioning control of farm data is commercialized are described, with particular focus on the warehousing stage of cotton supply management. This work is of interest to cotton growers, ginners, warehousers, merchants and others along the value chain.