JBS Gettin’ Digi(tal) With It

May 4, 2021

JBS is having its own Inception moment.

The global meat player has created a blockchain platform that allows suppliers of JBS to register, well, their own suppliers.

In April, beef cattle producers began registering animal sellers on the Transparent Livestock Farming Platform, an initiative sponsored by JBS.

The goal is for all suppliers to comply with socio-environmental criteria for breeding beef cattle in the Amazon Biome.

Translation: The Federal Prosecution Office will use data received from the tool to look for any occurrences of deforestation, hard labor, invasion of indigenous lands, or other non-sustainable practices.

Playing by the rules: The results are sent to the JBS supplier, who now has a crystal clear view of socio-environmental compliance in his full supply chain. If there are issues, the supplier can create plans to dissolve the risks and assist producers in doing the right thing.

Ecotrace created the tool for JBS, but it is an open platform, so anyone in the industry can use the system.

And while that might sound a little sketch, blockchain technology keeps third-party information confidential, and JBS can only see the consolidated analysis of suppliers… aka no sensitive information.

Future state: Right now, signing up is voluntary, but by 2025, any cattle supplier interested in selling to JBS must be registered on the platform.