Green Trust

GreenTrust offers a novel solution for obtaining certification in organic farming by organizing credible and decentralized Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGSs).

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Inspiration

Through our personal experiences and conversations with farmers, we realized that there was a significant need for a more accessible and transparent certification process. This inspired us to explore solutions to create a tamper-proof system that could improve trust and transparency between farmers, certifying bodies, and consumers.

We believe that our work is important not only for farmers but also for consumers who are increasingly demanding transparency and sustainability in the products they purchase. By creating a decentralized solution for organic farming certification, we hope to empower both farmers and consumers to make more informed and ethical choices, ultimately creating a more sustainable and equitable food system for all.

What it does

Problem

One of the significant issues in organic farming is that certifications are required from multiple parties for the products to be deemed ‘organic’. Currently, there are two government sanctioned mechanisms for the issuance of certification:

  1. PGS Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS): Farmers in a group inspect each other’s land and vouch for its organic credentials. The inspection is carried out at the start of every sowing season, and farmers visit each other almost weekly to provide counsel. If a farmer is found to be in violation, her produce is not sold through the group till she rectifies her mistake.

  2. Third-party certification: The farms is certified by authorized third-party certifying agencies. The database of India’s organic products is very poor, and traceability, which is key for export growth, remains weak, while third-party certification, as insisted by APEDA, is very costly. In addition, major markets for export do not accept PGS certification, and there is no mechanism to link certifications by third parties and PGS.

Solution

  • GreenTrust offers a solution for obtaining certification in organic farming by organizing credible and decentralized Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGSs).
  • In order to secure certification, every harvest must be sponsored by certified farmers who contribute a stake as a form of assurance that organic farming methods have been properly implemented.
  • The platform utilizes IoT sensor data to monitor and track various environmental conditions.
  • Additionally, any individual may challenge the organic authenticity of a particular harvest on the platform.
  • These challenges are then evaluated by a certified inspector, and if the challenge is deemed to be valid, the challenger will receive the stake put forward for the harvest.
  • Conversely, if the challenge is found to be invalid, the challenger will lose the stake they put forward to initiate the challenge.

How we built it

The process began with identifying the problems and properly formulating a solution. After a thorough discussion, we came up with the idea of GreenTrust. The next steps involved formulating a plan of action - setting up milestones and a clear division of work. Dividing ourselves into two groups, we began work on the Figma and the smart contract simultaneously. After finishing the Figma, amendments were made to the smart contract, keeping in mind the requirements and features.

The next stage was to build the frontend and integrate all of it together. Work on the frontend and integrating the backend began simultaneously. This involved long hours of debugging, ideation, reading documentation and sleepless nights. After multiple iterations and bug fixes, we deployed our project. This was followed by documentation and presentation.

Challenges we ran into

One of the major problems we faced initially was actually formulating and materialising our idea into a practical working plan for an application.

We faced issues while integrating the authentication provided by Arcana. Although the initial installation went smoothly, we encountered some problems while implementing it. We also tweaked the arcana/auth-react package to improve UX. Earlier, there was a lag before showing the User Profile after signing in, without any visible cue to the user. Now, there is a spinner that stays on until the profile is shown.

During the implementation of Polywrap, we faced some challenges, especially in the assemblyscript part, where the modules of the wrapper had to be coded.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Successfully built a one-of-a-kind solution truly leveraging the power of blockchain, helping the masses
  • Developing a responsive frontend as close to the Figma as possible
  • Stitching all pieces together to build a fully functional web app, accessible by anyone on the net

What we learned

  • Lots of new technologies and skills and good practices
  • Team management and soft skills
  • Having a clear action plan is crucial
  • Trusting the team members is important
  • Web3 integration is difficult and lots of improvements are needed in the space
  • An earlier start would have been more beneficial

What's next for Green Trust

  • Add a subscription fee in terms of Superfluid's CFA (Continuous Flow Agreement) money streaming model.
  • After a certain duration from the crop's harvest, the stake amount will be returned to all the stakeholders and a reward will be given using Superfluid's IDA (Instant Distribution Agreement) model automatically using Chainlink Upkeep. (Incentive)
  • UI improvements
  • Randomly allocating a challenged crop to a verifier to increase transparency.
Contract Address: 0x3E972458B2D855e36992D9971c0d62B7d2127c2E

Built With

  • arcana
  • arctic
  • ice
  • icon
  • ipfs
  • nextjs
  • solidity
  • tailwindcss
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