CropConnect - Final Assessment

BCM214 Final Assessment

During the course of the semester, our team focused on promoting environmental sustainability as the central theme of our project. We actively explored diverse approaches to encourage and inspire individuals to adopt small yet meaningful changes in their lives, aiming to contribute to a larger cause, this was done through our groups creation of ‘Cropconnect’, a blockchain application and desktop website which will allow farmers to cut out intermediaries, instead of selling directly to consumers and thus increasing seller profit margins and reducing buyer costs.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020), there were 89, 400 agricultural businesses three years ago. The average age of farmers were 58 years old with a mean of 37 years of experience in farming. Considering this demographic, farmers benefit from CropConnect as an easy-to-use platform they can use to sell their farming goods. They can also access the fundraising section of CropConnect to raise funding and awareness of issues they face. Therefore, it is because of this gap in the market that we endeavoured to address an issue by innovating a digital solution.

Our proposed platform is a distributed marketplace designed to facilitate the direct exchange of agricultural goods between farmers and consumers. It empowers farmers by allowing them to set their own prices for their products, while providing consumers with a convenient platform to browse, purchase, and support local produce. What sets our platform apart is its utilisation of blockchain technology, which ensures transparency and security in tracing the environmental practices associated with each product. By leveraging blockchain, consumers can make informed decisions about the sustainability of the goods they purchase, ultimately fostering greater environmental consciousness.

To further promote sustainability, our platform incorporates a comprehensive rating system that evaluates farmers based on their environmental practices. This rating system, combined with a customer commenting feature, encourages farmers to adopt eco-friendly practices while allowing consumers to share their experiences and feedback. Additionally, our platform offers the option for transactions to be conducted using cryptocurrencies, enabling seamless and secure transactions for those who prefer digital currencies. Thus, we also focused on making farming more appealing for younger generations, as it is widely known that most farmers are aging and there is a worry about the future of the market.

My Digital Artefact, based on CropConnect, serves as a Youtube style video/advertisement that highlights the strengths of our app through a visually pleasing manner accompanied with appropriate audio elements to draw interest and work as an official announcement style video for our innovation. I used a variety of royalty free videos - through my subscription to the graphic design website, Canva.com - and chose to add in a snippet of 2001 A Space Odyssey Theme - this iconic theme is often used to announce a major product and makes it more gripping, engaging and slightly comedic. The mood of the music and visuals change from sombre and mellow - while the viewer is reminded of the high food costs at the moment, and then transitions into triumphant and celebratory as CropConnect is introduced to the viewer of this artefact.

The medium I chose to publish this media is my blog joelrainbow.com which links you to a Youtube version as well to create more opportunity for engagement.

References

Mullen, J. D., Keogh, M. J., & Johnson, A. K. (2012). Australian agriculture and food production in a global market: Research opportunities and challenges. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 56(4), 531-538. Available at: [Link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8489.2012.00625.x).

Grafton, R. Q., & Horne, J. (2017). Environmental and economic implications of future agriculture and water use in Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 61(2), 171-188. Available at: [Link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12214).

Griffith, G., & Piggott, R. R. (2018). Agricultural productivity and producer behaviour in the Australian dairy industry. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 62(1), 1-18. Available at: [Link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12236).

Malcolm, B., Balcombe, K., & Watts, G. (2016). The Australian beef industry: Assessing structural change and efficiency. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 60(1), 20-40. Available at: [Link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8489.12138).

Villano, R., & Fleming, E. M. (2010). Productivity growth, efficiency change and technical progress in the Australian sheep industry. Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 54(4), 491-508. Available at: [Link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8489.2010.00489.x).