Costing $300,000, blockchain projects will absorb almost a third of Australian Dairy Farmers' election windfall but, despite repeated requests ever since the election six months ago, the dairy body has not explained how the emerging technology would help farmers or how it would be used.
This week was no different, with ADF unable to provide any details, even on whether a project plan had yet been developed.
The best clue comes from Federal Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie's media release which said the funds would be used to "...explore the development of a payment system using blockchain technology to enable quicker and more transparent, secure payments to dairy farmers by processors."
The issues were not among the priorities identified in the Australian Dairy Plan workshops with 1500 farmers and other industry stakeholders across dairying regions.
Rabobank agriculture analyst Wes Lefroy has researched the application of blockchain in agriculture and said the technology made it possible to be paid the instant a transaction was made.
It also meant the seller could assess whether the buyer had the money available to make the payment.
And, while a lot of the "hype and excitement" about blockchain had settled, Mr Lefroy said plenty of work had been done to make it more viable, making commercial implementation possible in about five years.
Marian Macdonald
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
Writing for farmers in the Stock & Land, The Land, Queensland Country Life, Stock Journal and FarmWeekly, farming in Gippsland.
