The research partnership will evaluate the feasibility of connecting ripe.IO's blockchain technology with wildkale's marketplace technology while leveraging ripecommunity's and the center for…

The research partnership will evaluate the feasibility of connecting ripe.IO's blockchain technology with wildkale's marketplace technology while leveraging ripecommunity's and the center for agricultural development and entrepreneurship's ("cade") community engagement to create a "smart" farm-to-institution marketplace. The new technology's purpose is to increase the amount of school and other institutions' food purchases from small- and mid-sized local farmers. The feasibility study will be based on a survey of NYS schools, colleges, and farmers to understand the institutional procurement requirements such as purchase thresholds, RFP (request for proposal) processes, and farmer wholesale readiness, including liability insurance and certifications. We will also conduct a technology GAP analysis to understand how to connect our existing technology tools to create a new technology that solves the farm-to-institution food procurement pain points. The proposed technology will match local farmers and school food buyers according to the institutions' definition of "local," automate procurement bidding and awarding of contracts, use blockchain to provide food quality and traceability information, and support awarded contracts' fulfillment payments. Because of their distributed nature, blockchains are excellent platforms for marketplaces and can facilitate a dynamic, data-driven marketplace with a live RFP mechanism to engage participants. The school buyers and farmers are matched by a shared, trusted need for data that can be combined and used to create smart contracts and notify the schools and farmers when matches in quality, timing, quantity, etc., are made, plus provide fulfillment and payment services.