Fairfood and Cisco start new grant partnership for more inclusive data and technology
With a shared ambition of ensuring that technology and data are used to enable a more inclusive future, Fairfood and Cisco signed a new partnership that will allow us to expand the reach of the Trace platform and enhance first mile connectivity.
Over the past decade, innovative technologies have made great strides in the ways we grow, store, transport, distribute and consume food. Behind all this progress is the valuable data provided by farmers and food workers in the field, which allows the system to stay connected and thrive. But without transparency, how can we know whether rural communities in producing countries are included in the stream of innovation to benefit from the billion-dollar global food industry?
Committed to positively impacting one billion people by 2025 through its social impact grants and signature programs, the Silicon Valley-based tech company Cisco has entered into a new partnership with Fairfood that will allow us to expand the reach of the Trace platform and improve first mile connectivity. After months of close interaction with Cisco’s Corporate Affairs team that bets on technology to solve global problems, Fairfood was awarded a Global Impact cash Grant that will be dedicated to refining our Trace platform and mobile field application, enabling traceable transactions across entire supply chains and allowing companies to verify claims about their sustainable practices and undertaken efforts to increase farmers’ income. “At Fairfood, we believe that only when all actors are connected and interacting in a value chain, can business practices improve and farmers prosper. That makes support to transparent innovations key in bringing balance to our unequal food system”, explains Fairfood’s director of Partnerships, Peter Van der Linde.
We are excited to embark on this new partnership with Fairfood. By supporting the further development of Trace and specifically its ability to directly connect smallholder farmers in developing countries to the international supply chains that determine their future – we can help increase transparency with the ultimate goal of encouraging fair business practices and improving livelihoods
Designed for greater collaboration towards ensuring farmers a living income, the blockchain-based platform aims to support both agri food businesses and food workers. The initiative is in line with the goal of Cisco to support social innovators in developing technology-based solutions that are scalable, replicable, and financially sustainable. “We are excited to embark on this new partnership with Fairfood. By supporting the further development of Trace and specifically its ability to directly connect smallholder farmers in developing countries to the international supply chains that determine their future – we can help increase transparency with the ultimate goal of encouraging fair business practices and improving livelihoods” said Sue-Lynn Hinson, Cisco crisis response portfolio manager.
