Blending agriculture and innovation, Argentine startup Agrotoken and Spanish financial services firm Santander have come up with a concept that allows for loans to be backed by tokenised grains.
These agricultural commodities include wheat (WHEA), soy (SOYA), and corn (CORA). A pilot test is officially being carried out with Argentine farmers, according to a report from the Santander Post Team. The price of each commodity (based on the US dollar) will determine the value of each token.
Easier Loans for Agricultural Producers
Agrotoken has a multichain infrastructure built on Polygon, Ethereum and Algorand, with Agrotoken and Santander propelling their joint mission of providing the agricultural world with fluid access to this new financing system.
Together with Santander, we are co-creating various financial products to provide agricultural producers with a service with which they can easily and smoothly access a new credit system backed by their grains.
Eduardo Novillo Astrada, CEO & co-founder of Agrotoken
The pilot project will begin its test run in Argentina, with the Santander group investing US$225 million to get the system up and running. Farmers will be able to tokenise their grains online, storing them in digital wallets. The tokens can then be exchanged for any form of agricultural equipment or machinery, alongside the option to use them for collateral loans. Every tonne of grain will be validated with a ‘proof of grain reserve’ (POGR). POGR is a secure, transparent, decentralised system.
Australian Farmers Add to the Blockchain
Aussie farmers aren’t intending to be left off the blockchain and have been making several crypto additions over recent months. In August 2021, 70 million sheep were put onto the blockchain. Australian Wool Innovation Ltd (AWI) partnered with Everledger to tell the story behind their famous Merino wool.
The dairy industry followed shortly after in September 2021 by utilising blockchain technology to improve traceability, enabling participants to track dairy products and allowing for real-time payment.