ITOCHU set to participate in “FARMER CONNECT”, the coffee traceability platform

September 19, 2019

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU” ) announced today that ITOCHU has agreed to collaborate in the coffee traceability platform “FARMER CONNECT”, run by Farmer Connect SA (headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; David Behrends, President), together with the international major coffee players. ITOCHU as the uniquely representing company from Asia in the Interim Steering Committee (hereafter “ISC”) of “FARMER CONNECT”, is committed to bring further benefits to the coffee community.

ITOCHU has been supplying coffee raw materials for over 60 years from regions such as Latin America, to the manufacturers and retailers in Japan and various parts of the world. Managing the traceability has always been important for securing food safety, ITOCHU under the recent policy on laying groundwork for the future through “reinventing business”, will utilize the “FARMER CONNECT” blockchain platform to develop the environment where the product information such as the blend details of the coffee in the origin countries through the consumer level can be grasped in a timely manner. A consumer will be able to obtain such information just by scanning the QR code coffee product with a smartphone. Also, by downloading the application “THANK MY FARMER,” there will be an option to remit tips to the producers in coffee producing regions such as Latin America, Africa and Asia where it is hoped that their motivation and productivity will be enhanced.

image of the app

  • *The “FARMER CONNECT” platform is expected to be generally available to the entire coffee community in 2020.