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Tech promotes better prices, Wyoming brand

Crystal R. Albers
Posted 11/28/18

“We want to … make Wyoming (beef) a premium brand unto itself,” Tyler Lindholm rancher, advisor, House District No. 1 Representative and Chief of Ranching Operations at BeefChain, said last week during a panel discussion on blockchain technology at the Southeast Wyoming Beef Production Convention at the Goshen County Rendezvous Center in Torrington.

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Tech promotes better prices, Wyoming brand

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GOSHEN COUNTY – “We want to … make Wyoming (beef) a premium brand unto itself,” Tyler Lindholm rancher, advisor, House District No. 1 Representative and Chief of Ranching Operations at BeefChain, said last week during a panel discussion on blockchain technology at the Southeast Wyoming Beef Production Convention at the Goshen County Rendezvous Center in Torrington.

Blockchain refers to digital information (the “block”) stored in a public database (the “chain”), according to financial information website Investopedia. Once a network of computers verifies the digital information as accurate, the block receives a unique identification code, called a hash, and it’s added to the chain. Although this technology is used around the world, Wyoming-based company BeefChain’s mission is “to create a new ‘rancher-centric’ supply chain utilizing blockchain technology to recapture the value now realized by third-party feedlots and processors,” per its website (beefchain.com). “By enabling unique animal identification and ensuring origin, BeefChain allows the rancher to receive premium pricing for premium beef and provides consumers with greater confidence in the meat they consume.”

During the annual convention Tuesday, Philip Schlump, BeefChain Chief Technology Officer, called blockchain the first real significant technological innovation in double-entry accounting.

“It allows you to produce trust in an untrusted system (using) mathematically-guaranteed blocks,” he said, adding, in the case of BeefChain, once blockchain technology proves a cow has been born and bred in Wyoming, the information is indisputable.

“Consumers already pay a premium for what is labeled ‘grass-fed’ beef but have no way of verifying such claims,” the BeefChain website reads. “Separately, the rancher who diligently raised a cow on the open range often receives a price similar to that of a cow raised in unknown conditions. The price premium is captured further up the supply chain when the feedlot operator/processor sells to the retail channel which passes it through as their markup. The rancher gets the lower, functionally identical price at the sale lot – two steps removed from the end customer.”

Using BeefChain, however, ranchers can prove the origin and treatment of their cattle and pass that information on to the consumer – potentially using QR codes (a two-dimensional barcode that provides additional information when scanned with a smartphone), who will then pay a premium price to the producer for high-quality beef.

The information a consumer sees is up to the rancher, and may include the age, source, management and quality-assurance programs enrolled in, and even pictures of the ranch on which the animal lived.

“I can actually say that I’m paying for something that is higher quality, and that higher quality can be reflected,” Schlump said of BeefChain. “Accurate data going through means we can get feedback … so we can get a better result in the end. When we can guarantee the data, we can bring more advanced technology into the process of beef production.”

BeefChain has already partnered with six multi-generational Wyoming ranches and tagged nearly 1,600 calves, according to its website.

“What the average rancher can take from Blockchain is, if you’re going to run program cattle … you’re going to get paid a premium for it,” Drew Persson, owner of the Persson Ranch, and part of pilot project, said at the panel discussion. “Blockchain is like a security lock on the information – ‘this is what I say it is.’”

In anticipation of starting BeefChain in May, Lindholm said more than 200 technology companies became interested in the state, calling it a “good way to diversify the economy.”

BeefChain’s “Wyoming born and bred” program is currently undergoing U.S. Department of Agriculture certification. Lindholm said the company hopes to start taking on new ranches early next year.

“We’ve never bragged about it before … if the consumer knows their beef comes from Wyoming, more demand is put on Wyoming,” he said. “We can lead the way on this one and return the premium to Wyoming first.”

Ogden Driskell, rancher, advisor, Wyoming State Senator, and part of BeefChain pilot project agreed.

“We raise the best beef in the world, folks,” he said. “We’re trying get some of the money back … the real bottom line is, it’s about value.”

Panel members finished the discussion by reminding attendees to eat beef.

The 2018 Southeast Wyoming Beef Production Convention was hosted by the University of Wyoming Extension and Wyoming Stock Growers Association, and sponsored in part by the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency.