# A Survey of Blockchain Applications for Management in Agriculture and Livestock Internet of Things
## 4 Applications of Blockchain in Agricultural and Animal Husbandry IoT
### Efficient Resource Allocation
The water management system is shown in Figure 8.  
The water resource management framework comprises smart contracts for decentralized applications that execute the water management protocols. It envisages two categories of smart contracts for facilitating interactions within the platform: Twins and Apps. Twins serve as simplified digital counterparts of IoT devices, conceptualized as \"smart twins\" (illustrated through Valves in Figure 8). In addition to logging data from the devices, they provide a universal interface for the smart contracts of applications tasked with implementing the specific business logic required by the application (for instance, Billing, as shown in Figure 8). Each Twin contract retains only the device's owner and time-stamped data readings (pertaining to water metrics). Twin, serving as an interface, introduces two key functions: getValue() for retrieving data and setValue() for updating data, where setValue() can only be called by the corresponding device and getValue() can be invoked by any entity initiating a transaction. Consequently, Apps smart contracts can utilize this functionality to issue bills for water consumption, distribute rewards, or confer certifications. In a similar vein, paper [107] delves into a critical challenge within the agricultural sector: the effective management of water resources. Contrasting with paper [106], which focused on allowing resource-limited IoT devices to directly connect with blockchain networks to reduce infrastructure expenses and enhance data dependability, paper [107] investigates the enhancement of agricultural water resource management's efficiency and security through the amalgamation of IoT and blockchain technologies. As agricultural technology progresses, especially with the application of IoT, water resource management is evolving towards greater automation and intelligence. However, this advancement also presents new challenges, particularly in ensuring efficient water resource allocation and utilization, as well as in monitoring and maintaining seed quality. Traditional IoT systems may fall short in these areas, often lacking comprehensive monitoring and control over resource allocation and use. Figure 8: Water management system in [106]. To tackle these challenges, paper [107] introduces an innovative approach that integrates IoT and blockchain technologies. The essence of this approach lies in leveraging blockchain technology to optimize resource management, with a particular focus on water resources. In this system, blockchain is employed not merely for bolstering data security and transparency; it crucially underpins resource distribution and monitoring. Blockchain technology ensures more equitable and effective water resource distribution and enhances the capability to monitor water usage. Additionally, this integration significantly improves the accuracy and efficiency of monitoring seed quality. The system facilitates real-time observation and automated control of water resource utilization and seed status in the agricultural production process through the implementation of smart electronic devices at the hardware level, markedly elevating the overall efficiency and output of agricultural production. Beyond agricultural IoT, blockchain technology also holds substantial development prospects within the pastoral IoT sector. Within the framework of enhancing smart livestock farming, deploying IoT technology in this area faces multiple challenges, mainly related to data security and safeguarding. These challenges are rooted in the inherent security vulnerabilities of IoT devices, the risk of cybercrime, and complexities in everyday livestock management, including greenhouse gas emission control and repetitive task processing. Additionally, the lack of transparency in existing IoT systems within supply chain management complicates the process of tracing product origins and ensuring quality. To address these challenges, paper [108] introduces an innovative system, IoT-BC-SLF (Internet of Things-blockchain-smart livestock farming).