# Blockchain Applications in Agribbusiness: A Systematic Review
###### Abstract  
Blockchain is a technology that can be applied in different sectors to solve various problems. As a complex system, agribusiness presents many possibilities to take advantage of blockchain technology. The main goal of this paper is to identify the purposes for which blockchain has been applied in the agribusiness sector, for which a PRISMA-based systematic review was carried out. The scientific literature corpus was accessed and selected from Elsevier's Scopus and ISI of Knowledge's Web of Science (WoS) platforms, using the PRISMA protocol procedures. Seventy-one articles were selected for analysis. Blockchain application in agribusiness is a novel topic, with the first publication dating from 2016. The technological development prevails more than blockchain applications since it has been addressed mainly in the Computer Sciences and Engineering. Blockchain applications for agribusiness management of financial, energy, logistical, environmental, agricultural, livestock, and industrial purposes have been reported in the literature. The findings suggest that blockchain brings many benefits when used in agribusiness supply chains. We concluded that the research on blockchain applications in agribusiness is only at an early stage, as many prototypes are being developed and tested in the laboratory. In the near future, blockchain will be increasingly applied across all economic sectors, including agribusiness, promoting greater reliability and agility in information with a reduced cost. Several gaps for future studies were observed, with significant value for science, industry, and society. Intermet of Things; information technology; innovation; supply chains; transparency; traceability; safety; food systems; transactions; smart contracts +
Footnote †: journal:  
finance, technology, labor relations, and the entire public and private institutional apparatus [2; 3]. In addition to the number of actors and transactions, their complexity is increasing over time, taking into account the countless amount of country-specific economic, political, environmental, social, cultural, legal, and sanitary norms and conventions [3]. Many resources are changed through the links between actors involved in an agribusiness supply chain. In one direction, there is a flow of products and services, while in the opposite direction, financial resources are exchanged. Today, information is a valuable resource, which flows both forward and backward [4; 5]. Information sharing is subject to many benefits and constraints depending on objectives, interests, technology, trust, and control, among other factors [6]. The asymmetric nature of information and misinformation is a constant challenge to be overcome in supply chain management, and consumers are demanding traceable products, transparency, and safety information [7; 8; 9; 10]. The fast growth and development of information technology, attributed to a platform of public services aiming to improve the management of distant resources and services, became the key to solving frictions between the demand and supply of products in organizations [10]. The blockchain is a communication network where data are stored and shared in a distributed manner between all links, eliminating any trusted authority centralized in different business models, and where each node can coordinate without a unified data center [11]. The concept was introduced in 2009 by the pseudonymous [PERSON], who created Bitcoin to solve double-spending problems. The nodes in the Bitcoin network incorporate mutually agreed validations on the blockchain, carrying the transactions on the ledger, that is, a kind of cash book determining who has data in that chain [12]. Blockchain is considered a technological innovation that comes from the incorporation of existing technologies and, lately, has received more attention due to its autonomy, anonymity, and data immutability, becoming an emerging subject in science and organizations [11].