# A Survey of Blockchain Applications for Management in Agriculture and Livestock Internet of Things
## 4 Applications of Blockchain in Agricultural and Animal Husbandry IoT
### Ensuring System Security and Privacy  
Integrating blockchain technology into agricultural and pastoral IoT systems significantly boosts their defense against data manipulation and cyber threats. Blockchain's decentralized structure enhances system resilience by removing any single point of failure. Once information is logged, the blockchain's encryption linking each block makes modifications nearly impossible, rendering any tampering attempts easily detectable. Furthermore, the use of cutting-edge encryption safeguards data during transmission and storage. Blockchain's transparency and traceability permit all stakeholders to review transaction logs and data history, facilitating the swift identification and segregation of dubious activities. The implementation of smart contracts reduces human intervention, thereby decreasing the potential for fraud and errors. Moreover, by enabling IoT devices within a blockchain framework to share data storage duties, the system's redundancy and resistance to attacks improve. Together, these characteristics guarantee the security and dependability of agricultural and pastoral IoT frameworks against cyber risks. In paper [120], the authors present a new method focusing on data security and privacy issues arising from IoT usage in agriculture. While IoT enhances monitoring and management, it also introduces risks like data tampering and counterfeit device connections. These security vulnerabilities not only threaten the safety of agricultural production but can also lead to incorrect decisions and resource waste. For example, inaccurate data may result in over-irrigation or insufficient fertilization, affecting crop yield and quality. To tackle these concerns, the paper recommends using blockchain technology for IoT security management. The distributed and immutable data recording characteristics of blockchain provide robust security for IoT data. Blockchain technology records all data collected by IoT devices in a transparent, immutable database, ensuring data authenticity and completeness. Furthermore, blockchain's decentralized structure reduces the likelihood of system-wide attacks, while its identity verification and access control features ensure that data access is restricted to authorized individuals. This innovative approach, which combines blockchain and IoT, not only enhances data security but also optimizes the agricultural production decision-making process. As one of the most widely applied technologies, the essence of the IoT is to connect smart devices through wired or wireless networks, enabling them to facilitate various real-time applications. However, these devices often have a heterogeneous nature with limited memory and processing capabilities, making traditional security protocols unsuitable for IoT devices. Therefore, ensuring the security of IoT systems has become a crucial issue. Papers [121; 122; 123] mention that blockchain is being used as the latest solution in various fields. Thus, in agricultural irrigation systems, as mentioned in paper [124], the extensive deployment of IoT technology has made remote monitoring and control of these systems a reality. These systems depend on numerous sensors and devices for crucial irrigation analysis and data gathering. However, as the number of IoT devices grows, so does the complexity and significance of ensuring data security and privacy. IoT systems encounter several security challenges, including data tampering and unauthorized access. Traditional IoT systems usually adopt centralized data storage and management, which are susceptible to network attacks, including single-point failures and data breaches. In such systems, ensuring data integrity and secure communication between devices is challenging, with each node potentially being a target for attack. Moreover, managing device authentication and data access control becomes challenging in IoT environments with many devices and users. To tackle these challenges, the paper proposes a new solution: improving IoT security management using blockchain technology.