The ReSeed project (“Blockchain for Biodiversity”) is funded by the European Research Council Starting Grant with Dr. Mrinalini Kochupillai as Principle Investigator (PI). The project is supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) and the International Association for Human Values (IAHV). 

Project Overview 

Abstract: Agrobiodiversity, particularly farmers’ indigenous seeds and associated know-how (ISK), hosts a wealth of plant genetic resources that contribute to global food security and sustainable agriculture. While indigenous seeds can be preserved in seed banks, problems of viability over prolonged storage and rapid climate change necessitate on-farm (in situ) conservation. However, farmers face dwindling economic incentives to cultivate and thereby conserve ISK in situ: ISK is ineligible for protection under intellectual property laws and there are currently no systems in place for tracking the end use to which ISK are put (e.g. simple end-user consumption or downstream research). The fundamental problem here is in tracing who the first farmer (group) was that put an ISK on the “market”, who accessed it, and what was done with it.

Using features of blockchain technology that can help track the flow of ISK in a decentralized, transparent and immutable way, my goal is to develop and test a technical specification for a first-of-its-kind digital farmers’ market (ReSeed) that (i) facilitates equitable and traceable transfers of farmers’ ISK, and (ii) incentivizes honest reporting-back of downstream research and innovation therewith. Using a mixed methods research approach, the team, led by Kochupillai will conduct original empirical research with suppliers and buyers of ISK to co-compile technical features and incentives that will inform ReSeed’s design. We will also demonstrate how ReSeed can be integrated into international regulatory frameworks with minimal legal amendments, and create a governance model, including ethics guidelines for its adoption and implementation in small farmers’ communities.

ReSeed will build on Kochupillai’s 12-year research on means of incentivizing sustainable innovations with indigenous seeds. It will promote in situ conservation, research, and innovation with agrobiodiversity, acknowledge and add value to farmers’ ISK, and bring economic and environmental benefits to small
farmers.

Project Work Packages

The ReSeed project will proceed under four work packages as described in the image below

The Problems ReSeed will Tackle

(ii) Lack of information of unique seed properties (soil types suitable for their cultivation, pest/climate resistance, unique nutritional benefits etc.)

Planned Solution

The distributed digital platform “ReSeed” will incentivizes in-situ maintenance and improvement of seed biodiversity via a fair, inclusive and equitable exchange of seed genetic resources and local knowledge of farmers, scientists, and industry. Current legal frameworks lack a traceable, trustworthy and convenient platform to facilitate fair and equitable exchange of such information and materials. ReSeed will employs a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to incentivize the sharing of traditional seed material, aiming to facilitate equitable and ethical collection, analysis and management of economical valuable data linked to local, heterogenous seeds.

The platform will address issues of (i) trust and privacy; (ii) secure and “controllable” data sharing; (iii) fair, inclusive and equitable economic benefits for those sharing data, (iv) traceability (for purposes ranging from economic benefit sharing to liability determination), and (v) ease of access to information for downstream R&D. An AI framework enables an efficient knowledge management whereby machine learning recognises patterns and links genetic resources with environmental data and agricultural practices.

.

Publications & Presentations

Recent Publications linked to the ReSeed Concept:  

– Kochupillai, M. and J. Köninger. 2022. “Creating a Digital Marketplace for Agrobiodiversity and Plant Genetic Sequence Data: Legal and Ethical Considerations of an AI and Blockchain Based Solution.” In H. Williamson and S. Leonelli Eds. Towards Responsible Plant Data Linkage: Global Challenges for Food Security and Governance. Forthcoming with Springer Nature.

– Kochupillai M.*, U. Gallersdörfer, J. Köninger and R. Beck. 2021. “Incentivizing Research and Innovation with Agrobiodiversity Conserved In Situ: Possibilities and Limitations of a Blockchain Based Solution.” Journal of Cleaner Production 309 (2021) 127155.

– Kochupillai, M. 2020. “Blockchain for Equitable and Sustainable Agriculture: What is Blockchain, its Benefits and Common Uses.” EuropeanSeed (April 2020)

– Kochupillai, M. 2020. “Blockchain for Biodiversity: The Benefits for the Environment and for Farmers.” EuropeanSeed (April 2020)

– Kochupillai, M. and G. Radick. 2019. “A Wake Up Call on Propreitary Seeds.” (Opinion-Editorial). The Hindu (Indian National Newspaper)

Recent Presentations linked to the ReSeed Concept:

– Kochupillai, Invited Panelist, Panel: Innovations in Agriculture – How to Sustainably Feed a Growing Population, in the 2^nd Annual Conference of the Indo-German Centre for Business Excellence, Frankfurt, Germany, 22 September 2022

– Kochupillai, Invited Poster Presentation, Big Data for (Agro)Biodiversity: Ethics, Incentives and DLTs, Alexander von Humboldt’s 12^th Brazil-German Frontiers of Science and Technology Symposium (BRAGFOST), Maceo, Brazil, 29 June – 2 July 2022

– Kochupillai, Creating a Digital Marketplace for Agrobiodiversity and Plant Genetic Sequence Data: Legal and Ethical Considerations of an AI and Blockchain Based Solution, in the conference: “Towards Responsible Plant Data Linkage: Global Challenges for Food Security and Governance” co-organized by the Alan Turing Institute and University of Exeter (Online), 19 March 2021.

– Kochupillai, ReSeed: Blockchain for Biodiversity, Poster presentation for a start-up concept, University of St. Gallen Blockchain Roundtable, Switzerland, 05 November, 2019.

– Kochupillai, Diversifying Directions of Knowledge and Value Flows: Legal and Ethical issues of a Blockchain Usecase in the Agro-Seeds Sector, EuroSeed Annual Congress, Stockholm, 14 October 2019.

– Kochupillai, Balancing the Landscape of Incentives for Sustainable Seed Innovations: Legal and Ethical Issues that Blockchain and AI can Potentially Help Address, Sustainable Seed Innovations 2.0 Conference, International Art of Living Foundation, Bangalore, India, 31 July 2019.

– Kochupillai, Can Blockchain Help Monetize Small Farmer Innovations? Plant Variety Protection Debates: Connecting Law, Science and Social Science, University of Warwick, 10 July 2018