Web 3.0 and agricultural supply chains; connecting farmers and startups via scaled trust :: with Joni Kindwall-Moore
In this episode of Ventures, my guest Joni Kindwall-Moore (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joni-kindwall-moore-rn-57a81014/) and I continue our conversion from episode 49 and focus this time on supply chain issues in agriculture and consumer packaged goods companies (CPG, like Joni’s startup, https://snacktivistfoods.com/). We talk about how a Web 3.0 future would make her life easier, help growers, cut out needless people and systems in the middle, and help buyers find more reliable products and sellers around the world.
You can watch this episode below or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts (search for “Ventures”).
In this episode we cover the following:
2:43 - Joni recap about her background, her startup, and our previous episode (Ep 49).
3:30 - Intro: how is Joni thinking about Web 3.0 in relation to her world in regenerative agriculture?
5:12 - Will’s general take on the general definition of Web 3.0.
6:44 - More about Joni’s world. Medical background. Food & life sciences. Agriculture.
10:21 - How does Joni see Web 3.0 helping, practically, the world of Agriculture and her business?
12:56 - Setting context on how purchasers of ingredients (Like Joni) pull it off today and navigate privacy issues (“Bourbon and Rolodex”)
16:02 - Moving from “Bourbon and Rolodex” to more of a Web 3.0 paradigm, but without losing the relationship aspects. How do we get from Point A to Point B.
17:04 - Understanding the problem. What is frustrating/problematic about the way Ag supply chain works today?
20:35 - Putting on our Web 3.0 product hats. How do we design a decentralized platform to solve these problems?
22:50 - Zero-knowledge proofs
23:30 - Proof-of-Work vs. Proof-of-Stake (plus, Layer 1 & Layer 2)
25:24 - Do farmers care about privacy? Or is it the value-added players in the intermediary? Can blockchains get rid of the middlemen?
27:24 - The meta theme of “scaling trust”. // Oracles // Apply a “Bourbon and Rolodex” world of oracles into blockchains?
28:31 - Why are blockchains needed here to solve this supply chain reliability problem? Can this just be centralized?
31:08 - Trusting Web 2.0 founders with data and centralization; the same problem exists with any supply chains.
32:10 - Imagine: take the big Web 2.0 services and bring them on-chain and decentralized. Transparency into trust networks.
33:48 - Supply chain in its basic form. Joni needs certain certified goods, with specific carbon data, etc… to verify authenticity. Need a blockchain to house this data in a way that isn’t going to be hacked or centralized.
35:40 - Defining “greenwashing”
38:09 - Vision for the future; if we had an amazing Web 3.0 system that works; how does a CPG founder’s life get easier?
41:00 - How does the broader consumer community benefit if this magical Web 3.0 system existed?
42:58 - Amount of money, time, and expertise going into these decentralized protocols are significant. Blockchains are fascinatingly multidisciplinary.
45:01 - Proof of Stake is of course great, but there’s a nuanced argument that many people aren’t aware of regarding the use of energy in the Proof-of-Work world.
48:25 - What is the “deck” that Joni has put together (in 2016!) for a potential platform leveraging blockchains in the agriculture supply chain space?
52:13 - The time when these kinds of Web 3.0 ventures can flourish is coming soon.
54:05 - The call-to-action for Web 3.0 product professionals and entrepreneurs to work with Joni and others in this space.
55:34 - https://snacktivistfoods.com/ and final thoughts from Joni on global food security and saving the world through food.