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Warehouse receipt system (WRS) schemes aim to revitalize the market of cash crops, particularly those of the smallholder farmers. However, the existing government schemes for the smallholder farmers have not been much successful on account of issues related with transparency and trust deficit, thereby limiting farmers' access to credit for their farming activities as channeled via the formal financial institutions. Conceding that blockchain is an emerging technology, this study aims to theoretically posit the potential to optimize WRS in real time to bolster farmers' trust and privacy.

The research bases itself on the design science research (DSR) approach. Using the DSR approach backed by the literature review and evolutionary prototyping, a blockchain-based WRS has been advanced in the study.

This study provides a design of a digital WRS, which serves as a proof of concept of blockchain technology (BCT) applications in improving transparency in the WRS in the agricultural sector. The findings from this study present the possibility of leveraging blockchain smart contracts to improve the linkages between the WRS stakeholders to promote trust and transparency that would eventually unlock the potentials of WRS schemes. Furthermore, the findings inform decision-makers and practitioners to prioritize the emerging technologies in revamping the classical WRS.

The study leaves research pointers for implementing BCT in agricultural supply chain and furthering the findings from the present study with an empirical agenda.

Whilst research on the BCT applications across myriad sectors abounds, research on the BCT applications to address societal needs is conspicuously limited. Furthermore, research on the practical implementation of the BCT in real-world scenarios is few and far between. The present study seeks to plug these gaps by underlining the application and utility of blockchain in WRS. The study makes a significant contribution to the theory and practice of the agrarian supply chain management, specifically the WRS, by invoking design knowledge obtained through an iterative design process besides serving as an edifice for the integration of emerging technologies, notably BCT in the agricultural sector.

Thailand's climate is tropical; it has high temperature and humidity and is dominated by monsoons. The average rainfall, recorded from 1950 to 1997, is 1,374mm/year or equivalent to 702,610 Million Cubic Meter (MCM), which is much greater than the global average rainfall of 990mm/year. During the past 10 years, the annual rainfall has been positively deviant from the annual average (Fig. 1). In addition, results from climate-model simulations for the 21st century (Bates, Kundzewicz, Wu, & Palutikof, 2008) show that droughts should not be a problem in Thailand because of increased precipitation, soil moisture, and runoff and Thailand only experiences slight increase in evaporation. Therefore, it can be said that “droughts” change from country to country.

As part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study (BES), a long-term ecological research project that conducts research in metropolitan Baltimore as an ecological system, scientists have measured the effect of urbanization on entire watersheds, such as Gwynns Falls, from headwaters to the Chesapeake Bay. In general, urbanization has buried many seasonal headwater streams and has contributed to the erosion of extant streams due to flashy urban storm runoff in what was a slow moving, beaver-dominated landscape (Elmore & Kaushal, 2008; Brush, 2009). This chapter fuses scientific ecological research in Baltimore with ethnographic evidence of human ecological technologies practiced in Northern Thailand. Anthropologist Shigeharu Tanabe studied one such ecological technology practiced for centuries in Chiang Mai called muang fai. More recently, a royally inspired community project of forest regeneration was successfully completed through small headwater dam building in nearby Lampang. The authors report on a recently conducted survey of the sites Tanabe documented in the 1970s and the results of the community reforestation project in relation to design proposals for three neighborhoods in Baltimore. The ecological research in Baltimore and the ethnographic research in Chiang Mai are integrated in this chapter to argue for new sustainable design practices in urban headwaters that combine ethnography, scientific monitoring, and design.

Water is a very common word for every human and a very common element for every life on earth. But underneath a very common meaning, a critical element and path for life being and existence lay placidly. Through various interactions between human and water, the intrinsic perceptive meaning is developed and varied in different place and time. It can mean life or death, strength or weakness, rich or poor, peace or conflict, and rise or fall. And this perceptive intrinsic meaning can be captured in one mind or extended to or shared with many thoughts. Sharing or extending from one to many or from an individual to an assemblage represent the evolution and development in complexity of relationship or social structure and function among all associates through space and time.

Supply of food from the early stages of societies was one of the most important needs of humans. Sustainable supply of food is a demand in modern societies. The agri-food market grows as the population rises every year. The increase in the demand side of the market is more than the growth of the supply side. The rate of using technology in the supply side is increasing rapidly. By using technology in some parts, the efficiency of production improved and caused more production while resources are the same. Availability of resources in different areas causes different ways of production and nurturing innovative technologies to maintain food security. Water, soil, climate change, and growth of population are drivers of using technology in food security. To depict the role of different technologies in the food industry, the authors have reviewed the role of the most important technologies in this field. Knowing the trends of changes in the industry will help to focus on the most important questions and solutions. Having a share in the global food market requires the major use of technology in production processes. In this chapter, the authors will review the most important trends of technology absorption in the food industry.

The United Nations (UN) adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); agenda 2030 focuses on Climate Action (goal 13), targeting climate adaptability, as well as resilience, awareness and improving policy mechanisms on climate change. In order to enhance climate adaptability, climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAP) is a necessary step. CSAP is a sustainable agriculture approach with a strong focus on climate dimensions. The three pillars of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) are ‘Adaptation’: adapting to climate change; ‘Resilience’: building resilience against it and ‘Remove’: reducing carbon emissions. The new world economy uses Industry 4.0 technologies for sustainable advancement, including blockchain technology, big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and services. Hence, technology plays a significant role in climate sustainable agriculture practices. This chapter shall consider three technologies consisting of IoT, AI and blockchain technology which contribute to CSAP in pre-harvesting (monitoring climate as well as fertility status, soil testing, etc.), harvesting (tilling, fertilisation, seed operations, etc.) and post-harvesting (predicting weather factors, seed varieties, etc.) periods of agriculture. All these three technologies work like the human nervous system; IoT helps in converting various information regarding demography, climate change, local agricultural needs, etc. into world data; AI works like a brain in combination with IoT, helps predict the use of climate-smart technology and blockchain, the memory part of the nervous system which deals with supply-side and ensures traceability as well as transparency for consumers as well as farmers. Hence, this chapter shall contribute to the importance of these three technologies in adopting CSAP in three stages of agriculture.

The purpose of this paper is to provide quantitative evidence of natural disasters’ (NDs) effect on corporate performance and studies the mechanisms through which the supply chain moderates and mediates the link.

Using two major NDs as quasi-experiment, namely the 2011 Japanese earthquake-tsunami (JET) and Thai flood (TF), and data over the period 2010Q1-2013Q4, effect of these events on end assemblers’ performance is studied, with a focus on the personal computer (PC) supply chain. The moderating influence of delivery and sourcing – as supply chain flexibility and agility – are examined through end assemblers’ and suppliers’ inventory. The suppliers’ mediating role is captured as disruption in obtaining PC components through their sales.

Only JET had any negative effect, further quantified as short-term and long-term. The TF instead portrays an insignificant but positive aftermath, which is construed as showing learning from experience and adaptability following JET. Inventory matters, but differently for the two events, and suppliers only exhibit a moderating influence on the assemblers’ disaster-performance link.

NDs, as catastrophic vulnerabilities, are distinct from other vulnerabilities in that they are hard to predict and have significant impact. Since little is known about the impact of NDs on firm performance and how supply chain mechanisms moderate or mediate their impact, they should be distinctly modelled and empirically studied from other vulnerabilities. This paper sheds light on supply chain resilience to such events with the role of dynamic capabilities.