Ant Financial and Pharmaceutical Giant, Bayer, Start Partnership For Agricultural Blockchain

The operator of Alipay, Ant Financial, has started a new partnership with Bayer Crop Science, the company that owns Monsanto. The two companies are set to create together a new blockchain solution that will be used in agriculture.

According to the announcement, which happened in China this week, the two companies have signed a letter of intent that defines the new solution and is set to increase the traceability of crops and increase the transparency of these products.

During the announcement, Ant Financial has stated that it would also start a partnership with Hyperledger, the foundation behind Hyperledger Fabric. This way, its own blockchain solutions would use the technology to boost the interoperability and overall quality of what is being offered.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto last year, entered the agrochemical industry as well and will use this partnership to improve food standards of products that are created by Monsanto, focusing especially on the improvement of the company’s agricultural supply chains.

The press release sent out by the companies confirms that agriculture has started to become one of the many businesses in which Ant Financial is involved in, which reaches to over 40 now. Ant Financial, as you may imagine, is well-known for its work within the financial market. However, in the past, company was also reported to have tracked rice.

With this new partnership, Ant Financial is set to expand its business and Monsanto to participate in the development of a technology that will enable it to show their clients more clearly how easy is it to track the quality of its crops.