A single GS1-powered QR code carried verified sustainability and provenance data from an Australian farm through the supply chain to consumers in seven countries in a 12-month pilot that its backers say provides the interoperable data infrastructure blueprint for food and agriculture traceability.
The Farm Sustainability and Traceability pilot, led by SEAOAK Consulting and run across Macka’s Australian Black Angus beef supply chain, tested the end-to-end system with supply chain participants and consumers in Australia, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain and Mexico.
Every element resolved through one scan of a 2D code on pack, with content translated into multiple languages.
The technology stack has four layers. A reporting framework of more than 115 on-farm metrics, mapped to the Australian Beef Sustainability Framework and designed to extend to other commodities, feeds an AI-powered dashboard that aggregates data from farm systems into a single source, replacing repeated data requests in multiple formats.
Digital product passports, aligned to the Australian Agricultural Traceability Protocol (AATP) and GS1 standards, carry the verified credentials down the chain, while automated reports can be generated and shared with supply chain partners instantly.
GS1 Australia CEO, Maria Palazzolo, said the pilot demonstrated what becomes possible when global standards are applied end to end.
“Using a single GS1 powered QR code, a producer’s sustainability and provenance credentials travelled the length of the supply chain across seven countries to be understood instantly by everyone who scanned them, including from non-English speaking countries.
“That interoperability is exactly what allows Australian agriculture to scale sustainability credentials and traceability without rebuilding it for every sector, and it positions the industry well ahead of the global move to 2D barcodes,” Palazzolo said.
The build was a response to a data problem as much as a compliance one. Requirements including the European Union
Deforestation Regulation, Scope 3 emissions reporting and mandatory climate disclosure under AASB S2 all demand verified farm-level data, but existing sector frameworks were designed for industry-level reporting and sit disconnected from farm data systems.
The pilot’s capture once, share many times architecture is designed to close that gap.
Core delivery partners alongside SEAOAK and GS1 Australia were agri data platform Aglive, Macka’s, supply chain reporting platform Informed 365, and satellite land analytics provider Cibo Labs, with a wider group including Meat & Livestock Australia, Achmea Farm Insurance, CH4 Global, Visy, Wickham Freight Lines, John Dee, Food Agility CRC, AgTrace and Thomas Elder Sustainable Agriculture.
Field data from the pilot points to commercial payback. More than 800 supply chain participants scanned the code to view the digital passport, and of the more than 100 who completed a survey, 93.4 per cent said sustainability credentials influenced purchasing decisions significantly, somewhat or occasionally, while 89.7 per cent said the passport data increased confidence in the product.
Phase Two is where the platform ambitions sharpen. The roadmap includes API integrations to automate on-farm sustainability and environmental data capture, AI-powered assembly of digital passports showing the paddock to plate journey, AI farm risk identification built with Achmea Farm Insurance that links verified practices to measurable outcomes such as bushfire preparedness and drought resilience, a third-party verification layer for consumer-facing claims, and aggregated platform data to power industry sustainability reports without manual collection.
SEAOAK Consulting CEO, Ebony Greaves, said the pilot proved the concept and the core infrastructure is built.
“The technology, the standards and the industry appetite already exist. What we need now is to scale it in a coordinated way for every commodity, not just beef,” Greaves said.
SEAOAK is seeking co-investment for Phase Two across four partner categories, including technology and data partners such as agri tech platforms, farm management systems and environmental monitoring providers wanting to integrate with the GS1 and AATP-aligned ecosystem, alongside industry, funding and verification partners. Research and development corporations have been extended a specific invitation to back a shared platform rather than each sector building its own traceability infrastructure in isolation.
