Overview:

The delivery of commodities to an elevator and/or commodity processor (pre-mix, feed, ethanol, etc.) involves multiple players who need to track the variety of information associated with the key events involved in that delivery. For example, farmers may need proof of receipt, while retailers must key in delivery receipts against sales contract with a processor. Crop insurance claims adjustors may need to track the transfer of ownership of a shipment in support of an insurance claim. Today, the only proof of delivery is a paper scale ticket, and these do not have consistent set of data.  

This working group will create the implementation guideline for an electronic proof of delivery scale ticket that tracks the change of custody or ownership, captures scale weights that derive the net quantity received (gross - tare = net), measured and observed qualities of the commodity, association of the commodity to its applicable contract, and provide the final disposition status of the commodity shipment.

The value of a successful implementation includes:

Processing receipts electronically in real-time, eliminating stacks of paper receipts

Provide a means to transfer the proof of delivery back to the shipper’s system for integration

Improving the awareness of source and downstream locations

Support the settlements process

Helping build a foundation for traceability to minimize the impact and exposure of contaminated commodities and improve recall time

Working Group Team Description

Working Group Chair: TBD

Working Group Co-Chair: TBD

Objectives

Provide electronic proof of receipt from entity to entity, starting at the point of origin in a standardized way (leveraging current standards), to a retailer or cooperative/ retailer/ processor who has received the commodity at the destination at the time of receipt.

We will define the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that will help facilitate the financial settlements between the parties, and provide sufficient identification that enables traceability.

Scope:

The definition of the process that we will support. Data definitions in the form of a JSON schema and/or OpenAPI specification. Potential exploration of distributed ledger/smart contract leveraging blockchain technologies. We will leverage the CART BPMN model from NIST.  We will review AgXML for completeness or utilization.

Analysis of critical tracking events (CTEs) will include:

• transfer event

• transformation event

• change of custody event

• change of ownership event

• observation event

• transport event

Potential Use Cases:

• Farmer to Elevator Storage (cooperative or retailer)

• Farmer to Processor (direct)

• Direct ship from farm to processor (using carbon copy to elevator),

• Assign receipts to contracts

• Balance remaining to deliver on contract

• Updates (correction, misreads on quality, shrink, drying) to delivery ticket

• Provide an updated receipt with settlement data back to a Farm Management Information System (FMIS)

Out of Scope:

• Internal commodity movements within an elevator or processor

• Potential some commodities may be excluded

• Pickups by farmers (e.g., soybean meal, feed, fertilizer)

Deliverables:

Sequence diagrams showing interactions among parties

• Direct ship scenario (ethanol)

• Farmer to elevator

• Elevator to processor

• Varying permutations

OpenAPI spec addressing the following MVP:

Traceability Identifiers:

• Receipt identifier

• Shipment identifier; Load information, Semi-Trailer

  • Target disposition dump pit

  • Source point - this assumes that the farmer sends an Advanced Ship Notice (ASN)

  • On-farm storage bin / load out

  • Grain cart or mother bin - is this necessary/valuable?

  • Farm Id

  • Field Id(applicable for continuous harvesting model), unless direct from field to trailer; most retailers do collect this as a split identifier or the field (field to elevator). Farmer needs to provide/manage this data for contract/insurance purposes.

  • Product / Commodity

Party Identifiers

• Grower/farmer identifier other than first and last name

• Receiving Party (co-operative, retailer, or processor)

• Third Party Carrier (not a party with data interest; part of change of custody event?)

• Retailers arranging transportation with 3rd party (at the shipment level)

• Parties needed to reconcile logistics costs on a consolidated invoice

Measures

• Weights

  • Driver on or off indicator as a function of weight data

  • Gross and tare

• Grades

  • Measured moisture

  • Protein

  • Foreign Matter

  • Any other measure off an instrument

• Qualitative grades

  • Musty, Discolor, Mottled, Stained, Heat Damage, Smut, Sour, Weevilly, COFO, etc.

• Price with method

• Storage balance

• Premium and discount

Dates/ Legal

• Calibration Last Time

• Applied Sales Contract

• §  Sales contract balance at the time of scale out

• §  Ship date (seems to require an ASN)

• §  Receive Date

• §  Scale in timestamp

• §  Scale out timestamp

• §  Indicators of Change of Ownership

• §  Transport container clean out date time

• §  Transport container clean out Party

• §  Transport container clean out Method

• Timeline: 6 months from launch meeting.

Participating Member Organizations:

TBD after Call for Participation

Time Commitment:

Member volunteers should expect to meet weekly, as well as doing offline work to support the project.

Budget:

None anticipated.