CattleProof Becomes First USDA-Approved Blockchain-Based Process Verified Program

According to Cointelegraph, decentralized cow verification service CattleProof’s “Verified” has become the United States Department of Agriculture’s first blockchain-based Process Verified Program (PVP). CattleProof, a Wyoming-based company, utilizes a decentralized digital ledger to record information related to individual cows. This technology combines data from electronic identification tags attached to the animals with updates about their condition, location, and other attributes on an immutable blockchain record. CattleProof announced its USDA PVP approval on LinkedIn. The USDA’s PVP service is designed for situations where an organization, such as CattleProof, needs to establish new regulatory standards to market its products. As the first firm to build a decentralized network for monitoring cattle status, the PVP system allowed CattleProof to create and submit a set of voluntary standards for government review. CattleProof claims to be the only USDA-approved PVP utilizing a digital ledger, also known as a blockchain. The company also offers “Born in the USA” certification for cattle, digital certificates containing hyperlinks to individual animal data, and is integrated with Heartland Payments to facilitate buying and selling USDA-verified cattle directly. The successful acceptance of CattleProof’s application indicates that it has demonstrated compliance with existing regulatory standards in the sector and has implemented processes to ensure ongoing compliance as the blockchain and agriculture industries continue to intersect. The USDA appears to be increasingly accepting blockchain as a foundational technology in the agricultural sector. As Cointelegraph recently reported, the department has proposed amending its rules on organic products to include implementing blockchain technology to trace supply chains.