A HEMA store at Stansted Airport in the UK | Photo credit: Jordy Schaap

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HEMA is to begin using a consumer app to enable greater transparency across its coffee supply chain. The Dutch clothing, homeware and supermarket giant said around 27 of its branded coffee products, including beans, pods and capsules, will now be traceable using Farmer Connect’s ‘Thank My Farmer’ app.
 
Consumers will be able to scan a QR code on coffee packaging to donate directly to sustainability projects in farming communities and learn more about how coffee products are produced.
 
“Now 70% of our range is traceable, our ambition is to only offer coffee products with full supply chain traceability,” said Lian Enting, Lead Category Manager for Food at HEMA. 
 
Founded in 2019, farmer connect states its mission is ‘humanise consumption through technology’ by fostering greater transparency and consumer awareness via a range of app-based products.
 
These include the ‘Farmer ID’ platform, which enables coffee farmers to digitally store trade documentation and manage transactions, and ‘Farmer Connect’, which uses blockchain technology to capture, store and share coffee supply chain data.
 
2020 saw Farmer Connect partner with major coffee companies, including J.M. Smucker Company, Jacob’s Douwe Egberts and UCC Coffee Company. In March 2021, Italian coffee roaster Massimo Zanetti adopted the Farmer Connect blockchain platform for the launch of its Segafredo Storia sustainable coffee brand.
 
HEMA will become the first major high street retailer to begin using the Farmer Connect platform, with the partnership marking growing mainstream awareness of ethical trade and coffee farmer profitability.
 
The HEMA partnership will be a significant boost to Farmer Connect’s supply chain traceability ambitions and comes shortly after it secured $9m funding to develop new supply chain tracking tools for the coffee and food industries.