The Grainchain team was established by the founders of SiloSys, an IT solution for the agricultural industry. For the last 5 years, we have been automating the system of measuring the commodities coming into silos and storage facilities, providing accurate measurement, tracking, and accountability for soft commodities. IT systems such as SiloSys are increasing in popularity worldwide, because they eliminate the manual processes of weighing and providing documentation for agricultural yield. Automated systems eliminate the potential of cheating with the weights, and a number of other dishonest schemes that were distorting commodities prices in the past. They also provide immediate paperwork that is trackable in the software systems, rather than paper notes. As we expanded the automation of the network, we recognized that, while we can eliminate cheating on the physical end of the goods through our IT software and sensor hardware, many of the issues faced by the weakest members of the chain are built into the financial systems surrounding the agricultural industry. With the rise of blockchain technology and smartcontracts, we recognized that there is an opportunity to provide a myriad of services that will help the growers, governments, and agents who are often in the most compromised positions vis-à-vis commodities brokers and bank agents.