Critical digital data enabling traceability for smart honey value chains

Data analysis and sharing are becoming increasingly important in creating value within food supply chains, including honey value chains. While some data is readily shared between supply chain actors, unlocking further benefits requires additional investments in digital data capturing, particularly for value-based claims such as sustainability, equity, and traceability from hives to customers. This study aims to identify critical digital data necessary for smart honey value chains to ensure traceability and transparency while fostering trust among beekeepers, intermediaries, and consumers. Semi-structured interviews with 30 beekeeping experts were conducted to explore their perspectives. The analysis identified four critical categories of data—beekeeper data, apiary data, honey data, and apiary practices data—encompassing 21 specific data points essential for ensuring transparency, traceability, and trust. These findings provide novel insights into the digital data requirements necessary to support the honey industry’s evolving needs for transparent and traceable value chains.