Abstract: In the organic agricultural product supply chain, the lack of a comprehensive traceability and regulatory system to ensure product quality and safety often leads to consumer doubts when purchasing organic products. Consumers are uncertain about whether the organic products they buy are produced strictly according to organic standards. Moreover, organic agricultural products generally sell at higher prices than at conventional ones, which makes it challenging for them to compete effectively with conventional agricultural products, despite their superior quality. Therefore, providing consumers with access to reliable traceability information is essential for the growth of organic agricultural enterprises. Blockchain, a widely adopted digital technology, offers decentralization, transparency, openness and immutability, ensuring full lifecycle traceability of organic agricultural products. In a competitive market, organic agricultural products can leverage blockchain technology to track and share quality data throughout the supply chain. This enhances their differentiation from conventional products, strengthens brand image, and builds consumer trust.
   However, adopting blockchain technology can be costly, and market competition may result in inconsistent willingness among upstream and downstream firms. Additionally, the disclosure effectiveness of blockchain can be affected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices. In other words, organic agricultural enterprises must carefully balance among costs, trust enhancement effects and market competition when making blockchain adoption decisions.
   Therefore, this study focuses on the organic agricultural product supply chain in a competitive market, where both organic and conventional farmers sell products through fresh e-commerce platforms. We develop a Stackelberg game-theoretical model to analyze the incentives of organic farmers and e-commerce platforms to adopt blockchain technology. By comparing the scenarios before and after adopting blockchain technology, we analyze the adoption strategies of both parties and their impacts on pricing decisions, supply chain member profits and social welfare.
   We find that the adoption of blockchain technology in the organic agricultural supply chain is mainly driven by the product brand value added by blockchain and the investment cost of blockchain adoption. When the brand value added is low, both organic farmers and fresh platforms can only benefit if the investment cost is also low. However, when the brand value added is high, it outweighs the negative impact of the investment cost, allowing both parties to benefit from blockchain adoption. Considering the competition with conventional agricultural products, the organic farmer is more inclined to adopt blockchain, while the e-commerce platform shows less willingness. As competition intensifies, the organic farmer’s willingness to adopt it increases, while the platform’s willingness decreases. Interestingly, blockchain adoption can benefit both the organic farmer and platform without negatively affecting the conventional farmer. In certain scenarios, such that when the brand value added is weak but investment cost is moderate, or when the brand value added is strong and the investment cost is high, blockchain adoption can lead to a win-win-win outcome for the organic farmer, conventional farmer and platform. Whether the blockchain adoption can improve consumer surplus and social welfare is also influenced by the brand value added and the investment cost of blockchain. Blockchain adoption can improve consumer surplus and social welfare when both the organic farmer and e-commerce platform benefit from it.
   This study provides decision support and management insights for promoting the application of blockchain technology in the agricultural product supply chain. However, the model assumes a scenario where agricultural output is determined and farmland is sufficient. In reality, factors like climate and pests can affect agricultural product output, potentially limiting production. Future research could explore how output fluctuation and production constraint affect blockchain adoption strategy in the organic agricultural product supply chain.

Key words: organic agricultural products, blockchain technology, market competition, fresh e-commerce platform

摘要： 本文考虑由单一有机农户、单一普通农户和单一生鲜电商平台组成的农产品供应链系统,构建Stackelberg博弈模型,并通过比较分析采用区块链前后两种情形研究了供应链中区块链采纳策略及其对产品定价决策、成员利润和社会福利的影响。研究表明:当区块链带来的品牌增值较显著且产品单位上链成本较低时,有机农户和生鲜平台更可能采用区块链。随着市场中有机产品与普通产品之间竞争加剧,有机农户的区块链采用意愿越高,但生鲜平台的区块链采用意愿会越低。有趣的是,采用区块链不仅能使有机农户和生鲜电商平台受益,还能改善消费者剩余和社会福利,但并不总会导致普通农户利润受损。特别是,当区块链带来的品牌增值较弱且农产品的单位上链成本处于中等水平,或品牌增值较显著且产品单位上链成本高于一定值时,采用区块链能实现有机农户、普通农户和生鲜电商平台三方共赢。

关键词: 有机农产品, 区块链技术, 市场竞争, 生鲜电商平台