Independence is a small town of around 9,000 citizens located within the administrative district of Polk County in the state of Oregon. Oregon is home to the Nike Inc. headquarters and four campuses of Intel Corporation, the state’s largest, single employer. However, as is the case in many regions throughout the world, much of this economic growth is concentrated in urban areas, leaving an opportunity gap between city residents and those of more rural areas like Independence.

With this opportunity gap in mind, the City of Independence Hub for Innovation Strategic Plan was established with an aim to take stock of its key assets and maximize utility. With agriculture being a vital industry to the city, with surrounding Polk County producing $162,000,000 annually, Smart Agriculture and Smart Rural Community initiatives are central components of the plan.

The city has long been forward-thinking in terms of technology, as demonstrated by a 2005 investment in 100 Mbps broadband infrastructure, an asset which many, larger cities would have to wait several more years for telecom companies to develop. Having demonstrated a commitment to such projects, the city has become an attractive destination for companies to pilot new solutions.

Two fast-developing technologies that are already having an impact on agriculture are IoT and blockchain. As such, Independence has developed an interest in them, and decided on piloting a project that will help track the movement of goods in a supply chain. In this project, Independence worked on the tracking of hops. Increasingly vast and complex supply chains in agriculture have led to highly-publicized outbreaks of listeria, salmonella, E. coli, insecticide, and others. Inability to prevent and accurately track the source of the outbreaks are not only damaging to public safety and the product’s market but also have the potential to create substantial loss of product that may otherwise be avoided.