LOS BAÑOS, Philippines—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) featured Dr. Robert Meeder, Strategic Director and Co-Founder of The Institute for Future Creations, at its Agriculture and Development Seminar Series (ADSS) on 17 August 2026. Speaking on "From Compliance to Competitive Advantage: Transparency, Digital Product Passports, and the Future of Responsible Trade," Meeder outlined how digital product passports and blockchain technology can empower producers in the Global South.
Meeder provided an overview of the European Union's Digital Product Passport (DPP) requirements, following the launch of the DPP Registry in July 2026. By 2030, all products sold in Europe must have a scannable digital identity detailing their material origin, supply chain history, and post-consumer breakdown.
While beneficial in principle, Meeder noted that strict compliance creates significant burdens for small craft makers and micro-SMEs exporting to Europe. To show how producers can turn regulatory compliance into a competitive advantage, he presented case studies from Sri Lanka and Armenia.
Sri Lanka Case Study: Banana Fiber Textiles and Blockchain Integration
Meeder presented his work in Sri Lanka where he helped find opportunities for a company's 600 weavers who faced possible layoffs because of a cotton shortage. His research team found that fiber extracted from banana stems could be used in textiles, resulting in a product reduced cotton use by 70 percent. Banana stems, typically treated as agricultural waste, were often burned after fruit harvesting, contributing to emissions from agricultural waste.
He shared the development of the "Banana Bag" with Selyn Textiles and a Danish designer, combining agricultural waste innovation with blockchain technology to support handloom weavers. He added that the Banana Bag was, to his knowledge, the world's first handloom product integrated with blockchain technology through a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.
He emphasized that blockchain should not be confused with Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. He described blockchain as a digital ledger that records each step in the supply chain.
"Integrating blockchain technology creates greater transparency of our handloom and craft supply chain," he added.
Through what he described as radical transparency, information about the product journey is made available, from the fiber and dyeing process to the artisans who wove the textile, those who finished the final product, and the resulting impact on the communities and the environment.
He noted that their most transformative initiative was implementing wage transparency, which publicly documented wage payments to verify fair payment to weavers. The initiative, however, also revealed substantial differences between Western compensation levels and earnings in the Global South. In response, he clarified to their European partners that the wages paid to Sri Lankan weavers aligned with local living-wage standards. The experience, he said, underscored the need to deliberate about what data are made transparent and why, ensuring each metric shared has a clear purpose and appropriate context.
Armenia Case Study: Wool Waste and the Lingon Certification
Following the success of banana fiber textiles in Sri Lanka, an organization's country director in Armenia invited Meeder to explore similar innovation in the country's carpet industry. Meeder observed that local producers had shifted to imported synthetic polyester yarns in response to market pressure to lower production costs. At the same time, approximately 80 to 90 percent of the wool generated by Armenia's domestic livestock industry was being discarded and burned, generating avoidable emissions.
"This is where I found the opportunity in waste, and somehow, working with waste has been my specialty to put it back into the system," he said.
Meeder worked with Lingon and We Are Legacy on the ArmWool Project to help revive traditional wool craft using agricultural waste and to develop a DPP-aligned certification. He shared that We Are Legacy aims to change consumers' mindsets and habits through storytelling. The platform communicates a product's heritage, production process, community benefits, materials, and certifications through an accessible interface.
"Our dream is that if you have two products here: one had the data and the storytelling while the other didn't, you would be willing to pay for the product with the data because you could see the story and trust it," Meeder said.
He added that storytelling will increasingly be important in marketing as consumers increasingly seek to understand the verified and transparent stories behind the products they buy.
Meeder closed his presentation with a slogan he often uses: "Not all crafts are equal, but all craft communities have an equal right to grow."
This ADSS session was co-organized by SEARCA and several units of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), including the College of Human Ecology, College of Economics and Management, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Innovation and Enterprise Management, Business Affairs Office, and Institute of Plant Breeding.
The SEARCA ADSS is a regular forum for the exchange of ideas on agricultural and rural development. It promotes dialogue and knowledge sharing within and beyond the Los Baños Science Community.