Digital Farm Link: A Trust-Centric Marketplace Integrating AI, Blockchain, IoT, and Federated Learning for Transparent Farmer-to-Consumer Trade

Smallholder farmers face systemic barriers such as opaque pricing, exploitative intermediaries, post-harvest losses, and limited access to financial inclusion. Simultaneously, con- sumers demand transparency, provenance, quality assurance, and fair pricing. This paper presents Digital Farm Link (DFL) — a trust-centric digital marketplace that integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and Federated Learning to create a transparent and equitable farmer- to-consumer (F2C) ecosystem. The proposed system combines a hybrid AI forecasting engine with blockchain-based provenance tracking, IoT-driven quality verification, and multimodal inter- faces (voice and PWA) for inclusivity. The system integrates multi-layered AI forecasting and blockchain-based provenance tracking for trustworthy agricul- tural trade. This version advances prior work through five key enhance- ments: (1) a Fair Pricing Engine enforcing ethical minimums and consumer affordability constraints; (2) an Explainable AI (XAI) Layer providing human-understandable pricing rationale; (3) an IoT + Computer Vision pipeline for blockchain-anchored quality certification; (4) a Reputation-Driven Smart Contract Framework for secure transactions and dispute resolution; and (5) integration with microfinance and insurance APIs for financial empower- ment. Experimental evaluations show significant improvements in forecasting accuracy (MAPE ↓ 15 The approach demonstrates scalability and replicability for rural-to-urban agricultural ecosystems. The study demonstrates DFL’s methodological robustness and scalability potential, paving the way for sustainable, trust-based digital agriculture ecosystems.