More and more data is extracted from farms and it is changing the way farmers work, SmartAgriHubs and IoF2020 are living proof of that. All this data has a lot of potential to help a farmer make informed decisions. This can be especially true when all of the collected data is combined. However, here arises a problem in some cases: not all data collectors share their information at the request of a farmer.
Though legally the owner of raw data is the farmer, when it is edited data collectors sometimes claim ownership. Even though it is a very interesting and much debated topic both in and out of the agri-food sector, this article is not about where the right of ownership should reside exactly. Nonetheless, one could argue that the farmer owns at least part, if not all raw and edited data. Moreover, the data is stored in different kinds of ways and in different locations depending on how it is collected and used. As a former veterinarian, one of the problems I experienced on farms was to get the right data for diagnosing a problem, evaluating a treatment or making other connections.
In short the data farmers already collect, can be used in a more optimal way, a report from a Dutch bank stated that the majority of data is only used by the companies that also collected them1. ‘JoinData’ might be a solution: it is a Dutch cooperation originating from several stakeholders in the farming industry and was founded in 2016. The idea behind JoinData is simple; create a platform where the farmer is in control of his data.
This has several advantages: farmers have easier access to their data, they can share their data with whom they want. Also app and software builders can use the platform to develop and offer their services to farmers or stakeholders. Another advantage of JoinData is that they are a non-profit organisation which protects the farmers data to some degree. Some other possibilities are the use of the data for better informed decision on a national or European scale and even in research. The platform focuses on dairy cattle although there are ambitions to expand to other sectors as well.
JoinData still has some limitations and raises some questions though. Is it possible to convince all data collectors to present their data? Another problem is that, while the beauty of this idea is that all the data is stored in one place, this would mean a monopoly on the data storage. What will happen when other companies exploit the same idea? Still, from a veterinarian point of view the combination of all this data has a lot of opportunities in making a diagnosis or determining the effects of certain adjustments! Similar opportunities arise for other advisors and certainly for farmers themselves.
1. 1 "Data op het bedrijf & door de keten heen', Thema uitgave Agrarisch Nieuws Februari 2018, Report from ABN-amro
