Agrimetrics, a UK Agri-Tech Centre with commercial and public funding, has launched the agri-food sector's first Data Marketplace, which promises to reward data-owners, whilst accelerating innovation.
The agricultural sector is always looking for ways to improve productivity and sustainability. Data-driven technologies promise solutions to these challenges, but progress is often held back by limitations to data exchange. Advancement depends on easily accessible, quality data being readily available to consumers, whilst also proving effective and profitable to data suppliers.
Dr David Flanders, CEO of Agrimetrics:
"Agri-businesses are – often justifiably – reluctant to share their data. Meanwhile, organisations lack the information they need to build new solutions. This has prevented meaningful innovation."
Agrimetrics' Data Marketplace aims to solve these problems and is already having a significant impact on UK agriculture. Airbus, the aerospace giant, has made satellite-derived field attributes available through The Data Marketplace; these can be used to calculate irrigation requirements and develop methods for countering lodging.
BASF, the world's largest chemical manufacturer, has used the data to develop a water stewardship tool that gives field-specific guidance on when to spray. wHen2gO simplifies a complex regulatory area and is an example of how data-driven tools can improve sustainability and farm profitability.
Barfoots, the UK food and farming company, is another user, having created a predictive harvest model to streamline their international supply chains.
Dr Matthew Smith, Agrimetrics Chief Product Officer:
"Robotics, artificial intelligence, carbon farming, predictive models, farm-to-fork traceability and natural capital accounting are often-highlighted when discussing the future of agriculture. However, they fundamentally depend on the ability to easily exchange data. This requires new linked-data supply-chains that seamlessly connect data-producers and data-consumers throughout the food and farming system. The Agri-food Data Marketplace is the closest yet to making this a reality."
The NFU's Chief Science and Regulatory Affairs adviser, Dr Helen Ferrier, chairs Agrimetrics' Advisory Board.
Dr Helen Ferrier:
"There are significant opportunities available to farming through digital technologies, and I’m convinced data is an important part of the solution to the big challenges British farmers and growers will face in coming decades. However, it is not easy for businesses to know how they can get the most out of the data they are generating, how they can share it securely and what value can be added for them by linking their data with others. It is vital that agritech companies developing data-driven products understand the needs of their intended customers, build things using the best data, and use the best support and expertise to underpin the data exchange and linkages that are now possible. This expertise is what Agrimetrics can provide. Agrimetrics is now an important part of the UK R&D landscape and it has established its role as the UK’s agricultural data marketplace. As more companies use its services, the more potential there will be for NFU members to benefit from the data revolution through linking their commercial decision-making to a greater understanding of complex farming systems."