UK: Better Governance Key to Make the Most of Farm Data

By Farmers Weekly

Trust… something that is difficult to gain, but easy to lose. And it is the biggest issue holding back digital agriculture in the UK today, writes Tina Barsby at Farmers Weekly.

There is a veritable cornucopia of opportunity when it comes to data-inspired decisions, such as what to grow on your farm, how to grow it, what inputs to use, return on investments, environmental concerns and benefits, and carbon capture.

Yet uptake on farm remains stubbornly low.

For so many farmers, potentially helpful digital tools are ignored because of a lack of trust in how their farm data is taken, stored, profited from, and potentially shared with others. That is why we have decided to do something about data governance.

Having discussed it with people from across the food supply chain, it is clear that, while people have different slants on what “data governance” actually means, there is broad agreement on the responsibility to understand where the data comes from, how it is collected, where it is stored, and what organizations can and cannot do with it without the express permission of the data owner.