Levy organisation AHDB has kicked off a new project to crack one of farming’s biggest digital headaches: how to share data safely, simply and on farmers’ terms.
The pilot, which initially focuses on environmental data, aims to demonstrate a technical solution that enables farmers to securely share data from existing sources — including the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS), processors and feed suppliers — with a commercial carbon calculator to carry out greenhouse gas assessments.
Adam Short, AHDB’s associate director for data programmes, said the volume of data being “collected, recorded and shared by farmers” is greater than ever—whether it’s for their own use, the supply chain, compliance, or other purposes.
With that growing demand comes mounting concern around “ownership and control, data security and the value and benefits of sharing such information,” he added.
Mr Short said AHDB had spent the past year working closely with industry stakeholders to explore how data sharing and governance can work in practice.
“We have also engaged with organisations around the world who have already successfully implemented farmer-led solutions for data sharing,” he explained.
“Farmer trust for any potential system is paramount and is at the forefront of our minds as we move forward with the proof of concept.”
The early phase of the project will focus on securing appropriate permissions from farmers and data owners — such as processors and the Rural Payments Agency — and making the purpose and limits of data use clear.
Once permission pathways are established, the project will build a system to connect these data streams to practical tools such as carbon calculators.
A key feature of the system will be a permissions centre, which will be co-designed and tested by a group of 15 farmers involved in the project. The intention is to ensure the platform reflects real-world farming needs and demonstrates clear, farmer-led data control.
Sarah Bell, a farmer and member of the Farm Data Principles group, welcomed AHDB’s efforts, noting that legislative pressure on farmers to provide production data is only set to grow.
“I am delighted that AHDB is working towards building a solution that helps farmers to supply this data once, in a time efficient way and use the data for multiple purposes,” she said.
Ms Bell emphasised the importance of transparency and accountability in how farm data is handled. “The work of Farm Data Principles is seeking to encourage all end users of farm data to be honest and transparent about how they use that data,” she said.
“Both our work and that of AHDB aims to put trust and accuracy at the heart of data processing and wherever possible save farmers time and effort.”
Those interested in contributing are encouraged to contact environmentaldata@ahdb.org.uk
