The data challenge

More data than ever is being collected, recorded and shared by farmers – be it for themselves, the supply chain, regulatory or wider purposes. Increased demand for data raises questions about ownership and control, data security and the value and benefits of sharing such information.

Data is often used to demonstrate environmental impact and evidence the effectiveness of action taken on farm, e.g. reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increasing carbon sequestration/removal. 

Farm-level environmental impact data, particularly carbon footprints, is expected to grow significantly.

Drivers include expanding requirements for processors and retailers to report indirect GHG emissions from their supply chains (Scope 3 reporting), as well as any future requirements, such as from government and/or banks.

Environmental impact data presents some unique challenges to be addressed over time:

• Data requests are uncoordinated, fragmented and inconsistent – increasing pressure on farmers and others in the supply chain
• Inconsistent carbon calculation approaches lead to different results – this will inevitably move towards a more consistent approach but may take time
• Double counting of GHG emission reductions/sequestration – this needs to be avoided and will require coordination of data

It is critical that data owners retain control of their data and choose who to supply it to, and trust whomever they share data with.

As an independent and trusted levy body, AHDB is working with key industry organisations to explore options for an environmental data ecosystem (focusing initially on carbon footprint data) that will help all levy payers retain ownership and control.

For such a data ecosystem to work, a solution for farmers must:

• Be efficient and easy to use – collect data once and use many times
• Have integrity – high-quality data, where the value of what it shows about on-farm practice can be retained by farmers
• Deliver trust – environmental data will be looked after, and data owners will keep full ownership and control of their data

Any solution must be a joint initiative with collaboration across the industry.