Last 7 of March, CEMA participated in the debate "Farm Data and How to use it" organised by the European Landowners' Organisation and hosted by Anthea McIntyre at the European Parliament.

 On this occasion, Anthea McIntyre recalled the audience about the own-initiative report “Technical solutions for sustainable agriculture” she led and the strong endorsement received by the European Parliament. She made clear its commitment to ensure all European farmers can benefit from technological innovation. 

Vik Vandecaveye - CNH Industrial, on behalf of CEMA, pointed out ag machinery industry is the biggest data generator of farm machines but also on farm data. For long, a strong trust relationship exists between farmers and the industry since data is used to improve machines performance. 

He also mentioned data collected needs to be confidential for farmers, since all its life is related to that.

Regarding Digital farming as a whole, Mr Vandecaveye explained the benefits for farmers on farming activities come now indirectly from added value from data and the information you can extract from its transformation. Nonetheless, farmers are still reluctant to use these type of technogies considering they need to enter this ecosystem to get the benefits, but that is not an easy transition. 

Data privacy and data ownership

This is one of the key issues CEMA is currently working together with farmers' representatives and other agri stakeholders within the EU Code of Conduct on agricultural data-sharing. This document proposes guidelines to create trust and bring clarity on contractual arrangements in data-sharing. 

Regarding the term "ownership" it was clarified farmers rather control access to their farm data as individuals cannot purely own numbers. 

At the same time, it is key to know field data cannot be anonymized.

Robert de Graeff, representing ELO, mentioned that even if technology is up and running there is a great need to improve broadband coverage to deploy digital farming tools' full potential. 

At the same time, the breach between young and old farmers persists in European farming making the move to technology adoption harder. There is as well as a lack of training. 

He also mentioned that digital tools could facilitate farmers accessing CAP payments. But certainly a full openness was not suitable since farming remains a private business. If it was the case of private companies, businesses would  not open their books to administrations or governments in a simple click. 

From the side of input industries, the representative of Yara (mineral fertiliser company), made clear that a change in productivity and environmental performance is possible and realistic when thinking about digital farming tools. 

However, farm processes are still not data based and technologies under utilized. On this, he mentioned it’s not one technology that will make the change but a combination of them.  

Yara showcased a platform for delivering knowledge and managing tools & services while providing access through the platform 365 Farmnet.

After the different exchanges among speakers and participants, some main conclusions were made regarding the uptake of Digital Farming: 

  • Digital technologies need to be more accessible and affordable for all farmers.
  • If large upfront investments are needed to uptake technology, this can lead to high risks for small farmers who will lag behind in terms of adoption.
  • The promise of Digital Farming needs to be understood as beneficial for farmers but also for the whole value chain (from farmers, industry and consumers).