Towards a Common Agricultural Data Space in the European Union: A Sustainable Development Perspective

Abstract

In February 2020 the European Commission announced a new strategy for data in which an innovative proposal to create a single European data space composed of many sectoral common data spaces, including the agriculture sector, was presented. It is expected that the common agricultural data space will provide support for delivering a smart, innovative and sustainable agri-food system from farm to fork. Based on the analysis of framework conditions for pooling and sharing agricultural data in the EU and the Commission’s initiatives in this area, this article aims to discuss how and to what extent the common data space in agriculture could contribute to environmental, economic and social sustainability in the EU. It was concluded that the achievement of sustainability goals with the help of the planned common data space remains challenging, particularly in the context of rapid, but uneven pace of digital transformation in the agri-food sector in the EU. Overcoming legal, technical and other barriers to data sharing in the EU will not remove the fundamental problems of limited representativeness of current agricultural data assets in the EU. The design of the common data space in agriculture as well as the rules for data access and use should therefore be carefully considered. Also, specific and datarelated intervention measures, e.g. under the CAP, would be needed both to decrease the problem of a fragmented farm data landscape and to respond to the growing needs to collect and share private farm data that are highly relevant to achieving broader social goals and sustainability.

Towards Trusted Data Sharing and Exchange in Agro-Food Supply Chains: Design Principles for Agricultural Data Spaces

“…Furthermore, this also significantly impacts the complexity of the data collection process [13,25], which, in turn, affects data availability. Besides technological readiness, the agricultural sector also faces challenges in terms of the maturity of relevant policy frameworks and standards (legal, organizational, technical, semantic, and others) [12,[26][27][28][29][30]. Some studies also highlight the need for interdisciplinary methods for creating value for creating value for all stakeholders due to the complex interactions often involving numerous stakeholders [31,32].…”

“…europa.eu/en/policies/data-governance-act, accessed 29 July 2023) provides a framework to enhance trust in data sharing with DEs. However, Kosior [12] argues that existing EU regulations have not entirely resolved problems related to limited trust in data sharing or data access and portability, which would facilitate data flows within and between EU Member States in different sectors. Therefore, there is a lack of a standardized framework for data governance in the agricultural sector in general.…”

“…The agricultural sector, being the least digitized economic sector, confronts a multitude of unique challenges when it comes to establishing an ADE [12]. These challenges encompass obstacles such as inadequate IT network infrastructure in rural areas, limited financial investments in digital transformation by stakeholders, insufficient digital skills among farmers, the involvement of numerous stakeholders within agro-food value chains, fragmented farming systems, and a high prevalence of manually generated data, among others listed in Table 5.…”

“…As a result, there remains a notable research gap in establishing an ADE that covers a broader range of agricultural sector activities while guaranteeing secure and trustworthy data sharing and sovereignty via the agricultural data space (ADS). Furthermore, it is also still quite unclear how an ADS should operate or be developed [12]. Establishing such an environment would also help address the concerns that are currently impeding the adoption of the ADE.…”