State of the art data exchange in agriculture in the EU27 & Switzerland: survey of the agriXchange project

Abstract

Within the agricultural knowledge-based bio-economy, information sharing is an important issue. Information systems for agricultural supply food chain network are not standardized. This reduces efficiency in the exchange of information in agri-business processes. To address these problems, agriXchange, an EU-funded coordination and support action was setup to develop a sustainable network system for common data exchange in the agricultural sector. The overall objectives are to: a) establish a platform on data exchange in agriculture in the EU, b) develop a reference framework for interoperability of data exchange, and c) identify the main challenges for harmonizing data exchange. Analysis of the situation concerning data exchange in agriculture in individual EU member states (including Switzerland) is an integral component of this harmonization support action. In this paper the results of the investigation of the state-of-the art around agricultural data exchange in EU member states is reported. This research on data exchange and data integration was carried out in 27 EU member states and Switzerland. The investigation employed experts to quantitatively and qualitatively inquire about agricultural data exchange in the EU. A framework was developed to inquire the different integration levels, within as well as between enterprises in agriculture. Based on the analysis of the state of the art, the challenges for future research and trends data exchange in European agriculture were identified. The results showed that there are substantial differences across the EU in relation to the level of data integration and standardization. Member states can be divided into different groups from; none or hardly any data integration to quite well developed infrastructures such as France, Germany, The Netherlands and Denmark. The most important findings identified were with the aging population of farmers which manifests itself through the lack of adaption and investments in new technology, especially in Southern and Eastern countries. Availability of mobile and broadband infrastructure was a major problem in rural areas for most countries in a quantitative sense, but for ICT developed agricultural countries more of a quality of service problem. Cost of acquiring data exchange capable equipment, data exchange formats, proprietary data formats and complexity in machines was also a major concern. As a recommendation, it was noted that open networks with flexible relationships between network partners will facilitate successful integration of systems. The importance of agricultural data exchange in the EU has broadly been recognized, however all service providers and users need to be convinced about the benefits. Finally, focus should be on putting research information into practice to demonstrate how data harmonization processes can work, however, this should be kept flexible and hence keep the rigidity of (formal) standardization processes minimal in agricultural data harmonization.