Guest written by Nikos Manouselis, CEO of Agroknow

Agriculture would benefit hugely from a common data ecosystem. Produced and used by diverse stakeholders, from smallholders to multinational conglomerates, a shared global data space would help build the infrastructures that will propel the industry forward. This is the main argument of the GODAN discussion paper “A Global Data Ecosystem for Agriculture and Food”. And many organisations (public or private) see great value in continuing this discussion about what such an ecosystem could look like.

But how can we catalyse the creation a global, common data ecosystem for agriculture and food? How can we put in place a fabric of interoperable and interplaying infrastructures? How can we make data sharing and exchange as natural to us as it is to use the road or rail infrastructure to move from one country to another?

These are the questions that the newly set up GODAN Data Ecosystem Working Group (WG) will try to explore. Coordinated by Odile Hologne from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), Graham Mullier from Syngenta, and Nikos Manouselis from Agroknow, the new WG will explore the daring vision of catalysing the creation a global, common data ecosystem for agriculture and food.

According to Odile, "we want to use the GODAN Data Ecosystem WG as the place in which we can bring people from key initiatives together. We want to help relevant stakeholders, including our organisations, in shaping a roadmap that they may adopt and implement within their data infrastructure projects."

"Our desire and intention is to see if we may adopt common thinking and principles. We want to work together in order to review the initial recommendations that the GODAN discussion paper makes and see how they may be contextualised, prioritised and implemented in our specific environments and applications" says Graham.

It would be ideal if this work informs and influences the way in which investments are made in data infrastructures for agriculture and food information. We believe that this will help us realise the vision of a linked and interoperable set of infrastructures, therefore creating a common data ecosystem for agriculture and food.

GODAN wishes and expects that this discussion will be broad and inclusive, involving all relevant strategic stakeholders and forums around the world.

Participation to the Data Ecosystem WG activities is open to everyone and you are welcome to express your interest by filling out this online form: https://goo.gl/O3Fk4R