Issues around data governance in the digital transformation of agriculture

Agricultural data and their use for better decision-making and innovation are at the core of the digital transformation of agriculture. But fragmented and unclear data governance arrangements may weaken farmers’ willingness to adopt digital solutions. This, in turn, may reduce the availability and accessibility of agricultural data for policymaking, for the agricultural innovation system, and for developing services for farmers. A key challenge for policy makers lies in finding a balance between protecting the privacy and confidentiality of agricultural data, and farmers’ economic interests in those data, while making it possible to leverage their potential for the sector’s growth and innovation. This report focuses on farmers’ concerns around access, sharing and use of agricultural data and explores whether and how existing policy frameworks and other sectoral initiatives can help to foster greater trust.