The importance of open data in agriculture: Increasing performance and
boosting data-driven innovations
Amid global challenges such as food security, climate change, and
geopolitical tensions, the importance of agriculture continues to
grow. Open data is emerging as a transformative tool in this sector,
offering valuable insights into key topics like soil conditions,
weather patterns, and crop performance. By enabling data-driven
decision-making, farmers can adopt precision farming
[https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/en/digitising-agriculture/developing-digital-technologies/precision-farming-0.html]
techniques that boost crop yields, reduce costs, and enhance
sustainability, thereby creating significant impact throughout the
agricultural value chain.

To support the digital transformation of agriculture and ensure
continuous food security, the European Commission’s
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
[https://commission.europa.eu/about/departments-and-executive-agencies/agriculture-and-rural-development_en]
leads initiatives like the Common Agricultural Policy
[https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy_en]
(CAP). Based on a partnership between society and agriculture, CAP is
designed to ensure a stable food supply, safeguard farmers' income,
protect the environment, and keep rural areas vibrant. Each EU country
has set national targets in its approved CAP Strategic Plan, based on
44 result indicators
[https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/cap-overview/cmef_en#towardsthepmef],
like digitalising agriculture and improving animal welfare. These
targets are available on an online dashboard
[https://agridata.ec.europa.eu/extensions/DashboardCapPlan/result_indicators.html],
promoting transparency and ensuring compliance with monitor
requirements.

Several agriculture data spaces, including Divine
[https://divine-project.eu/], ScaleAgDatam
[https://scaleagdata.eu/en], and the AgriDataSpace
[https://agridataspace-csa.eu/], play a role in advancing these
efforts. AgriDataSpace is working towards the development of a Common
European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS)
[https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/policy-brief-rolling-out-common-european-agricultural-data-space#:~:text=The%20CEADS%2C%20originally%20announced%20under,Artificial%20Intelligence%20(AI)%20tools.],
which will enable secure, trusted and transparent data sharing. This
initiative, expected for 2025, opens new possibilities for monitoring
and optimising natural resource use while stimulating data-driven
innovations. Developments like these contribute to achieving the goals
of the  ‘Sustaining our quality of life: Food security, water and
nature’  Commission priority, and CAP. 

Whether you are a farmer, researcher, or policymaker, the
opportunities offered by open agricultural data are extensive.
Visit data.europa.eu [https://data.europa.eu/en] to explore more
than 310 000 datasets related to agriculture
[https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets?locale=en&categories=AGRI&page=1]
and contribute to building a sustainable and resilient food system for
Europe.

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Publication Date/Time
2025-01-27T09:00:00+00:00
How the Commission is supporting agriculture with different
initiatives