Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture

This paper discusses the transformation from analogue to digital agriculture (smart farming) and the laws and regulations affecting the governance of agricultural data in the EU. It is argued that the current legal and policy framework in the EU is insuffi cient to serve the needs of responsible sm...

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Main Author: Katarzyna Kosior
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Center for Europe, Warsaw University 2019-12-01
Series:Studia Europejskie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ce.uw.edu.pl/pliki/pw/4-2019-Kosior.pdf
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author Katarzyna Kosior
author_facet Katarzyna Kosior
author_sort Katarzyna Kosior
collection DOAJ
description This paper discusses the transformation from analogue to digital agriculture (smart farming) and the laws and regulations affecting the governance of agricultural data in the EU. It is argued that the current legal and policy framework in the EU is insuffi cient to serve the needs of responsible smart farming systems. Specific characteristics of farm data and patterns in farm data collection and use contribute to market failures in agricultural data markets and hence to the insufficient provision of public goods through agriculture. The key parts of the smart farming data value chain are shaped by private contractual agreements between farmers and agricultural technology providers that do not take into account the potential negative externalities of established data flows. There is a strong rationale for a new data economy for EU agriculture, implying a greater involvement of the state in the smart farming data value chain. Interventions would be needed both to support the ecosystem for datadriven innovations in farming and to minimize the risk of new economic and social inequalities in the agriculture sector. The creation of an EU-wide farm data repository under the auspices of EU institutions and integrating public agricultural data with private farmers’ data subject to anonymisation and aggregation can be seen as a first step towards a new data economy for EU agriculture. Also, the Common Agricultural Policy should be more involved in and committed to the process of the digital transformation of farming in the EU.
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spelling doaj.art-abd5f3ad8f5f4903875fc1714e55c9312022-12-21T18:28:04ZengCenter for Europe, Warsaw UniversityStudia Europejskie1428-149X2019-12-012349110710.33067/SE.4.2019.6Towards a New Data Economy for EU AgricultureKatarzyna Kosior0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4825-730X Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research InstituteThis paper discusses the transformation from analogue to digital agriculture (smart farming) and the laws and regulations affecting the governance of agricultural data in the EU. It is argued that the current legal and policy framework in the EU is insuffi cient to serve the needs of responsible smart farming systems. Specific characteristics of farm data and patterns in farm data collection and use contribute to market failures in agricultural data markets and hence to the insufficient provision of public goods through agriculture. The key parts of the smart farming data value chain are shaped by private contractual agreements between farmers and agricultural technology providers that do not take into account the potential negative externalities of established data flows. There is a strong rationale for a new data economy for EU agriculture, implying a greater involvement of the state in the smart farming data value chain. Interventions would be needed both to support the ecosystem for datadriven innovations in farming and to minimize the risk of new economic and social inequalities in the agriculture sector. The creation of an EU-wide farm data repository under the auspices of EU institutions and integrating public agricultural data with private farmers’ data subject to anonymisation and aggregation can be seen as a first step towards a new data economy for EU agriculture. Also, the Common Agricultural Policy should be more involved in and committed to the process of the digital transformation of farming in the EU.https://www.ce.uw.edu.pl/pliki/pw/4-2019-Kosior.pdfagricultural dataresponsible smart farmingdigitalization
spellingShingle Katarzyna Kosior
Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
Studia Europejskie
agricultural data
responsible smart farming
digitalization
title Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
title_full Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
title_fullStr Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
title_full_unstemmed Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
title_short Towards a New Data Economy for EU Agriculture
title_sort towards a new data economy for eu agriculture
topic agricultural data
responsible smart farming
digitalization
url https://www.ce.uw.edu.pl/pliki/pw/4-2019-Kosior.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT katarzynakosior towardsanewdataeconomyforeuagriculture