Copa and Cogeca held for the first time today a Conference “Big Data for Farmers and Cooperatives” to examine how better to collect data from farmers and cooperatives and make it accessible to others to improve efficiency and productivity and contribute to a better use of resources.
Speaking at the event, Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “Today, big data, precision farming, drones, robots are part of the farming vocabulary and are a reality in many farms and cooperatives across Europe, promising to revamp the sector. Innovation is crucial for the future of European agriculture, but not enough is known about the performance of information systems and the collection and sharing of data that is produced by farmers and cooperatives using new techniques and machinery. The key issue is how to gather this data, process it and make it more readily available to farmers and cooperatives across Europe. The use of big data could help farmers to step into the future of farming and achieve better targets. What we are looking at here today are issues like what type of data are increasingly being exchanged? Are there possibilities to set up a software/database and to ensure interoperability for exchange purposes? Open data for example must be accessible which means publishing it on the web, social media, making it available in a machine-readable format and having a license that permits anyone to access, use and share it. As farmers, we also need to be sure that we can obtain a return by producing and exchanging data”.
Results from gathering big data can enable arable farmers for instance to make better choices on what crops to grow, and exactly when and where to sow them. A professor and senior science advisor for the Department of State found that farmers using only one type of precision technology increased their yield by 16% and cut down water use by 50%. In the dairy sector, automated milking technologies are becoming increasingly important and it’s good to gather data on this and make it available.
The Conference bought together our member organisations, high-level representatives from the EU Institutions and top experts in Europe dealing with big data in Europe to look at the main challenges and bottlenecks. Chairman of five Copa-Cogeca working parties on tax and legal questions, cereals and oilseeds, potatoes, milk and dairy products, research and innovation also focused specifically on the challenges in their sectors and how to overcome them to ensure a more efficient, productive sector, producing more with less.
