Reflection on a valuable DESA (Data Ecosystem Agro) meeting

The DESA (Data Ecosystem Agro) meeting on Thursday 11 June brought together a broad range of organisations to continue shaping the future of data sharing in the agricultural sector. During the meeting, the DESA team shared key insights from the recent workshop series and outlined possible directions for the next phase.

DESA (Data Ecosystem Agro) brings together agricultural entrepreneurs, supply chain partners, government bodies and knowledge institutions to develop a trusted and standardised approach to data sharing across the agricultural sector.

More flexibility and greater responsibility

During the meeting, Laurens van Sterkenburg, Manager for the Implementation of Goal-Based Management at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN), explained the plans for farm-level goal-based management. He also outlined how this approach is connected to supply chain management and how it is expected to evolve in the coming years.

The Ministry aims to give agricultural entrepreneurs greater flexibility and responsibility in achieving climate, water and biodiversity objectives in ways that best suit their businesses. The long-term ambition is to move away from detailed prescriptive rules towards an outcome-based approach that better reflects regional differences.

DESA provides the trusted and standardised data infrastructure needed to monitor performance fairly and efficiently. Reliable data creates a clearer picture of business performance, helping to underpin goal-based management and any associated incentives. It also enables policy to be adjusted where necessary while reducing the administrative burden for entrepeneurs.

A meaningful step forward

The meeting reinforced that this transition requires a fundamental change in the way the sector operates, in which greater freedom goes hand in hand with greater responsibility, and where public and private organisations work together step by step. It also underlined that the meeting should be seen as an important milestone in a broader collaborative process aimed at identifying future priorities and making well-informed decisions. To support this, participants agreed to meet again after the summer to continue exchanging ideas and share the latest developments from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature (LVVN).

From the BDI perspective, we are pleased to be part of this collaboration and of an inspiring community of businesses, public authorities, sector organisations and knowledge institutions. Drawing on our experience across multiple sectors and in federated data ecosystems, we see considerable potential in the continued development of DESA.