Big data change agriculture but are too expensive for small operators

The use of new information and communication technologies, 'big data' and artificial intelligence, is also becoming increasingly important for agricultural enterprises. Faced with increased uncertainty and volatility in the markets, climate and geopolitical crises, rapid access to information is becoming a key production factor. However, this access often comes at a cost: improving it and, where possible, making it public should be a priority of EU policy to protect agricultural businesses in the new scenario. This, in a nutshell, is the message contained in a study carried out by Areté, an Italian consultancy specialising in agribusiness, for the EU Commission on information and communication technologies applied to agribusiness.

It is the first (and so far only) broad-ranging study on the potential of Icts, 'big data' and artificial intelligence technologies to improve the current EU information system on agri-food markets. Conducted with the collaboration of S&P Global Commodity Insights, Ecorys, Wageningen University and Cogea, it covered the 27 EU countries plus the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK, with the aim of identifying the systems with the greatest potential 'with a view to building a system at the service of the Union and its operators'.

In addition to Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), the EU Commission provides data on the agri-food sector and related markets through the Agri-food data portal and a series of observatories on specific markets. These systems are public, and 90% of users consider the data managed by the EU Commission to be reliable on the whole, even if they are not always updated with the necessary frequency and speed.

The survey showed that 41.5% of enterprises use private market data providers as a source of information. The problem is that farmers and SMEs often lack the financial resources to access information packages based (also) on the use of advanced technological solutions. However, precisely some of the information that is currently only available for a fee (e.g. prices of specific types of products, including agricultural inputs) can also be very important for these categories of operators, especially in times of crisis, as experienced recently during the pandemic first and the Russian war on Ukraine later. Therefore, the study points out, "the provision of some of this data by the EU could help to bridge this information gap".

Finally, the study highlights the potential benefits of new information and communication technologies on crop yields, logistics and retail sales, concluding with the recommendation toprioritise the enforcement of existing market transparency regulations.