Digital development within primary production is happening very fast, where vast volumes of data are being generated and the systems used in farming enterprises are becoming ever more advanced. Four Swedish key organizations within the agriculture sector – that represent a substantial proportion of Sweden’s farmers – are therefore launching a national initiative. Hushållningssällskapet, Lantmännen, LRF and Växa Sverige have reached a partnership agreement on a data platform in Sweden for profitability, sustainability and innovation. The platform aims to develop the societally important food sector and to increase Swedish food production by strengthening farm level digital capabilities.
“The platform will contribute to making Swedish agriculture more profitable and sustainable. By enabling information from different data sources to be used, this can increase productivity on farms, while at the same time, the use of production means can be made more efficient,” says Anna Karin Hatt, CEO of LRF.
Common access to data increases innovativeness
Swedish farmers own their data and are in the driving seat when it comes to the common sector data platform, that will create opportunities to develop more advanced services and innovations for profitability and innovation at farm level. It also strengthens their position in the value chain.
Goals for the platform include:
- To contribute to the development of digital solutions for profitability and sustainability at farm level.
- To establish an attractive platform for the companies and organizations that want to boost the competitiveness of Swedish farmers via digital solutions.
- To create better opportunities for innovation via a platform that enables data driven Swedish research and development.
- To strengthen the farmers’ understanding of their data ownership and give them better control over the data that are generated in their enterprise while at the same time stimulating data sharing.
- To contribute to farmers gaining their share of the value that is created via the sharing of farming data.
- To increase the robustness of the food value chain.
- To invite farming businesses and public and private sector parties to cooperate and contribute to digital development to increase innovation and productivity.
More companies are invited to join the partnershipThis is the starting point for a continued cooperation with the goal of a common platform that will need financing from both the public and private sectors. To reach these goals in a resource efficient and purposeful way, parties in the industry need to contribute and work together. As the direction of the platform becomes clearer, the aim is to involve additional partners in the form of companies, research bodies and public organizations, that wish to strengthen the digital capability of Swedish farmers via a partnership approach.
For more information, please contact
LRF Press Office: +46 10 184 40 70
Lantmännen Press Office: +46 10 556 88 00, press@lantmannen.com
If you are interested in a future partnership around the platform, please send an e-mail to lantbruksdata@lrf.se.