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Towards Trusted Data Sharing and Exchange in Agro-Food Supply Chains: Design Principles for Agricultural Data Spaces

Author

Listed:
  • Martina Šestak

    (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia)

  • Daniel Copot

    (ITC—Innovation Technology Cluster Murska Sobota, 9000 Murska Sobota, Slovenia)

Abstract

In the modern agricultural landscape, realizing data’s full potential requires a unified infrastructure where stakeholders collaborate and share their data to gain insights and create business value. The agricultural data ecosystem (ADE) serves as a crucial socio-technical infrastructure, aggregating diverse data from various platforms and, thus, advertising sustainable agriculture and digitalization. Establishing trustworthy data sharing and exchange in agro-food value chains involves socioeconomic and technological elements addressed by the agricultural data space (ADS) and its trust principles. This paper outlines key challenges to data sharing in agro-food chains impeding ADE establishment based on the review of 27 studies in scientific literature. Challenges mainly arise from stakeholders’ mistrust in the data-sharing process, inadequate data access and use policies, and unclear data ownership agreements. In the ADE context, interoperability is a particularly challenging topic for ensuring the long-term sustainability of the system. Considering these challenges and data space principles and building blocks, we propose a set of design principles for ADS design and implementation that aim to mitigate the adverse impact of these challenges and facilitate agricultural data sharing and exchange.

Suggested Citation

  • Martina Šestak & Daniel Copot, 2023. "Towards Trusted Data Sharing and Exchange in Agro-Food Supply Chains: Design Principles for Agricultural Data Spaces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:18:p:13746-:d:1240093
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wolfert, Sjaak & Verdouw, Cor & van Wassenaer, Lan & Dolfsma, Wilfred & Klerkx, Laurens, 2023. "Digital innovation ecosystems in agri-food: design principles and organizational framework," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    2. Zaid Ameen Abduljabbar & Vincent Omollo Nyangaresi & Hend Muslim Jasim & Junchao Ma & Mohammed Abdulridha Hussain & Zaid Alaa Hussien & Abdulla J. Y. Aldarwish, 2023. "Elliptic Curve Cryptography-Based Scheme for Secure Signaling and Data Exchanges in Precision Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Mohammad Amiri-Zarandi & Mehdi Hazrati Fard & Samira Yousefinaghani & Mitra Kaviani & Rozita Dara, 2022. "A Platform Approach to Smart Farm Information Processing," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Katrin Martens & Jana Zscheischler, 2022. "The Digital Transformation of the Agricultural Value Chain: Discourses on Opportunities, Challenges and Controversial Perspectives on Governance Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    5. Beatrice Garske & Antonia Bau & Felix Ekardt, 2021. "Digitalization and AI in European Agriculture: A Strategy for Achieving Climate and Biodiversity Targets?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna Gieß & Andreas Hutterer, 2025. "The Future of Data Management: A Delimitation of Data Platforms, Data Spaces, Data Meshes, and Data Fabrics," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 971-997, December.

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