The next step in applying data to your business

In the webinar 'Future Agrofood - steps with datafication', different speakers, active in different places in the food chain, give an insight into how you can use data to optimize your business operations and also realize innovations within the agrofood chain. The webinar gives concrete examples and inspires to look at what the next step could be for your business.

Internet of food

The first guest speaker during the webinar is Theo Thewessen, member of the board of Geodan, a company in information technology and services. He will show how the use of data is changing the connections in the agri-food chain and therefore creating new opportunities. Data fication is often thought of as optimizing business operations, but it is also the creation of new connections that makes it so interesting. It offers room for new revenue models and sales markets.

Thewessen mentions a number of examples for the application of data in the agrofood sector: precision agriculture, transparency, data-driven sales chains in which the producer can come into direct contact with the consumer (short chains) and working towards circular agriculture by providing insight into where there is still room in the process.

For Thewessen, the question of whether an investment in datafication will pay off is not one that can be answered unequivocally. It is certainly a challenge to find the cooperation to work collectively with data. But each individual producer can already look for the first step within their own company. There are various successful examples of the application of precision agriculture and achieving greater efficiency.

Circulation indicator and Oxin Growers

Two examples of successful applications of datafication are given by the next speaker, Will Kroot of VAA Dataworks. He shows how in the ZuivelNL Kringloopwijzer data is collected from all kinds of parties around milk production. Data about the soil, crops, feed, manure and the milk produced, among other things, is stored in a central database. By issuing authorizations, the owner of the data determines who has access to it. With this data, a dairy farmer can show, for example, whether he qualifies for the PlanetProof label, which leads directly to a higher milk price.

The second example involves Oxin Growers, a large grower organization of fruits and vegetables, which can provide information to their customers about the quality, sustainability and pricing of their products by collecting and sharing data. Oxin Growers is also using data to move from a supply-driven market more to a demand-driven market, which will benefit the price. This includes using harvest forecasts, which provide insight into which grower will harvest which product at which time.

Frankort & Koning

The third speaker is Sander Binda, business analyst at Frankort & Koning. He shares the experiences with datafication of this international sales organization, trading in fruit and vegetables. Traceability and true pricing played a major role in investing in datafication. The positive effects of this step are making clear choices in pricing, transparency regarding the price, being able to spend more time on the core business of trading, internal peace through actual insight and cost reduction through optimization.

Binda is also open about the problems. Linking data from the many different sources the company uses is an obstacle, as is synchronizing data at different times. Finally, it is also a challenge to get all employees on board with the digitalization, so a lot of time still flows away to people management. To avoid these problems, Binda recommends using experts when starting on data fication and to have a clear understanding of what the use of data should do. There is certainly a return on investment for Frankort & Koning, which set up two departments to collect and process data.

Euro Caps

In the example of Thysia, a company in information management, the example of Euro Caps, a company specializing in premium coffee and the packaging of coffee in capsules, is discussed. This shows that datafication can be applied in a company in different ways. Not only production, but also internal communication, HR processes and finance can benefit from the use of data. The relationship between Thysia and Euro Caps is also discussed. Simply providing systems that can collect and process data does not necessarily mean that the user can also work with it.

Data Maturity Model

Marien de Bakker of Datalab Agrifood closes the webinar with insights for the agri-food entrepreneur on taking the next step in the field of data. The Data Maturity Model can be used for this. This allows an entrepreneur to determine the level of data fication he is currently moving at and how he could possibly move up a step. De Bakker emphasizes how useful it can be to approach other companies or organizations with experience in this area when taking the next step. In a handy overview, he shows how all the parties involved in this webinar can play a role and at what level of data fication. Collaboration is key, as there is still much to learn and develop. By sharing experiences in the field of datafication, the sector as a whole can grow.

Look Back

The webinar organized by BOM (Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij), LIOF and Brightlands was held on May 13 and is now available to everyone on Youtube. If you want to watch the webinar back, click on this link.