Can open data prevent a global food shortage?

As the world goes from seven billion mouths to feed to nearly 10 billion by 2050, the pressure is on to produce 70% more food than today without harming the environment.

It is a huge task that has prompted the G8 countries and 120 governments and organisations around the world to to set up and support the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (Godan) initiative. It encourages governments to open up data and help each other’s farmers learn from the information. According to its programme director, Martin Parr, it is the only way a growing population will be fed.

“The world needs a new agricultural revolution and that’s going to come through a data revolution,” he says.

“We need to open up data so farmers can be more efficient and get the biggest yields possible and use the least amount of agrochemicals because we’ve got to have this new data-driven revolution in agriculture without any detriment to the environment. The only way to do this is to open up data but then encourage organisations around the world to turn the data in to open services which offer useful, evidence-based advice to farmers.”

Parr’s organisation, and other open data campaigners, welcomed the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) embracing open data at the end of June with the full release of 8,000 data sets.

The point now is organisations must use the data and combine with other information, such as weather records or plant health imaging from satellites, to make truly useful services. Godan has published case studies of what is already possible globally.

Examples include the Netherlands government using satellite data to warn against mice infestations as well as Colombian farmers and American policymakers forecasting water requirements against reserves so this valuable natural resource can be optimised.

Predicting pests

While the UK waits for data that was only made available two months ago to be turned in to live services by environmentalists, farming organisations and, no doubt, digital startups, farmers around the globe are already benefiting from one pioneering farming authority. Oxfordshire-based CABI works with multiple governments and farming organisations across Africa, America, Europe and Asia to share the insights from its scientific records into plants’ risk from pests which go back more than one hundred years. The Plantwise data service is free and offers proactive advice on dealing with each specific threat where natural measures are promoted above use of agrochemicals, which is always placed as a last resort.

The next step is to combine this data with current and predicted weather as well as on-the-ground observations, according to Tim Holmes, head of technical solutions at CABI’s Plantwise Knowledge Bank.

“We’ve run a test project in Kenya to use the data we have on crops’ vulnerability to pests and combined it with satellite weather data so we can forewarn which are likely to be a problem,” he says.

“The service offers a traffic light warning system with advice on what farmers can do for each different threat level, starting with good farming practice – such as pruning trees and bushes and keeping the farm clean – right up to the last resort of applying a particular insecticide.”

With mobile phone providers keen to have an extra service to make their tariffs more tempting, Holmes reveals CABI is in talks with networks to offer the service to other emerging markets. The organisation is also in talks about developing a particularly futuristic service with Zhejiang University to control locusts in China.

“China has agreed to dramatically reduce the pesticides it sprays to combat locusts by 2020 and so they realise open data is going to be key,” says Holmes.

“We’re hoping to combine our Plantwise data with satellite weather system along with radar images which can pick up insect movements. The resulting service could then offer warnings and advice to farmers, based on their location, with pesticide use as the last resort.”

Mapping out farming

Investors are used to staring at screens packed with business data before making decisions and now, thanks to open data, agriculture is no different. Charles Elworthy, head of research at Map of Agriculture, reveals the company’s new service combines UK and internationally available data to show how productive areas around the world are for different types of farming.

“Agriculture’s an attractive investment opportunity because of the appreciation of land assets but, until now, investors haven’t had firm data on where farming is the most productive,” he says.

“We offer maps with different layers that allow you to see production for different farming types so investors can establish what their return on assets may be. We’re a very small startup right now but we’re hoping to share our findings with farming organisations and with farmers who supply us with data, and then charge investors for accessing it.”

Partner approach

Some projects involve partners sharing data with one another, such as at seed and agrochemical company Syngenta. While it is not strictly open data as defined by the Open Definition, it gives its farming customers access to the results of surveys into farming practices at 800 farms in 41 countries. The data enables farmers to benchmark performance against one another explains Elisabeth Fischer, project manager for Sygenta’s global Good Growth Plan.

“Our surveys allow farmers to compare yield per hectare as well as how much water and pesticides they used,” she says.

“The farmers we survey are our customers but we hope to widen the project by working with third parties in the future. We’re also planning to build up the service so it has sensors which combine soil and weather data so farmers can get a more like-for-like comparison.”

The hope is that such partner-based networks will combine their findings with other farming organisations’ data research projects to give improved insight to those who can benefit from it most. Without offering farmers the best possible data on how they can grow more with less reliance on pesticides, experts predict the world will not get the revolution in agriculture it needs to grow the required 70% more food within 35 years.

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• This article was amended on 4 September 2015 to remove a sentence that stated open data does not have to be free and open to all. As outlined by the Open Definition, open data should be.