Image: Agdatahub.
John Deere, a multinational agricultural machinery company, has understood the potential of data for its business and its income. Like H&M and BMW, the company has risen to the rank of “digital incumbent” according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
“These companies have in common that they have taken artificial intelligence as the engine of their transformation and have used it to review several of their offers or their processes”, underlined Nicolas de Bellefonds during the Assises de la Data 2023.
Data at the service of value distribution
Agricultural and agri-food sectors have taken up these subjects more widely in sectors where the giants rule the roost. Farms, which also collect more and more data, are suffering from a seemingly unfavorable balance of power.
API-AGRO’s initial ambition was precisely to give them back power and control over their data, via an exchange platform. From this desire was born Agdatahub, an intermediary French agricultural data platform. On the occasion of the last edition of the agricultural show, the company announced a second fundraising. Worth 4.8 million euros, the operation involves historical investors and new entrants.
Agdatahub now counts Avril, InVivo, IN Groupe, Capgemini and Banque des Territoires among its shareholders – on behalf of the State this time, as part of France 2030 Territories of Innovation. This funding must materialize the initial project, namely to interconnect 380,000 farms with their 85,000 partners in France. This interconnection takes place through a data exchange platform based on a consent engine.
Structure the flow of data from farm to table
Agdatahub sums up its vision as follows: “structuring the flow of agricultural data, from farm to table”. The company considers this approach essential “to strengthen trust between producers and consumers”.
“Agdatahub provides the sectors with the keys for a digital and agro-ecological transformation of the agricultural sector, in favor of sustainability and France’s digital and food sovereignty”, still claims the technological player.
To achieve these objectives and develop the massification of data uses, it has two solutions. The first, Agritrust, combines digital identity and consent management. This is associated with API-AGRO, the data exchange platform. The application is presented as a trusted third party between holders and users of agricultural data. Launched in 2019, API-AGRO has “more than 2,000 subscribers” to its subscription formulas.
Founded in France, Agdatahub is however developing European ambitions. Its growth is part of the EU’s plan to bring out industry-specific data spaces, including Catena-X in automotive. In agriculture, data and its sharing must allow a better distribution of value and a means for farmers to recover additional income, defends Sébastien Picardat, the general manager of Agdatahub.