One of the success factors of Dutch dairy farming and the dairy chain is sharing information for more efficiency and premium dairy products. A new step is now on the agenda. We ask Jan Pieter Tanis, president of Corporation matters at FrieslandCampina 5 questions about the how and why.
1. Why do dairy farmers share increasingly more data within the dairy chain?
“As a dairy chain, we have been working with data, supplied by our dairy farmers, for years. That way they show that the milk complies with the standards, for example with data regarding milk quality and animal health. In addition, our members can distinguish themselves by their individual scores in the KringloopWijzer.
Data also offers opportunities for new concepts. For example dairy with the certification ‘On the way to planet proof’. Based on data supplied by our farmers, we show that we meet the requirements. As such, a data flow – in addition to the milk flow – ensures that these dairy farmers receive an additional 2 cents per kilogram of milk.”
2. How do you ensure that farmers can easily and safely share their data in the dairy chain?
“Data is and will remain the property of the individual farmer. That is why the use of data requires an authorization. Since we, in the dairy chain, have been sharing a lot of data for a long time, most cattle breeders have issued various authorizations. Now that data has become more important in the dairy chain, we must ensure that sharing data becomes easier and safer. That is why, together with other corporations and agricultural organizations, we founded JoinData.”
3. What is the most important thing that JoinData does?
“The essence is that JoinData ensures that cattle breeders retain control over their own data. This is because all existing and new authorizations are registered in one overview, per cattle breeder, on a special website. The farmer logs on and can autonomously approve or withdraw authorizations. “The farmer at the helm,” is what we call it.”
4. What does JoinData do with all that data, provided by dairy farmers?
“JoinData itself does nothing with it. The organization ensures that data, accompanied by an authorization, gets to the relevant party. This is done in a safe manner, based on the latest technology. JoinData also ensures, for example, that everything is done in accordance with the CCPA, so the privacy of all those involved is guaranteed. This entire system is what we call “the digital freeway” of JoinData. It is a corporation, so no profit is intended and the policy is monitored by the members. NZO is one of those members.”
5. Why must a cattle breeder pay 50 Euros per year to make use of authorizations via JoinData?
“That is a legitimate question. The data-users, for example accountant firms and dairy enterprises, pay in proportion to the amount of data they receive via JoinData’s digital freeway. For cattle breeders a fixed rate applies. Milk Cattle breeders have been used for some time to sharing data and might think they are not paying for it now, but that is a misunderstanding. All parties with whom the farmer shares data, must incur costs; these costs are now often not visible, because usually they are included in the greater whole. This way, we charged 30 to 35 Euros on fees per dairy farmer for EDI-dairy messages, at FrieslandCampina. In advance of the introduction of JoinData, we terminated this.”
