Pigbusiness has published a great article about the added value of JoinData within the pig farming sector. Sener Celik explains how the platform enables farmers to share their data with other parties in a secure and controlled way.
“Don’t Let Fear Rule—Turn Data Into Opportunity”
Sharing business data remains a sensitive topic for many farmers. The fear that confidential information might leak runs deep. Seven years ago, the independent platform JoinData was created to address exactly that concern. Today, 16,500 farmers use JoinData—including a growing number of pig farmers. CEO Sener Celik explains how the platform enables agricultural entrepreneurs to share their data with other parties in a secure and controlled way.
A love and hate relationship with data
Data play an increasingly important role on pig farms. But who is actually allowed to see your feed data, the information you record at animal level, or the data returned by the slaughterhouse? As an entrepreneur, do you know who has access to your business information—and what they do with it?
According to Celik, the answer in most cases is “no.”
“Farmers have a love-hate relationship with data,” he says. “They understand the importance of collecting data, but often don’t know exactly which parties they’re sharing them with, nor do they set conditions for their use. At the same time, they acknowledge that data are valuable and fear that others might misuse them.”
On average, a pig farmer has 10 to 15 data connections with external parties—from invoices shared with accountants to feed and health data visible to advisers. “This creates a patchwork of systems and applications that farmers must log into to view their data. It’s cumbersome. And because data are scattered across multiple places, farmers struggle to maintain a clear overview.”
Farmers in Control
Providing oversight and enabling farmers to share data securely were the key goals when JoinData was founded in 2017. The initiative came from the agricultural sector itself.
“JoinData grew out of a project in the dairy industry focused on creating value from agricultural data,” Celik explains. “The main ambition was to put the farmer in control of their own data. To make that possible, CRV, Agrifirm, and FrieslandCampina established an independent, non-profit cooperative. That last part is crucial: to be independent and trustworthy, you must have no commercial interest in data.”
JoinData operates on behalf of the agricultural sector, offering a secure, transparent data-sharing platform. “Our independent, non-profit structure makes JoinData unique. Our members include farmer organizations, cooperatives, and sector associations. They contributed initial capital to get the cooperative started, and we now operate independently and financially self-sufficient.”
The growth of the pig farmers
JoinData is no longer just for the dairy sector. Soon after its founding, the Association of Accountancy and Tax Consultancy Firms (VLB), LTO, and Rabobank joined, followed by other agricultural sectors such as arable farming—with members like Cosun and Avebe—and pig farming.
In 2020, POV (the Dutch Pig Farmers’ Organization) and Vion became members. “We now have about 16,500 farmers using our platform. Last year, that included roughly 300 pig farmers; this year we aim for around 1,000. The pig-farming sector is growing rapidly within JoinData. This is partly because secure and trusted data sharing, and recording authorizations via JoinData, has become an essential part of various pig-sector programs and projects.
“Digitalization and data are key pillars of the CoViVa program, of which JoinData is also a component. We hope to have all pig farmers connected by next year.”
How It Works in Practice
So how does JoinData actually work, and how is data security ensured?
“In principle, every pig farmer with eHerkenning (the Dutch digital ID system) can log in to our platform,” Celik says.
The system involves three parties:
- Data providers – such as labs, feed companies, or equipment suppliers that collect or generate farm data. About 250 data suppliers currently have contracts with JoinData, including nearly all key players in the livestock sector.
- Data users – accountants, feed suppliers, processors, educational institutions, etc. They can submit requests to farmers to use specific data.
- Farmers – who remain at the center of it all. They decide whether to approve or reject each request, and can withdraw permission at any time.
When a farmer first logs in, they can see which permissions they have already granted to other parties. “Our portal now manages over 400,000 authorizations, on behalf of companies and organizations that share or process data on farmers’ behalf,” Celik says.
Security “Under the Hood”
The process sounds simple, but secure data sharing requires a lot of work behind the scenes.
“We’ve built several verification mechanisms into our platform to ensure that the person logging in is indeed the farmer,” Celik explains. “We are ISO-certified in information security, which provides additional guarantees.”
JoinData also signs contracts with both data suppliers and data users. “For example, with a feed supplier, we verify that the data truly belong to a specific farmer. Suppliers no longer need to maintain one-on-one connections to share data. Our platform also checks that data meet the required standards. Privacy legislation is central to everything we do, preventing data from ever being exposed.”
When a farmer authorizes data sharing with a specific party, they specify which data types may be used and for what purpose. “This is what we call purpose limitation: data may only be used for that clearly defined goal. For example, an accountant may use invoices solely for bookkeeping—not to analyze farmers’ payment behavior.”
Once authorization is granted, the data are transmitted directly to the approved party. “In most cases, JoinData doesn’t store any data—we only distribute them. But we always do so with explicit authorization and purpose limitation, so that everything is legally covered and compliant. I often describe JoinData as ‘a highly reliable delivery service’ or even ‘a secure value transport.’ You know exactly who receives your data and what they are allowed to do with them.”
Low Costs, High Value
Farmers normally pay €56 per year to use JoinData. “Because we’re non-profit, we can keep the costs low,” Celik says. “Pig farmers, however, don’t have to pay anything for the next two years—their participation fees are covered by CoViVa.”
Raising the Bar for Farm Management
What’s in it for the farmer? Can they also monetize their data?
“Sharing data via JoinData first of all gives entrepreneurs more control—they know what data they produce and with whom they share it,” says Celik. “It also makes life easier: no more individual data connections or multiple logins across different systems. Farmers have one central place to manage their data flows.”
The biggest benefit, he argues, is that secure data sharing unlocks opportunities to improve business performance. “When you can safely share your data, you can demonstrate compliance with health and quality standards. Various programs and quality schemes already offer premiums for that.
“Moreover, by sharing data with companies that analyze and interpret them, farmers can turn their raw data into valuable insights—identifying areas for improvement and making better decisions, ultimately leading to more efficient operations.”
Strengthening a Leading Position
Data sharing and data-driven innovation also strengthen the Dutch pig industry as a whole.
“The Dutch pig sector has been a global leader for decades,” Celik says. “Data can help it stay ahead, by enabling farmers to make smarter choices. And the data we collect and share can serve as proof of how good we already are—for instance, demonstrating the low CO₂ footprint of Dutch pork.
“In short, generating and sharing data can help us reinforce our leading position, showcase it internationally, and continue to innovate. That’s where the greatest benefit lies—for both the sector and individual farmers. But to seize these opportunities, we must embrace data collection and sharing—and continue innovating in this area. Fear must not rule.”
Challenges Ahead
Celik doesn’t see real downsides to the platform, but he does acknowledge challenges. The biggest one, he says, has been raising awareness among farmers of JoinData’s added value.
“While farmers are often reluctant to share data, it has also been difficult to explain why it’s better to share through our platform rather than through one-to-one connections. It took time for that value to be recognized—but we’re getting there.”
