Agriculture

Data sharing for agriculture
and food supply chains

Trusted data from farm to finance

Agriculture is one of the heaviest greenhouse gas emitters and one of the most complex data ecosystems. Fertilisers alone account for 2.6 gigatonnes of CO2e annually, more than aviation and shipping combined. IB1's Trust Framework approach helps harmonise data sharing across the food supply chain, connecting farmers, financial organisations, and the wider ecosystem.

Supply chain governance Fertiliser use case Provenance Records Digital Catapult CC-BY licensed

Farmers have substantial potential to reduce the emissions associated with fertiliser use. Studies suggest that global fertiliser emissions could be reduced by as much as 80% by 2050. But to access green financing, UK farmers must share assurable data on fertiliser usage reduction with financial organisations. Current methods are manual, inconsistent, and costly.

The challenge

From farm data to green finance

IB1 Agriculture

Financial organisations such as banks are interested in understanding their financed emissions within agriculture and financing the transition to sustainable farming practices. To do this effectively, they require access to trustworthy data from the food supply chain. Current methods of sharing data from farm to financial organisation are often manual and inconsistent, creating additional costs, inefficiencies, and risks regarding data quality.

Fertiliser emissions

Fertilisers are a significant driver of global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 2.6 gigatonnes of CO2e annually. Farmers can reduce these through optimising application techniques, adopting precision agriculture, and transitioning to organic or low-emission alternatives.

Data sharing barriers

Current methods of sharing agricultural data are fragmented. Carbon accounting platforms for agriculture exist but lack interoperability. Data flows from farm to bank are manual, duplicated, and lack the assurance signals that financial organisations need to make lending decisions.

Financial landscape

UK farms face significant financial pressures. Access to green financing depends on the ability to demonstrate environmental performance with credible, comparable data. Without standardised data infrastructure, sustainable farming incentives cannot scale.

Policy alignment

Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive, the Environmental Land Management scheme, and the Food Data Transparency Partnership all create demand for trusted data sharing in agriculture. IB1’s approach aligns with these frameworks.

Flagship programme

Digital Supply Chain Hub: food supply chains

In partnership with the Digital Catapult, IB1 focused on defining a specific use case within the food supply chain through stakeholder engagement, ecosystem mapping, and defining a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for trusted data sharing infrastructure.

Use case
Fertiliser data

Prioritised use case: To access green financing, UK farmers must share assurable data on fertiliser usage reduction with financial organisations. This connects agricultural practice directly to the financial system via IB1’s Trust Framework.

Step 1
Ecosystem mapping

Identified key components of the food supply chain and highlighted relevant stakeholders. Over 90 stakeholders mapped across the value chain.

Step 2
Stakeholder research

12 in-depth interviews with stakeholders spanning various roles across the supply chain, from farmers and input suppliers to financial organisations and carbon accounting platforms.

Step 3
Advisory Group

Findings validated through two Advisory Group meetings comprising diverse stakeholders from government departments, environmental NGOs, consultants, carbon accounting platforms, financial organisations, insurers, trade bodies and academia.

Output
MVP specification

Documented a Minimum Viable Product for the use case, defining the data infrastructure for trusted data sharing using Provenance Records, Assurance signals, and Trust Framework governance. Read the report

Technical innovation

Provenance Records for supply chain trust

The Digital Supply Chain Hub project developed a technical approach to trust that applies across agriculture and other supply chains. Provenance Records are passed directly between data providers and consumers, creating an unbreakable chain of signatures.

Decentralised provenance

Records are passed directly between participants in the data payload. Each participant adds steps describing their activity and signs the entire record, including previous signatures. Any attempt to alter previous steps breaks the final signature.

Assurance signals

Included in Provenance Records to piggyback on transport alongside the data and signatures. Assurance data is specific to the Scheme and provides actionable indications of data quality that downstream consumers can verify programmatically.

Non-repudiable

Timestamped signatures ensure that the creator cannot deny they signed a record. Scheme standards require records are logged and available for audits. Five step types: Origin, Permission, Transfer, Receipt, and Process.

Transferable approach

The Provenance Record architecture developed for food supply chains applies to any supply chain context. The same Trust Framework infrastructure governs agriculture, energy, finance, and other sectors.

Related programmes and use cases

Agriculture in the wider ecosystem

Agriculture connects to the wider IB1 ecosystem through financial data (Perseus), insurance (SERI), satellite imagery, and cross-sector Smart Data initiatives.

Active
Food Supply Chains

Digital Supply Chain Hub with Digital Catapult. Fertiliser use case, Provenance Records, MVP specification. Read more

Live
Perseus

SME emissions reporting connects directly to agricultural businesses. Smart meter data for farm energy consumption, linked to carbon accounting platforms and lenders. Read more

Research
SERI

Climate-ready insurance products with agricultural applications. Satellite imagery for parametric insurance payouts and crop risk assessment. Read more

Exploring
Satellite imagery

Using satellite imagery to support climate-ready insurance products for agriculture. Connecting remote sensing data to financial decision-making. Read more

2.6GT
CO2e from fertilisers annually, more than aviation and shipping combined
80%
Potential reduction in global fertiliser emissions by 2050 through targeted interventions
90+
Stakeholders mapped across the food supply chain ecosystem
CC-BY
All agriculture programme outputs openly licensed
Get involved

Ready to connect farm data to finance?

Whether you are a farmer, agri-tech company, carbon accounting platform, financial institution, trade body, or researcher, IB1 can help you navigate the data infrastructure needed for sustainable agriculture.

Contact partners@ib1.org Join the Constellation

All IB1 outputs are CC-BY licensed. IB1 is non-partisan, non-profit, and sector-neutral.