To full implement a data governance framework, our recommended next steps are:

• Validate assurance signals through engagement with UK arable farmers and their
• supply chains
• Continue to convene the Advisory Group to ensure the effective co-design and
• implementation of a market-wide solution
• Deliver a demonstrator that shows assurable data flowing from farm to bank
• Co-design implementation of a technical demonstrator that establishes the data
• infrastructure, including assurance metadata records

Below is the case study published by Digital Catapult entitled ‘Icebreaker One advances data sharing governance for farming supply chains’.

If you’re interested in this work please don’t hesitate to reach out via: icebreaking@ib1.org

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In collaboration with Digital Catapult’s Digital Supply Chain Hub, Icebreaker One worked on a project to help transform UK manufacturing through data-enabled supply chains. This work culminated in a final report titled ‘Data governance systems for supply chains’.

Executive summary

The Made Smarter Innovation | Digital Supply Chain Hub initiative delivered by Digital Catapult aims to better connect supply chain stakeholders in order to improve efficiency, reduce costs and contribute towards the UK’s net-zero targets. Connection between stakeholders relies on building trust within and throughout supply chains. The development of a robust data governance framework for the Digital Supply Chain Hub ecosystem has the potential to transform supply chains by promoting trust as well as enhancing financial accessibility, streamlining technical interoperability, enabling innovation and investment in technology, and driving sustainability.

To take this abstract concept and prove its efficacy, this project focused on defining one specific use case within the food supply chain, through engaging deeply with stakeholders and then creating an MVP to establish the data infrastructure for trusted data sharing. 

Doing one thing well 

Our defined use case focuses on one of the most significant inputs for UK farmers: fertilisers. Fertilisers are a significant driver of global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 2.6 gigatonnes of CO₂e annually—more than the emissions from aviation and shipping combined. 

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 through measures such as optimising application techniques, adopting precision agriculture, and transitioning to organic or low-emission alternatives. 

At the same time financial organisations, such as banks, are interested in understanding their financed emissions within agriculture as well as financing the transition to sustainable farming practices. To do this effectively, financial organisations require access to trustworthy data from the food supply chain. However, current methods of sharing data from farm to financial organisation can often be manual and inconsistent. This creates additional costs and inefficiencies as well as risks regarding data quality. 

Governance to go further together

With a complex, multi-stakeholder problem, it’s critical that solutions are defined together. For this project, Icebreaker One (IB1) used its governance mechanism to create an advisory group representing stakeholders from across the food supply chain. The group then helped to define our use case and steer the direction of travel for our technical MVP including the proposed rules to enable data sharing in an open, automated, scalable, decentralised and interoperable way.

Building better trust in data

Assurance is a person’s confidence in the reliability or trustworthiness of something, based on evidence or predefined standards. Assurance Signals can be attached to data using metadata that gives evidence for how trustworthy the data is. Machine-readable assurance signals make this process efficient by allowing computers to quickly verify and assess the data’s trustworthiness.

The project’s MVP builds a model of how assurance signals can be used to provide a higher degree of trust when it comes to farm’s fertiliser reduction, that flows from a farm management system through to a carbon accounting platform and on to a financial organisation like a bank. This creates value for multiple stakeholders, not least unlocking green financing opportunities for farmers.

The potential for impact

The development of a robust data governance framework for the Digital Supply Chain Hub ecosystem has the potential to transform UK agriculture by promoting trust, enhancing financial accessibility, and driving sustainability. It aligns with net-zero ambitions while supporting the resilience and productivity of UK farms, ultimately contributing to a more secure and sustainable food supply chain.

Recommendations

In order to fully implement a data governance framework we recommend to:

• Validate assurance signals: UK arable farmers and their supply chain actors must be engaged in order validate assurance signal feasibility.
• Establish a full governance framework: An Advisory Group must continue to be convened to ensure the co-design and implementation of a market-wide solution, which addresses specific user, technical and non-technical requirements.
• Onboard demonstrator partners: Relevant partner organisations from the supply chain must be brought together to deliver a demonstrator that shows assurable data flowing from farm to bank.
• Co-design implementation of a technical demonstrator: Relevant partner organisations must co-design and establish the data infrastructure, including assurance metadata records.

This balancing act is a particularly delicate one, given that overly stringent assurance requirements might stunt progress by adding significant costs or complexity, potentially alienating both banks and farmers. And yet, a more relaxed approach to assurance could lead to inaccuracies or even fraud risks. Nevertheless, if the right middle ground could be found, then it could have the potential to unlock green financing in the agricultural economy.

Exploring assurance levels

Our refined use case served as the session’s foundation: In order to access green financing, UK arable farmers must share assurable data on their reduction in fertiliser use with banks. We then prompted the AG to explore different levels of assurance and evaluate their feasibility and desirability. 

High levels of assurance – such as verified historical fertiliser data, third-party audits, and detailed impact assessments – were quickly deemed too costly and impractical for widespread adoption. A mid-level approach, where farmers provide structured, machine-readable data (e.g., in JSON format), emerged as a more balanced option. This method would give banks reliable insights into sustainability efforts while being less burdensome for farmers. 

Practical challenges 

These assurance scenarios led our group to assess some of the more practical challenges that both farmers and banks face when dealing with farm-level data. One AG member emphasised the difficulties farmers face when collecting and reporting data on fertiliser usage, noting the variability in fertiliser usage as a prime example of this. Another member addressed the utility of this data, highlighting that farm-level data should serve a clear purpose. Without a direct link to compliance standards or broader utility, data collection risks becoming redundant—even if farmers are compensated for providing it. 

“The challenge isn’t merely collecting data but knowing which data to collect for specific standards or compliance requirements”. 

A holistic approach 

Ultimately, a more holistic, joined up approach to collecting data from farmers would be key to the success of our use case. This would help to avoid the risk of duplicate or siloed data demands. “There is a need to avoid fragmented efforts that overburden farmers by addressing siloed and repetitive data requests from multiple stakeholders”, noted one member. Ensuring that all members of the agricultural supply chain were involved in future iterations of this work is therefore crucial. Collaboration across the agricultural supply chain from farmers, suppliers, retailers, tech providers, banks and beyond will be needed to create a system that works for everyone.

Equally important for our future work is the development of a Tiered Assurance Framework that establishes baseline data collection methods. Pilots would then be run to test assurance mechanisms, refining based on feedback and scalability challenges as well as working toward global alignment on assurance protocols linked to GHG accounting standards. 

On September 30th we kicked off our first advisory group meeting, bringing together experts spanning the fields of Government, Tech, Environmental NGOs and Research, and Academia.

Connecting Farm Management with Green Financing

Our use-case driven approach serves as a lens to focus our work, with our advisory group meeting offering a collaborative space to refine and test our ideas. The central goal of our use case is to connect Farm Management in the real economy with green financing in the financial economy. Linking the two would mean UK farmers sharing trusted data on their sustainable practices with banks, in return for favourable financing. If successful, the project could bolster the UK’s food security and bring us closer to our net zero targets.

During our advisory group meeting, participants were divided into breakout sessions in which members quickly identified the key stakeholders needed along the value chain. “Retailers and food services have significant influence in shaping sustainable standards in the food industry,” noted one participant. Insurers were also highlighted as key players given their role in de-risking green investments and providing more confidence to financiers.

Practices vs outcomes

As the discussion evolved, members began to draw a distinction between financing sustainable outcomes and financing sustainable practices. Sustainable outcomes focus on achieving measurable environmental goals, such as reducing CO2 emissions. This aligns with frameworks like green bonds and sustainability-linked loans and offers banks a way to meet regulatory requirements and mitigate reputational risks.

One participant from an environmental NGO looked to practice-based financing as the more measurable option of the two, and a potential area of focus. “Practice-based financing might be a better choice as there is seemingly less risk. Banks might be less inclined to lend based on a predicted future outcome such as future CO2 reduction”. What’s more, funding sustainable practices might be more aligned with the value chain transformation aims of this project. If we look elsewhere for comparison, we can see schemes like HSBC’s Sustainable Farming Pathway with LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) as an example of funding more sustainable practices. The scheme gives farming businesses discounted loan fees for transitioning to more sustainable practices.

Carbon reporting tools

Another piece of this puzzle are the tools that farmers need to collect and manage their sustainability data. Farmers have access to a plethora of carbon accounting tools but these lack a consistent framework, leading the food sector down a path of inconsistent data collection and reporting as one participant points out, “these tools are often not aligned and lack standardisation when it comes to data collection and reporting”.

For farmers to fully leverage green finance, they need better tools to collect and manage their sustainability data, while lenders need reliable, auditable data to assess and verify these practices. But, sharing of sustainable practice data between farm and lender is not well linked up. In some cases the data is shared via email or excel spreadsheets. Therefore, we see a fundamental requirement for a consistent data-sharing infrastructure to ensure traceability and trust in sustainable practices.

“The key challenge is that fragmentation exists between standards, tools and regional governance. Layering standards will only increase complexity, so we must simplify”

Assurance & Provenance

Two key elements in building this trust are assurance and provenance. Assurance refers to the metadata that allows stakeholders to trust a dataset, using machine-readable signals to verify data authenticity. Provenance provides a detailed record of where the data came from, who processed it, and what was done to it. This means that participants cannot deny their involvement in the data’s creation or modification, and it enables full auditability through a Trust Framework. Banks, in particular, are pushing for increased data traceability to establish trust in the supply chain, making this an essential component of our project.

Our next advisory group meeting is set to take place on 25th November. If you, or someone in your network would be a good fit, please sign up here or contact icebreaking@ib1.org for more information.

Icebreaker One is collaborating with Digital Catapult’s Digital Supply Chain Hub to help transform UK manufacturing through data-enabled supply chains. A key component of this work is to address the data governance challenges of information exchange in digital supply chains.

The timeliness of the project is reflected by the fact that supply chain leaders and businesses across the country are grappling with regulatory hurdles, a pressure to decarbonise, and cyber-threats to their operations. Our work will support the development of a robust data sharing governance that builds trust between organisations and produces more efficient, resilient and sustainable supply chains.

Our use-case centric approach in this instance will focus on Food Supply Chains, with the goal of enhancing data transparency, aligning with regulatory frameworks and unlocking green financing for farm management.

Advisory Group

Join our Food Supply Chain Advisory Group

Icebreaker One is convening an Advisory Group of industry experts that accurately represent stakeholders from across the Food Supply Chain. This is also aligned with Digital Catapult’s recognition of the need for collaboration between businesses and technology leaders to mitigate risk in supply chains.

With two virtual meetings, one in September and one in November 2024, the Advisory Group will:

• Represent perspectives, needs and challenges from across the industry
• Help to define and prioritise use cases to focus on
• Connect and collaborate with other stakeholders
• Share insights, learn from others and find solutions to shared problems
• Help to shape a Trust Framework solution

If you are a stakeholder in the Food Supply Chain, we need your input, sign up here to help us make supply chains more efficient, resilient and sustainable. Find the scope here.

Outcomes of project

By focusing on data transparency and alignment with regulatory requirements, the initiative aims to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and build trust between all parties involved in the supply chain—from farmers to retailers. This approach not only aids better management of resources but also supports the implementation of sustainable practices by enabling more efficient use of inputs and reducing waste.

Additionally, by unlocking green financing options, the project can provide the necessary capital for innovations in farm management, such as the adoption of environmentally friendly technologies and practices that further reduce the carbon footprint of the entire supply chain, making it more resilient and sustainable in the face of global challenges like climate change and food security.

The top five priorities to enhance food supply chains through collaboration include:

Data Transparency: Prioritise the openness and accessibility of data across the supply chain to ensure that all stakeholders, from farmers to consumers, have accurate and timely information. This transparency helps in making informed decisions that optimise resources and improve product traceability.

Regulatory Compliance: Ensure all data sharing and supply chain operations align with existing and upcoming regulations, particularly those related to environmental impact, food safety, and data privacy. Compliance reduces legal risks and builds trust with consumers and regulators.

Cybersecurity: Strengthen the security measures around digital data exchanges within the supply chain to protect sensitive information from cyber threats. Robust cybersecurity practices are crucial to maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of supply chain data.

Sustainable Practices: Develop and integrate sustainable practices within the food supply chain to reduce environmental impacts. This includes promoting the efficient use of resources, reducing waste, and enabling green financing for sustainable farm management technologies and practices.

Stakeholder Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment among all stakeholders in the supply chain. This involves building frameworks for cooperation that enable shared benefits and mutual growth, especially in addressing common challenges like supply chain resilience and sustainability.