FVO, the Dutch federation of fruit and vegetable producers, has drawn up a Data Protocol that enables greenhouse growers to control their own data and aims to facilitate the exchange of plant data between growers and suppliers.
The vast amounts of data collected daily in the horticultural sector is of great value to suppliers conducting research, and FVO sees the exchange of such data as the way forward to stimulate innovation throughout the entire sector.
The Data Protocol, Glas4.0, and the enclosed agreement include clear arrangements as to who owns the data and under which conditions that data may be used or destroyed.
FVO’s chairman, Michiel F van Ginkel, described increasing data usage as an “opportunity for growers and the entire supply chain”, with Glas4.0 providing the foundation.
Frank van Kleef, chairman of Glas4.0’s Grower Coordination Team, said he was convinced that smart data use would strengthen greenhouse production, but warned of risks.
“We notice growers become more and more cautious to share data with suppliers, which hinders the desired innovations,” he said. “The Glas4.0 Data Protocol facilitates data sharing within the right framework.”
“While putting together the contract, we explicitly took into account the interest of the grower,” added Harrij Schmeitz, coordinator of Glas4.0. “During that process we worked closely together with three suppliers (data users) in the sector.”
