Data4Food2030 concludes four years of research into a fair and responsible Data Economy for Food Systems

Launched in September 2022, Data4Food2030 set out to understand how the growing use of data is changing food systems: who creates and uses data, how value is generated and shared, and what conditions are needed for data-driven innovation to benefit different actors across the food system.

Over four years, the project moved from defining and analysing the emerging Data Economy for Food Systems (DE4FS) to monitoring its development, testing approaches through nine real-world case studies, exploring possible futures with stakeholders, and translating the knowledge generated into scientific publications, practical resources, business-model guidance and policy recommendations. This progression reflected Data4Food2030’s wider methodology of mapping, diagnosing and ultimately identifying ways to improve the DE4FS.

Understanding and monitoring the Data Economy for Food Systems

A central part of Data4Food2030’s work was to establish a stronger scientific basis for understanding the Data Economy for Food Systems. Researchers examined the actors and relationships involved, the ways in which data can create value, and the technological, economic, legal, ethical, social and environmental factors that influence how data are accessed, shared and used.

This work fed directly into one of the project’s principal results: the Data4Food2030 Monitor. Developed and refined throughout the project, the Monitor provides a structured way to observe and better understand the DE4FS. Its final version combines quantitative indicators and qualitative insights across nine dimensions, while also bringing together information on data-sharing initiatives and a forward-looking component exploring how different conditions and policy choices may affect future development.

The Monitor makes a complex and rapidly evolving field easier to explore and provides researchers, policymakers, businesses and other food-system actors with evidence on developments ranging from data and technology to skills, business, legal conditions, social and ethical aspects, the environment and food-system activities.

Nine case studies: putting data sharing into practice

Understanding the data economy also required looking at how it works in practice. Data4Food2030 therefore worked with nine complementary case studies across Europe, covering different parts of the food system and different approaches to collecting, sharing, combining and creating value from data.

The cases ranged from data-enabled quality labelling in grain value chains, interoperability in pig farming and agricultural data platforms, and real-time data exchange in fruit and vegetable logistics to sustainability assessment, short food supply chains, tourism, regional data services and the mapping and valorisation of food loss and waste. Together, they provided real-life environments in which different technological, organisational and governance approaches could be explored with the actors directly involved.

Over the course of the project, the cases developed, tested and, where applicable, validated approaches related to data sharing and interoperability, governance, stakeholder engagement, data spaces, sustainability assessment and circular economy applications. Their diversity also showed that there is no single model for a functioning food-data ecosystem: different contexts require different combinations of technology, governance arrangements, stakeholder roles and value propositions.

One lesson emerged particularly clearly across the cases: technology alone is not enough. Successful data ecosystems also depend on trust, clear governance, interoperability, incentives, stakeholder participation and a clear understanding of the value created for those who share and use data. The final cross-case analysis similarly shows that interoperability needs to extend beyond technical connections to semantic, organisational and legal dimensions, while viable business arrangements and fair value distribution remain essential for longer-term sustainability.

Exploring the future of the Data Economy for Food Systems

Data4Food2030 also examined what a desirable Data Economy for Food Systems could look like in the decades ahead.

Stakeholder interviews, focus groups and participatory workshops contributed to the development of three desirable visions for the DE4FS in 2050 and eight pathways towards them. This work helped identify the changes in governance, regulation, technology, skills, business practices and collaboration that stakeholders considered important for moving towards a fairer and more inclusive future data economy.

The project’s final roadmapping work then built on this wider evidence base together with policy analysis, case-study experience, stakeholder validation and quantitative impact assessment. It examined three possible development trajectories, a declining, stagnating or expanding DE4FS, and assessed how different policy choices could influence them. The analysis shows that progress depends particularly on stronger data governance and interoperability, digital inclusion, the explicit integration of sustainability objectives and more adaptive forms of governance and policy learning.

These findings are brought together in the Data4Food2030 Strategic Roadmap and Policy Recommendations, which provide directions for policymakers and other stakeholders seeking to support a fair, sustainable, inclusive and innovative European Data Economy for Food Systems.

From research results to resources for future use

Data4Food2030 closes with a portfolio of results that reflects the different dimensions of the challenge it set out to address.

At its centre are three principal exploitable results: the Data4Food2030 Monitoring System, the Framework for Monitoring the Data Economy for Food Systems, and the Strategic Roadmap and Policy Recommendations. Together, they connect the project’s scientific foundations with monitoring, practical evidence and strategic guidance on how the DE4FS could develop further.

The project also developed a Business Model Playbook, which turns knowledge and experience generated through the research and case studies into practical guidance for understanding, developing and adapting data-driven business models. Alongside the project’s wider exploitation and sustainability work, it provides another route through which Data4Food2030 knowledge can be taken forward and adapted to new contexts.

The project’s scientific contribution extends beyond these resources. Data4Food2030 coordinated five scientific publications on collective knowledge gained on the DE4FS, complemented by additional scientific work addressing topics such as responsible digitalisation, trusted data sharing, interoperability and data governance. These outputs connect the project’s conceptual work with empirical evidence from the case studies and contribute to a still-emerging field of research around the agrifood data economy.

A major part of this scientific legacy is the forthcoming collective book, Towards a Responsible Data Economy: Principles for Sustainable Agrifood Systems in the Digital Paradigm, edited by Roel Veraart and Sjaak Wolfert and currently under review by Springer. The Open Access volume brings together the project’s scientific and conceptual work, evidence and experiences from the nine case studies, and perspectives on data sharing, interoperability, trust and the future governance of digital food systems.

Four years of collaboration and a basis for what comes next

Throughout its lifetime, Data4Food2030 worked with researchers, farmers and food businesses, technology and data providers, policymakers, public authorities, innovation organisations and other stakeholders. Workshops, stakeholder dialogues, scientific and industry events, webinars and collaboration with other European initiatives allowed the project’s concepts, tools and recommendations to be tested against different perspectives and connected its work with the wider European food, research and data ecosystems.

This wider engagement culminated in the Data4Food2030 × TITAN Final Conference in Brussels in June 2026, where the project’s results were presented and discussed with the wider research, innovation, policy and food-system community.

The conclusion of Data4Food2030 does not settle the questions the project set out to explore. Digitalisation continues to reshape how food is produced, traded and consumed, while developments in data spaces, artificial intelligence and other digital technologies are creating new opportunities, as well as new questions around access, control, trust and value.

What four years of Data4Food2030 make particularly clear is that building a responsible Data Economy for Food Systems requires more than increasing the availability of data or introducing new technologies. It requires trusted ways of sharing data, interoperable systems, workable governance, appropriate incentives and clear value for the actors expected to participate. Digital inclusion and sustainability also need to be addressed deliberately rather than assumed to follow automatically from technological progress.

The Data4Food2030 Monitor, scientific and conceptual knowledge, case-study evidence, future scenarios, Strategic Roadmap and Policy Recommendations, Business Model Playbook, scientific publications and forthcoming Open Access book provide a foundation for researchers, policymakers, businesses and food-system communities to continue examining, using and developing the knowledge generated through the project.