Building information systems

Optimizing information systems in agri-food

Growing amounts of data require organizations in the agriculture and food sector to be flexible and to pro-actively integrate their data. But before you start storing, analysing, and presenting data, it is crucial to set your objectives, uncover bottlenecks in organizational processes and involve stakeholders.

Questions that may arise are: How to choose new technologies that are beneficial for your agri-food business? How to improve connections between systems, sensors, and devices by adopting standards? And how to comply to traceability and certification requirements in the food system? Wageningen Economic Research can help organizations answer these questions. We are a trusted party for process and data modelling in agri-food. We work for clients in and outside of The Netherlands and Europe to optimize information flows aiming for improved sustainability.

What we can do for you

If your organisation is setting up a new system or is connecting data sources, the key to unlocking the potential of data and optimising your systems is ‘interoperability’. For solid expertise on semantic interoperability based on information standards, we can provide the models you need. We can help you with the organisational and social aspects by first modelling current and improved processes. And aligning your stakeholders and engaging your end users (farmers, operators, etc) is a main activity throughout all our projects that we can support you with. If you need advice on the most suitable technology for your agri-food sector or business, we can provide it.

The data and information experts in the Data Information and project Organization (DIO) group at Wageningen Economic Research offer tailored services. Since 1990, the team has built extensive experience and knowledge in the agri-food domain. The experts provide a combination of technical, organizational, and social services during projects.

Contact us for a conversation about how to optimize agri-food processes, data, and information flows or for an analysis of new technology, involving stakeholders and end users and based on applicable standards.

Projects

Publications

Blockchain for Improving Organic Food Traceability : Case Studies on Benefits and Challenges.Hilten, M. Van. (2020). Frontiers in Blockchain, 3(September), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3389/FBLOC.2020.567175 

A reference architecture for Farm Software Ecosystems.Kruize, J. W., Wolfert, J., Scholten, H., Verdouw, C. N., Kassahun, A., & Beulens, A. J. M. (2016). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 125, 12–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2016.04.011 

Organizing information integration in agri-food: A method based on a service-oriented architecture and living lab approach.Wolfert, J., Verdouw, C. N., Verloop, C. M., & Beulens, A. J. M. (2010). Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 70(2), 389–405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2009.07.015 

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