Data Digital Readiness Food Systems 2025

Executive summary Building resilient food systems demands digital readiness, inclusive governance of data and digital ecosystems, aligned incentives, and collaboration to unlock sustainable transformation. Digital innovation in food systems offers unprecedented opportunities to address climate change, ecological degradation, food quality, its accessibility and market volatility. Yet success depends not only on technology, but on readiness, equity and trust in digital ecosystems. Without enabling conditions – such as infrastructure and financial incentives – digitalization risks deepening inequality, lack of transparency and fragmentation rather than fostering resilience and inclusion. Across the world, governments, businesses and cooperatives are deploying digital tools to boost productivity, improve market access and strengthen food security and safety. However, progress remains uneven, fragmented and often confined to pilots. Scaling solutions requires supporting policy and governance frameworks built on data infrastructure, standards and shared accountability. Transformative outcomes emerge when digital systems are co-developed with end-users and grounded in inclusive governance. In the Netherlands, the farmer-led cooperative JoinData empowers producers with control over data sharing, building trust and reducing administrative burdens. In Brazil, blockchain-enabled traceability has allowed verified non-GMO soy producers to secure a 15% price premium, demonstrating how interoperability linked to incentives can expand market access. In India, the Agri Data Exchange is unifying government and private systems at the state level, with more than 25,000 farmers already accessing finance and advisory through the Agriculture Data Exchange (ADEx) to secure better crop prices. By reducing lending turnaround times, ADEx expands access to finance while demonstrating how interoperable infrastructure delivers measurable gains in productivity, quality and financial inclusion. At the same time, safeguards – particularly inclusivity and transparency – are essential for artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver equitable outcomes. These examples highlight that need, readiness and collaboration, not technology alone, unlock tangible value. Despite progress, critical bottlenecks persist. Data access remains inequitable, with unclear governance rights, strategy and high onboarding costs discouraging smallholders. Interoperability is limited by the lack of inclusive and commonly agreed data standards and formats, coupled with fragmented systems and proprietary approaches. Institutional gaps in governance and capacity prevent the scaling of innovation across entire food systems. Without deliberate action to overcome these constraints, digital transformation will fall short of its promise. System-wide transformation depends on strengthening digital readiness through outcome- based approaches that deliver measurable results across economic, social and environmental dimensions. To achieve this, decision-makers should prioritize: –Inclusive governance and interoperable infrastructure: Embed consensus, trust and accessibility by design while recognizing that emerging AI agents can reduce reliance on rigid interoperability and enable adaptive data exchange, supported by common standards that ensure compatibility across actors and contexts. –Aligned incentives for meaningful participation: Reduce onboarding costs and link adoption to tangible benefits such as financing, compliance and market access. –Institutionalized long-term collaboration: Move beyond pilot projects by establishing durable frameworks with shared KPIs, roles and co-investment. –Local capacity building: Equip cooperatives, extension agents and field-level organizations with the skills and resources to construct, activate and govern digital ecosystems. The cost of inaction is rising. Fragmentation, inequality, food loss and missed opportunities threaten to undermine resilience and food security. With readiness, inclusion and trust at the core, digital transformation can drive systemic change towards resilient, sustainable and equitable food systems for both producers and consumers. Data and Digital Readiness in Food Systems 4