Why regenerative agriculture needs data

Bringing agriculture and the environment back into balance in the Netherlands is a major challenge. Regenerative agriculture is a form of sustainable agriculture that seeks to create an ecologically and economically viable farming system, partly by reducing the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides. Healthy soils are the starting point: soil that is full of life, has a good structure and contains sufficient nutrients.

In the ReGeNL programme, researchers, farmers’ cooperatives, banks, supply-chain partners and public authorities are working together on this transition, with funding from the Dutch National Growth Fund. Rather than applying general rules and frameworks, they develop tailored approaches for each farm and region.

Within ReGeNL, scientists are investigating what regenerative agriculture means in practice. They track the choices farmers make, the results these choices produce and the indicators that matter. These insights help them understand what works and under which conditions. Bruinsma says: “We want to make that knowledge available to farmers who are making the transition. Which measures suit their situation and farming system?”

To make this possible, large volumes of data are collected and organised. These range from soil measurements and farm data to information on crops and financial results. The data management team helps researchers ensure that these data are collected in a structured way, can be shared securely and are suitable for analysis. Privacy and ownership are handled with care. “Much of this information is sensitive and can be traced back to individual farms. That is precisely why we need clear agreements on who can see what and how the data may be used.”

The scale of ReGeNL and the diversity of the parties involved make establishing a well-functioning data management system a considerable challenge, Bruinsma explains. “The data challenge is essentially a transition within the wider transition. Collecting structured data at scale, setting up systems, configuring tools properly and ensuring that information can be made available carefully and responsibly all have to happen at the same time. This complexity is often underestimated.”

She continues: “It is also a far-reaching task because it directly affects how researchers and partners work. At the same time, the system needs to fit as closely as possible with the day-to-day practice of researchers and farmers. It is precisely this combination that makes it so complex.”

Collecting and maintaining all these data also requires considerable effort from farmers. According to Bruinsma, however, it offers something in return. “Unlike the organic sector, regenerative agriculture does not yet have a single recognised standard or certification scheme. This makes it difficult to show exactly what farmers are doing and what it achieves, for example to buyers or financiers. Reliable data help to demonstrate and substantiate their performance.”

This evidence is essential for developing new business models. By providing insight into soil improvement, biodiversity and other effects, supply-chain partners and financiers can align their support more effectively. This creates opportunities to reward farmers for their efforts in practice.

Bruinsma discovered the power of good data management early in her career. “Around 2010, while working at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature, I helped develop the CAP Check together with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency. The application allowed farmers to calculate the possible consequences of forthcoming European agricultural policy for their own businesses. That was quite bold at the time: the government entered into dialogue at an early stage about policy that was still being developed.” According to Bruinsma, the real eye-opener was the user information generated by the application. “A smart, intuitive interface encouraged farmers to use it actively. This suddenly produced a wealth of new information.”

“We could see, for example, which measures tree growers were considering to meet new requirements, which questions were arising in different sectors and where the main regional bottlenecks were. As a result, the system became much more than a communication tool. It became a way to understand more clearly how policy works out in practice. From that moment on, I was hooked. I realised that data management not only helps translate policy into practice, but also brings insights from practice back into policymaking. That interaction is essential for developing solutions that reflect the realities farmers face.”

Soon afterwards, Bruinsma founded FarmHack, an initiative focused on digital innovation in agriculture. “I brought farmers, policymakers and technology experts together. We explored the questions they faced and how data could contribute to solutions. That role of connecting people and perspectives has remained central to my work ever since.”  

Bruinsma sees the monitoring of soil development as a concrete example. “We are collecting increasing amounts of data on soil quality in regenerative agriculture, but that information is often scattered across different systems and reports. Good data management can bring those pieces of the puzzle together. It then becomes possible to see not only the condition of the soil today, but above all how it develops over several years. This gives farmers, advisers and researchers a shared basis for discussion. Ultimately, such insights can help us understand which measures genuinely contribute to a regenerative farming system in practice.”

According to Bruinsma, Wageningen University & Research (WUR) has an important role to play in making agriculture more sustainable. “Data management is not a secondary concern. We are seeing a rapid global shift towards systems that require reliable sustainability data, among supply-chain partners and financiers as well as governments and certification bodies. This is where WUR, as an independent knowledge institute, has an important societal role: connecting and validating data and making them responsibly reusable. This enables public and private parties to work together more effectively on complex transitions.”

This does require a different way of working, she stresses. “Data management must be an integral part of how we design and implement programmes from the outset. Data, digital infrastructure and research are not separate building blocks; they reinforce one another. WUR can help establish reliable agreements, systems that can exchange information and data that can be reused. This allows research knowledge, policy questions and practical experience to be connected more effectively. Only then can innovations make a genuine contribution to the transition towards future-proof agriculture.”