DIVINE is a Horizon Europe research and innovation action dedicated to unlocking the potential of agri-data sharing and strengthening the data economy in the agricultural sector. By advancing data-driven solutions, the project ensures that farmers and other agricultural stakeholders benefit from improved data-sharing practices while maintaining compliance with EU and national regulations.

At the heart of this effort is DIVINE’s Data Governance Model, which fosters a structured, transparent, and trustworthy approach to agri-data exchange. As digital transformation accelerates in agriculture, data governance has never been more critical. Ensuring fair, secure, and efficient data-sharing practices is essential for fostering innovation in the agricultural landscape.

In this newsletter edition, we take a deep dive into data governance models, policies, and regulations shaping agri-data sharing within DIVINE. We highlight the progress made so far, including how these governance frameworks have been integrated into the four DIVINE pilots. With the project approaching its completion, we will also assess the impact and effectiveness of these policies in diverse real-world agricultural settings during the second round of the pilots.

Beyond data governance, this newsletter also features key updates from the past six months, including major European and international events and conferences, as well as workshops, training seminars and other presentations at national levels where DIVINE’s work has been showcased.

To stay up to date with the project’s progress, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel. For more detailed information, visit our website and contact us at DIVINE-info@lists.cn.ntua.gr.

As agriculture becomes increasingly data-driven, effective governance models are essential to maximise the benefits of data sharing while ensuring security, transparency and compliance with EU regulations. The DIVINE project is at the forefront of developing robust governance frameworks that enable seamless and fair sharing of agricultural data, while fostering innovation and sustainability in the sector.

Despite the opportunities that agri-data sharing presents, several challenges remain:

• Persistent trust issues among farmers: Despite strict compliance with EU regulations, such as GDPR, many farmers remain hesitant to share their data, largely due to concerns about control, security, and potential misuse. Building trust through transparency, education, and farmer-driven governance models is crucial. 

• Regulatory gaps between public and private data: Significant disparities exist in how publicly owned data and privately owned data are regulated. These differences create barriers to data sharing, leading to fragmented data ecosystems and data silos. Addressing these gaps is essential for fostering a more cohesive and efficient data-sharing framework. 

Figure 1: Balance between Public and Private Sector Legislation

• Regulatory complexity and burden on farmers: While there is no excessive regulation specifically targeting agricultural data, the broader legal framework on data governance is complex. General data protection and privacy laws can be difficult to interpret, making it unclear for farmers how to comply with all requirements. This complexity can discourage data sharing and create uncertainty. 

• Lack of clear data ownership definitions: There is no universally accepted definition of data ownership in agriculture, leading to ambiguity regarding who controls, accesses, and benefits from farm data. This uncertainty can result in hesitation to share data, contractual disputes, and difficulties in enforcing data rights. 

To address these challenges, DIVINE's governance framework focuses on scalability, compliance and farmer empowerment, ensuring that agricultural stakeholders can securely access, control and share their data. The framework incorporates GDPR compliance, data sovereignty principles, and the goals of the EU Digital Strategy, ensuring that farmers retain ownership of their data while enabling efficient, AI-driven precision agriculture solutions.

The DIVINE Agri-Data Governance Model is built on four core principles:

• Secure and transparent data access: Farmers and agribusinesses can access and share data while retaining control over its use.
• EU policy alignment: Compliance with GDPR, the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Digital Markets Act ensures responsible data handling.
• Data interoperability and standardisation: Leverage NextCloud as a secure platform to manage policies and integrate governance models into agricultural data sharing platforms.
• Continuous monitoring and improvement: Policy models are regularly validated and improved based on real-world feedback to adapt to evolving needs.

To establish a smooth, transparent, and up-to-date data-sharing framework between farmers and stakeholders, the following steps were undertaken:  

• Comprehensive analysis of regulations: A state-of-the-art review of EU regulations and directives related to data sharing, agriculture, and agri-data was conducted. This analysis ensured that the governance model aligns with the latest legal requirements. 

• Identifying regulatory gaps: Differences and inconsistencies in regulatory frameworks were identified, particularly regarding public vs. private data ownership, which has a significant impact on data accessibility and sharing. 

• Developing a data governance model: A structured model was created to define data ownership, usage rights, and compliance measures, providing a clear framework for all stakeholders. 

• Pilot testing and feedback collection: The governance model was tested in the first phase of DIVINE pilots, with feedback gathered from stakeholders on its impact in three key areas:
  • Sustainability 
  • Social impact 
  • Farm competitiveness  

• Model refinement: Based on feedback, the governance model was further refined.
• Guideline development: To support the successful adoption of its governance model, DIVINE has developed clear, practical policy guidelines for its pilots, stakeholders, and future users of the data-sharing platform. These guidelines serve as a foundation for ethical and effective data governance, helping to create a fair and well-regulated data-sharing ecosystem. 

As the Farm-to-Fork Strategy and the EU Data Strategy push for greater digital transformation, the DIVINE ecosystem serves as a testbed for scalable and secure data sharing models that improve collaboration while protecting stakeholder interests and needs. By integrating advanced policy modelling tools, DIVINE ensures that data governance remains flexible and responsive to emerging agricultural challenges. 

By addressing trust issues, regulatory inconsistencies, and data ownership concerns, the project is developing a more inclusive, transparent, and effective data governance model for the agricultural sector. These findings and guidelines will continue to shape the second round of the DIVINE pilots and contribute to the development of a robust, well-regulated, and farmer-centric data-sharing ecosystem, ultimately benefiting farmers, businesses, and policymakers alike. 

On February 19^th, 2025, we had the pleasure of welcoming Francesco Iadecola, our new Policy Officer, for a focused discussion on the project’s results and updates. Doris Marquardt, our previous Policy Officer, and Seth van Hooland from DG AGRI also joined this strategic session.

Our project coordinator, Ioanna Roussaki from ICCS-NTUA, gave a brief overview of the project's progress, while Odysseas Sekkas from NEUROPUBLIC shared valuable insights into the four DIVINE pilots, with a special focus on the Greek pilot.

Discussions revolved around:

• feedback from agricultural stakeholders across the 4 pilots and through a dedicated survey
• cost-benefit analysis of data sharing in agriculture with both qualitative and quantitative measures
• benchmarking and progress toward achieving our KPIs to boost the data economy in agriculture

This meeting was a pivotal step in demonstrating how DIVINE is shaping the future of agri-data sharing, with tangible results and measurable benefits for the agricultural sector. Looking forward to building on these insights and driving meaningful impact!

Over the past six months, DIVINE has held two plenary meetings, marking significant milestones as we entered the third and final year of the project. With our efforts intensifying towards boosting the agricultural data economy, these meetings have been instrumental in assessing progress, addressing key challenges, and refining strategies to ensure the project's successful completion.

The first plenary meeting took place on October 22–24, 2024, in San Sebastián, Spain, while the second was held online on February 26–27, 2025.

Both meetings provided a platform for in-depth discussions on all critical aspects of DIVINE, including:

• technical integration
• the development of the Agricultural Data Space Ecosystem (ADSE)
• knowledge extraction, decision support systems, and benchmarking
• agri-data sharing governance models and policies
• stakeholder engagement, dissemination, standardization, and exploitation

A major focus was also given to updates from the ongoing second round of DIVINE pilots, ensuring that our data-driven solutions are effectively evaluated in real-world agricultural settings.

These meetings continue to drive collaboration and innovation, bringing us closer to delivering a more structured, transparent, and efficient agricultural data-sharing ecosystem.

We were thrilled to be part of one of Europe's most influential agriculture events, EU Agri-Food Days, held in Brussels, Belgium, on December 10-12, 2024.

Organized by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DGAGRI), the event brought together 700 in-person attendees from 56 countries and more than 2,800 online participants. Stakeholders from across the agrifood ecosystem, including policymaking, civil society, academia, and industry, gathered to explore the future of agriculture. Topics ranged from cutting-edge trends and market dynamics to the transformative role of research, innovation, and digital technologies in shaping sustainable agricultural practices in Europe.

DIVINE was proudly represented by our project coordinator, Ioanna Roussaki from ICCS-NTUA, and Alessandra Diana from FARM EUROPE. Together, they showcased how DIVINE is revolutionizing the agricultural data economy through advanced digital solutions, such as data spaces and data connectors, information models, decision support systems, and predictive AI algorithms, as well as through the development of data sharing governance models and relevant policies.

The EU Agri-Food Days also provided an excellent platform to boost collaboration with other related EU-funded initiatives, including ICAERUS, XGain, and AgriGuide. DIVINE representatives engaged in fruitful discussions with members of these projects, exploring potential joint actions and collaborative activities to achieve our shared goals.

The Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) is a new EU initiative designed to enhance farm-level sustainability data collection and use across the EU. Building on the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), which has provided economic insights on EU farms for 60 years, FSDN expands its scope to cover environmental, social, and economic sustainability. This will support evidence-based policymaking, benchmarking in EU, and help farmers adopt sustainable practices aligned with the Green Deal.

To facilitate the transition from FADN to FSDN, the EU CAP Network, together with the DG AGRI, organised a workshop on February 12, 2025, in Brussels, bringing together key stakeholders such as FADN/FSDN liaison agencies, CAP managing authorities, data collectors, advisors, and farmers.

Our own Tomaz Bokan represented DIVINE, showcasing how the benchmarking platform, developed by ITC - Innovation Technology Cluster and currently tested in Slovenia with KGZS – Zavod Murska Sobota, leverages FADN data and DIH AGRIFOOD data space to help farmers optimize milk production. This innovative solution developed within the DIVINE project has the potential to integrate FSDN data in the future, further fostering sustainability in farming.

DIVINE, in collaboration with TANGO, CEDAR, and DATAMITE projects, co-organized the workshop “Deep-Dive into Data Spaces: Choosing the Right Connector. Experiences form TANGO, CEDAR, DIVINE, and DATAMITE” at the EGI Foundation 's 2024 Conference in Lecce, Italy, on October 3rd.

The workshop explored the shared mission of these Horizon Europe projects to build resilient, trusted, and interoperable data spaces aligned with Europe’s digital sovereignty goals. Together, these projects are addressing critical challenges in data management and connectivity in various domains. Attendees gained valuable insights into how these projects complement each other, creating a unified front in Europe’s efforts to establish data sovereignty and trust through advanced data space connectors.

Sergio Comella from Engineering Group represented the DIVINE project, showcasing its commitment to developing resilient agri-data spaces. By leveraging open-source tools and frameworks like the Dataspace connector, DIVINE is ensuring secure data flows between sectors, emphasizing the importance of trustworthiness, data sovereignty, and compliance with regulatory standards.

You can watch the full workshop here.

The DIVINE project was proudly featured at the 1st International Conference on Sustainable and Regenerative Farming (CSRF), held on November 17–21, 2024, in Valencia, Spain. This event provided an excellent platform to present groundbreaking research from the project, highlighting innovative solutions for secure and transparent agricultural data sharing.

Our partners from Vicomtech showcased their cutting-edge research through two scientific papers:

• "Securing Digital Identities with Blockchain and Smart Contracts" – Read the full article here.
• "Identity Provider based on Self-Sovereign Identities and Blockchain Technology" – Read the full article here.

Additionally, our partners from CREA presented key insights on:

• "The Contribution of Benchmarking Tools to Increasing Transparency in Agricultural Data Sharing in Value Chains and Farmer’s Trust" – Read the full article here.

These contributions reinforce DIVINE’s commitment to enhancing trust, security, and transparency in agricultural data ecosystems, ensuring that farmers and stakeholders benefit from fair and efficient data-sharing practices.

The DIVINE project co-organised with the Erasmus+ project EE4M a workshop structured in three focus group discussions on January 29-31 at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of NTUA, in Athens, Greece.

ICCS-NTUA showcased DIVINE’s innovative data-driven tools and approaches to an audience of approximately 40 professionals, recent graduates, and students with backgrounds in information and communication technologies, engineering, logistics and supply chain management, product development, and entrepreneurship among others.

This event strengthened collaboration with EE4M, which focuses on engineering education and professional development within the mobility value chain. Many smart solutions developed within DIVINE could be extended to EE4M, particularly in data-driven decision-making, sustainable supply chains, and digital transformation, further driving innovation across sectors.