Feasibility study for “Farm Data Management and Farm Management Information System (FMIS)” for agricultural enterprises in Saxony

Industry: Smart Farming, Digital Ecosystems, Software- & Platform Business / October 01, 2021

In this feasibility study commissioned by the State Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Geology of the State of Saxony (LfULG), Fraunhofer IESE together with the Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture (Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL)) supported the Technical University of Dresden in performing a feasibility study that focused on the requirements analysis and conceptual design of software-based farm management tools as well as the necessary overarching data management.

Digitalisierung landwirtschaftlicher Prozesse in Steuerung von Betrieben, Fraunhofer IESE — © iStock.com/prathanchorruangsak

Last modified: October 01, 2021

The goal of the feasibility study “Farm Data Management and Farm Management Information System (FMIS)” was the preliminary design of a software system that can be used to map complex processes and their workflows in the control of agricultural enterprises.

Farmers are using more and more digital systems for a wide variety of operational tasks, most of which can only be used as stand-alone solutions. Agricultural work and production processes extend across system boundaries; however, there is a lack of overarching data management that would offer the possibility of consolidating and evaluating farm data in one place. Together with TU Dresden and Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture (Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft (KTBL)), production processes as well as existing systems in the Digital Ecosystem were analyzed and basic approaches for the creation of joint data management were presented. Furthermore, a prototype of an operational FMIS was designed for a selection of typical farm KPIs. The study is one component in the comprehensive activities of the Saxony LfULG to improve farm data management and FMIS for agricultural enterprises in Saxony.

Challenges

Complex agricultural work and production processes have not yet been analyzed and documented comprehensively and adequately
Digital systems used in agricultural processes are generally not networked with each other or are not interoperable
In the Digital Ecosystem “Agriculture”, there is a lack of solutions for comprehensive data management; existing systems only cover partial areas

Contributions of Fraunhofer IESE

Conceptual design of basic solution options for farm data management in the context of cloud-based systems with IoT connection
Requirements analysis and development of a Farm Management Information System for the presentation of key farm KPIs
Technology consulting in the context of cloud computing
Derivation of recommendations for action for a variety of stakeholders in agriculture

Goals / Results

Solution approaches and preliminary design of possible data management variants for farms and of a Farm Management Information System (FMIS)

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Reference Project: Feasibility Study