Product Description

Overview

We are building a farmer “data wallet.” A digital record of verified farmer practices with interface for basic decision support and ability to share the data with value-add stakeholders in a transparent, informed manner.

Opportunity

Data about a farmer and the production practices she follows are increasingly valuable. A trusted, externally verified, interoperable dataset which contains such information can be leveraged by farmers to for various benefits:

• Access to buyers

• Access to financial services

• Targeted, contextually relevant advisories

• Decision support and planning tools

• Ecosystem services payments

Product Components

• Data collection and verification methodology / protocol: To engender trust in the accuracy of the data, there needs to be a transparent collection and verification process and users should be able to access information about how data was collected and if/how it has been verified. Initially, front-line extension workers (JEEViKA Village Resource Persons in Bihar) will play the role of data collector and validator and DG will provide a management tool for this process.

• Data repository and farmer interface: Farmer data will be stored in the cloud and accessible via a mobile app. That app will provide:

  • Mechanism for farmers to record their own data

  • Visualize information about their farm. This would be information directly recorded and also derived data. Leverage third party services to convert information in the data wallet to interesting metrics / outputs. An initial example is emission estimates. Using an ensemble modeling approach, practice data will be converted to an estimate for CO2e. CO2e is of interest to the market, researchers, and policymakers and once farmers have it for their own operation, can share it as they see fit.

  • Access relevant advisory content (initially from Digital Green’s Youtube library and over time additional sources)

  • A way to link / catalog important digital artifacts, eg, a panchayat or district level validated land record or soil health card

  • Ability to grant informed consent to share the data. Farmstack provides the mechanism for farmers to grant consent and ensures data is shared in a P2P way with the intended beneficiary in line with farmer preference / usage policy (via the connector)

Stakeholders and Value Prop

Go to Market

• Rely on JEEViKA VRPs and the farmers they reach for initial ramp

  • By end of 2023, have data profiles including emission estimates for ~25,000 farmers across Bihar

  • Expect a portion of these profiles (20%?) to be actively used by farmers; depends on smartphone access

• Validate farmer value prop and refine product design then explore additional channels

Commercial / Economic Model

• Philanthropic funding for next two years to cover user research, MVP development

  • Sequoia funding is focused on model calibration / validation and engaging policymakers; need to augment with funding for the farmer facing app (potential funders incl Cisco, Microsoft, Global Innovation Fund)

• Vision is for all the farmer data to be maintained by a data trust in which farmers hold shares so that farmers really own and capture the economic value of their data; the data wallet is one app provided by the trust

• Farmer ownership strengthens incentives for accurate data capture; accurate data is more actionable and valuable to the market and farmers participate in the upside that comes from increased trust / credibility of the data

• We can bring in philanthropic funders, impact investors and government partners to cover hosting, technology development, and scaling costs

• Trust can fund a portion of its own operations through or transaction (data consumers pay to access data) fees or by helping farmers develop data products that can be monetized

• Over time, trust will have a few streams of revenue which it can use to re-capitalize; raise debt and use the proceeds to buy-out a portion of the initial investors. Such a plan could unlock a larger set of initial investors who see some potential of getting repaid with a model return.

• A service that provides easy access to farmer data and perhaps cuts Potential revenue streams.

  • Farmers pay a subscription to maintain their data wallet; there may be a freemium play here where individual farmers have free wallets and a farmer group or FPO pays to create an aggregation at the level of its farmers

  • Charge data consumers for access, eg, farmers can opt-in to make their data available to input suppliers who would use the info for marketing / lead gen

  • Build data products and monetize, eg, aggregated and anonymized ground truth data for AI models, and a portion of the sales fund trust operations with remainder paid to farmers

Governance Model

• More research required here. Some references:

  • Open Data Institute has done a bunch of research on Data Trusts 

  • Mozilla Foundation is working in this space, especially Anouk Rouhaak (see here)

  • There are some blockchain projects and DAOs that can serve as interesting references though I think a token based model is likely too complicated for what we are doing. Some examples are the Streamer (framework for developing a data union with examples of users aggregating and monetizing their browsing behavior) and Brainstrust (a worker owned talent matching platform)

Competitive Landscape

• Traceability apps which might be buyer specific like Olam AtSource or generic like Sourcetrace, Cropin

• Ag advisory services like BharatAgri

• Tools that support farmers in moving to more sustainable production like CIBO Technologies in the US; these are increasingly trying to link with carbon offset marketplaces

Open questions

• What is the best entry point to get farmer buy-in? We are starting with production practices and emission estimates given funding sources but is a land record or soil health report a more sensible entry point?