WIR! – DMPL – RegioNachhaltigkeit – Development of a cloud-based system for assessing the holistic sustainability of farms and communication along the value chain

IAK Agrar Consulting GmbH is playing a leading role in a joint project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the DMPL strategy. The aim of the project is to develop a cloud-based system for the holistic assessment of the sustainability of agricultural businesses. Ecological, economic and social dimensions as well as aspects of animal welfare are taken into account.

Aim

The focus is on creating a web-based infrastructure that makes it possible to efficiently record and evaluate the level of sustainability of a farm. The raw data, which originates from various software systems on the farms, is automatically collected, cleansed and analyzed. A central component of the project is the development of a “regionality indicator”, which makes the origin and regional added value of agricultural products measurable.

Innovative approaches

The project focuses on automation and digitalization to overcome the weaknesses of previous evaluation systems, which are often limited by high manual effort or insufficient data integration. In addition, an editor is being developed that enables the individual preparation of results for different target groups, such as farmers, processors or end customers.

Cooperation

In addition to IAK, the Institute for Applied Informatics (InfAI) and INL – Privates Institut für Nachhaltige Landbewirtschaftung GmbH are working on the project. While IAK focuses on economic and social indicators, the partners are responsible for the development of ecological indicators and the overall technical architecture. The results are validated and optimized together with a practical agricultural operation.

Economic and ecological relevance

The platform supports agricultural businesses in improving their sustainability strategies and serves as a basis for sustainable financing concepts. It enables sustainability to be presented transparently along the entire value chain right through to the end customer and thus contributes to the objectives of the EU's Green Deal.