Discussing the future of agricultural data integration - Second Subcommittee Meeting held - July 2025

CoPADi
Jul 15
3 min read

Updated: Aug 26

On July 15, 2025, we held the Second Subcommittee Meeting* for the project online. In this project, we have established a subcommittee meeting for project stakeholders to deepen discussions in specialized fields and effectively promote activities. This time, 48 stakeholders from government agencies and universities gathered to actively discuss the potential and future of “AgroAPI,” an agricultural data integration platform developed by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).

What is AgroAPI, the key to data integration

AgroAPI is a platform operated by Embrapa that provides access to various types of data essential to agriculture, such as weather information, geographic information, and soil data. Embrapa aims for AgroAPI to serve as a kind of “infrastructure” that supports the activities of all companies and organizations, rather than competing with other agtech (agricultural technology) companies.

To achieve this, Embrapa plans to expand the current functionality of AgroAPI, which currently only provides data, to

1) enable data ingestion (e.g., agricultural machinery operation data),

2) integrate various data to provide new services (e.g., fertilizer maps created by combining pesticide application data with farmland data),

3) prove production outside of illegal logging areas by making imported agricultural machinery data irreversible (e.g., compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) on due diligence obligations to prevent deforestation).

This roadmap was inspired by the concept of Japan's WAGRI**.

Discussion and growing expectations for the project

At this subcommittee meeting, the future vision of how AgroAPI can develop and expand its use, taking into account the needs of producers, was shared. As a specific example, the ongoing demonstration test in Paraná State was introduced. In this demonstration test, high-precision GPS devices manufactured by Japan's Agri Info Design Co., Ltd. and sensors manufactured by Brazil's Jacto are installed on tractors to collect detailed data such as driving trajectories. The plan is to link this data to AgDataBox*** via AgroAPI to enable multifaceted analysis. In addition, it was suggested that AgroAPI might be used as a data integration platform not only in the agricultural field but also in other ministries such as the Ministry of Fisheries (MPA), raising expectations for its contribution to the promotion of digitalization in a wide range of fields.

Through this discussion, we were able to reaffirm the high level of attention and expectations for this project, which utilizes AgroAPI to conduct farmer-participatory On-Farm Experimentation (OFE). We will continue to deepen our collaboration with relevant parties and contribute to the development of precision agriculture and digital agriculture in Brazil.

*Sub-committee Meeting:

A project stakeholder meeting to discuss three areas: “crops,” “livestock,” and “agroforestry.” Three meetings are planned between 2024 and 2025 as follows.

1st meeting (June 2024): Current status and challenges of precision agriculture and digital agriculture, and the potential of OFE (On-Farm Experimentation)
2nd meeting (July 2025): Concept, improvements, and expected effects of the data-linked agricultural platform “AgroAPI”
rd meeting (scheduled for December 2025): Toward the construction of an innovation ecosystem to promote precision agriculture and digital agriculture

**WAGRI:

A public cloud service that provides data and programs useful for agriculture, such as weather, farmland, and yield forecasts. It aims to improve the productivity and profitability of farmers and is operated by the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) in Japan.

(website: https://wagri.naro.go.jp/)

***AgDataBox:

An open-source platform for agricultural data management developed by the Federal University of Paraná (UTFPR). It can be used to compare and analyze agricultural data and manage daily work records.

(website: https://adb.md.utfpr.edu.br/)