Open Data on Agriculture and Nutrition – The Key to End Hunger on Earth

Godan Data Revolution for Agriculture Godam
Godan Data Revolution for Agriculture

Open Data on Agriculture and Nutrition – The Key to End Hunger on Earth!

Worldwide, there are still 800 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition – that’s one in every nine people – with the majority being women and children.

Open Data is a data analysis that because of its open source DNA can be used as the sum of available global knowledge and includes the tools that can be used to end hunger on earth. Open data impacts everybody. Through open data we can improve how we access healthcare services, discover cures for diseases more efficiently, understand our governments better and, of course, travel to places more easily. New open data opportunities are constantly being discovered and we’re trying to encourage these discoveries.

What is the definition of Open data?

Open data is data that anyone can access, use or share. Simple as that. When big companies or governments release non-personal data, it enables small businesses, citizens and medical researchers to develop resources which make crucial improvements to their communities.

A commitment to Open Data means the proactive sharing of information about agriculture and nutrition, making it available to all in dealing with the urgent challenge of ensuring world food security.

GODAN Summit 2016

“In Data Revolution for Agriculture, CTA makes a powerful case for the empowerment of small-scale farmers and emerging economies through information. With the emergence of low-cost, readily available open data, knowledge is no more the privilege for a few, but a right for everyone. McKinsey recently referred to the data revolution in this context, crafting the concept of ‘globalisation for the little guy’, referring to data being no more the exclusive property of large corporations but rather, a tool that can enable everyone to tap into global intellectual capital.

Yet, with the emergence of low-cost technologies the world is becoming flooded – some would say cluttered – with information whose degree of relevance is often questioned.

The true data revolution does not simply lie in floodgates of data suddenly opening up: it lies in concrete applications that make sense and use of it. This document is a reminder that empowerment and growth can only be achieved putting the beneficiaries in the driving seat, becoming masters of their decisions through enlightened and informed decisions. Based on its extensive hands-on experience working with small and mediumscale farmers in the most remote corners of the world, CTA describes with passion how information can transform the lives of rural populations, stimulate economic growth and in turn, lead the world ahead of the food security challenges ahead of it. GODAN Executive Director,

GODAN Summit 2016, 15th and 16th September, New York, or Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition, formed to support and encourage open data with the aim of making the world’s accumulated knowledge and information about agriculture and nutrition available to all. GODAN is a rapidly growing initiative, with over 330+ partners, including national governments and non-governmental, international and private sector organisations.

Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition Godan
Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition GODAN

When, Where?

The groundbreaking GODAN SUMMIT 2016, taking place on 15th & 16th September in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly, is the largest-ever event of its kind. For the first time in history, world leaders and prominent international figures will join researchers, farmers, students and public, private and non-profit organisations, to showcase the impact of open data for Agriculture and Nutrition around the world.

The Summit includes a radical 32-hour hackathon which will bring together young, next generation innovators to create the beginning of the end of world hunger. It is sponsored by the Global Open Data For Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative and powered by Thought for Food and Presidents United to Solve Hunger (PUSH).

The GODAN Open Data Maker’s Hackathon will uncover new, innovative ways to unleash the power of open data and solve specific challenges in agriculture and nutrition, to enable policy makers, farmers and the open data community to make significant steps forward in the release, management and use of open data.

Hackers, in the form of current university students and/or entrepreneurs aged 18 – 26 years old, will come together in an endurance challenge of creating products and services for a beneficial purpose, build teams and develop concepts and prototypes for products or services that respond to the challenge question: how we can achieve better utilization, collection, and accessibility of open data on agriculture and nutrition to improve our food system, ensure food security and ultimately end world hunger.

The Summit also includes high-level speeches by world leaders and prominent change makers, exhibits showcasing the importance of open-data and the unveiling of the results from an online open-data revolution. The petition will be handed over at the UN General Assembly meeting in NY in September and results unveiled at the summit.

Why GODAN New York Summit?

The aim of the New York summit will be to urge world leaders to open their national datasets on agriculture and nutrition to help bring hunger around the world to an end.

“Open data is key to innovation in agriculture and nutrition – and hence, in promoting food security – by improving farming methods, enhancing food production and better informing nutritional methods and advice.”

GODAN’s goal is to make all data in agriculture and nutrition freely available for better policy and decision-making by 2050, when the global population is expected to hit 9 billion. GODAN’s ultimate ambition is to achieve the United Nations’ goal 2 – ‘zero hunger’ by 2030 – ensuring food security.
To attend GODAN Summit 2016 on 15th and 16th September at Hilton Midtown Hotel, New York, click here to register:

Early Entrant Offer: The Open Data Maker’s Hackathon begins on Thursday, 15th September 2016 at GODAN Summit 2016 at Hilton Midtown Hotel, New York. Innovators interested in participating can register here for free access. Applications for free access close on the 29th August.

Participants entering the Open Data Maker’s Hackathon after the 29th August will also be required to visit to request a unique discount code. A limited number of applicants will receive a 50% discount on the $75 ticket price.