Providing public value through data sharing: Understanding critical factors of food traceability for local farms and institutional buyers

Many of the datasets that could contribute to solutions for current public problems are proprietary and reside outside of government agencies. Accelerating data sharing and collaboration between those who hold valuable data and those able to deliver solutions is key to generating public value from private data. There is still a limited body of literature, however, that addresses data sharing and collaboration between private and public organizations. Using a case study of food traceability from local farms to institutions, this paper contributes to this emerging field by identifying challenges and incentives in data sharing among different types of organizations. In particular, our goal is to study how small farms and institutional buyers can be incentivized to share their data in a way that contributes to food safety, public health, and other societal goals. Our findings demonstrate that initiatives which can show the benefits of having a whole-chain food traceability system, have clear policies and regulations, and opportunities for participation in training activities are key incentives.