CEADS
The Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS) is a European initiative that enables trusted, interoperable, and sovereign data sharing across the agri‑food sector. CEADS is not a single platform or data marketplace — it is a federated data ecosystem that connects existing data sharing initiatives, organisations, and services across Europe under shared rules and standards. CEADS helps farmers, companies, researchers, and public authorities share and reuse data securely and transparently, while keeping control over their data and respecting existing business models, legal obligations, and national contexts
The puzzle
Challenge and Context
Europe’s agri‑food sector faces mounting pressure to improve sustainability, food security, and supply chain transparency; all while navigating a fragmented landscape of data systems, national regulations, and competing interests. Farmers, businesses, and public authorities each hold valuable data, but the absence of shared rules and interoperability standards makes meaningful collaboration difficult. Without a trusted foundation for data exchange, the sector risks missing the opportunities that data-driven innovation can offer in addressing climate resilience, agricultural efficiency, and rural development.
Solution
CEADS addresses these challenges through a federated data ecosystem built around three layers. The Collaboration Framework defines governance, roles, and legal rules via the CEADS Rulebook and Code of Conduct. The CEADS Services layer provides shared interoperability and trust services—including identity management, participant registries, and data catalogues—guaranteeing coherence without restricting innovation. Finally, the Applications and Use Cases layer enables participants to build end-user tools on this trusted foundation, scaling solutions across borders and sectors.
How it works
CEADS is not a single platform or a data marketplace, rather it is a federated data ecosystem which aims to ensure interoperability across existing data sharing initiatives, organisations, and services across Europe. CEADS is built around three interconnected layers that work together to enable trusted agricultural data sharing.
The Collaboration Framework defines how CEADS operates — setting out who can participate, the roles and responsibilities of participants, governance structures and decision-making processes, and the legal, ethical, and behavioural rules for data sharing. These rules are formalised through the CEADS Rulebook and the Data Space Specific Code of Conduct, ensuring trust, fairness, and compliance across Europe.
The CEADS Services layer provides the shared interoperability and trust services that make data sharing possible in practice, including identity and onboarding, participant registries, consent and permission handling, and data catalogues. Some services are provided centrally to guarantee coherence across Europe, while others can be implemented by participants or third parties as long as they comply with CEADS requirements — ensuring interoperability without restricting innovation or imposing a single technical solution.
Added Value Through the iSHARE Trust Framework
iSHARE Foundation is an active participant across multiple work packages of CEADS, contributing its expertise in trust, governance, and data sharing throughout the project. Within WP2, which is responsible for the Architecture of CEADS, iSHARE co-leads Working Group 1 on Trust, Identity, Access & Usage Policies alongside Orange, playing a key role in shaping the architectural decisions around identity, attestation, and trust frameworks that will underpin the CEADS data space. In WP3, iSHARE brings its hands-on experience in governance and business model development, supporting the design of sustainable and practical governance structures for CEADS. In WP1, iSHARE is an active contributor to Use Case 1, which is developing a sound governance framework with authorisation mechanisms aligned with the iSHARE Trust Framework, in collaboration with Wageningen University.
Beyond the technical and governance workstreams, iSHARE also contributes to stakeholder engagement through the communications work package, helping to connect CEADS with the broader European data space ecosystem.
Contributors
