Empowering Farmers and Workers with Ownership over their data
Welcome to Bridge, a revolutionary not-for-profit aiming to create a fairer, more efficient data ecosystem where farmers become valued participants, not just data sources.
Our innovative approach empowers farmers to own and
monetize their information, reducing costs for supply chain actors and
minimizing disruption for producers.
The challenge
In the agricultural sector, particularly among smallholder farmers and rural workers, several systemic challenges hinder productivity and sustainability:
- Data Silos: Information is often isolated within individual organizations, preventing a comprehensive view of farming operations and missing opportunities for improvement.
- Redundant Efforts: Multiple entities frequently collect and process the same data without coordination, wasting resources and overburdening farmers.
- Data Fatigue: Farmers are inundated with repeated information requests from various stakeholders, leading to disengagement and frustration.
- Outdated and Overlapping Information: Delays in data usage result in outdated insights, while significant overlap exists in the profiles collected by companies and institutions performing different functions. This duplication creates inefficiencies and inconsistencies.
- Farmer Marginalization: Farmers and workers, the primary data subjects, are often passive bystanders, with little control over their information or equitable benefit from its use.
These issues highlight the urgent need for farmer-centric solutions that reduce inefficiencies, empower communities, and ensure data is treated as an asset owned by its rightful creators.
Excited and Intrigued? Get in touch! We are actively seeking partners, projects and funding opportunities and are excited to connect!
Value for farmers and workers
Under the hood
- Based upon secure identity first decentralized (web3) architecture
- Profiles are extensible, reusable and continually improved and expanded
- Validated truths that are shareable across value chains with Verifiable Credentials
- Off line capabilities ie printed ID cards or certifications, for real world needs
- Ability to service Rural communities landscapes without being restricted to single supply chains
- New revenue streams for farmers and their communities
- Unlock opportunities for local community members to act as collectors, checkers and verifiers.
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Because we believe farmers are more than just polygons!
Why a Public First Approach?
A public 1st approach
Enabling Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
BrIDge is designed to be a
public good, not a proprietary
system locked behind
corporate interests.
Trust and Neutrality
As an NGO, we can prioritize
farmer interests and maintain
impartiality in the ecosystem.
Sustainable Impact
Our non-profit status allows
us to focus on long-term
societal benefits rather than
short-term profits.
Collaborative
Innovation
We can foster open
collaboration across sectors,
driving continuous
improvement of the platform.
It’s fair and just
Unlocking the data of individuals for them, they have visibility, they are in control, and they can start to cultivate their own information as as asset.
Architectural Solutions
Helping build the future of rural digital landscapes will drive down costs for all actors and reduce redundant processes and data silos
Bridge was founded by Kristian Doolan, an experienced technology professional with a deep passion for creating equitable solutions for smallholder farmers and rural communities; together with Mike Gloyne, another seasoned technology expert with a proven track record of delivering transformative solutions across sector. After five years of building and testing the decentralised “FarmerID” concept within Farmer Connect SA, Bridge was born as a ‘not for profit’ to enable the FarmerID concept to transition into truly public, Digital Public Infrastructure.
Based in Switzerland, Bridge is firmly rooted in a commitment to global impact. Our focus is on creating tangible value in for rural communities, where disaggregated supply chains often leave farmers and workers struggling to maintain their livelihoods. We aim to address these challenges by fostering greater transparency and efficiency, building systems that put farmers and workers at the center of economic opportunity.
At the heart of Bridge’s mission is the belief that farmers deserve more choices tomorrow than they have today. We achieve this by taking costs out of traditional supply chains and enabling farmers to own and leverage their data as an asset. By connecting smallholder communities to trusted networks and empowering them with self-sovereign identities and verifiable credentials, Bridge enables individuals to participate more effectively in global markets, access financing, and benefit from regenerative economic models.
Together, with the expertise of our founders and the support of like-minded partners, we’re working to bridge the gap between opportunity and potential for those who need it most.
“Digital Public Infrastructure can bring operational efficiencies normally reserved for private corporations to complex supply chains which benefit all actors including the farmers. Embracing decentralized techniques, we can make them both efficient, and fair!”
Kristian Doolan
Founder, Bridge