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Good day, or “Goede dag as they say in Dutch. And a good several days we experienced in the Netherlands at the 3rd Annual meeting of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) partnership. Although the tulips had not yet blossomed, the excitement about the accomplishments and vision for the GODAN partnership were in full bloom among all attendees.
I recently accompanied Dr. Cathie Woteki, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, to the GODAN meeting hosted by the Government of the Netherlands, along with Wageningen University. This was the first GODAN partner meeting organized by CABI who has been selected to lead the effort on the GODAN executive secretariat.
GODAN partners met in the Netherlands to discuss broadening the partnership in 2015. As of January 2015, in just one short year, GODAN has grown to 118 partners. At the meeting GODAN partners agreed to focus on broadening the GODAN partner base through participation in two major events during the first half of 2015: Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture, March 9-10, Abu Dhabi, UAE and the 3rd International Open Data Conference, May 28-29, Ottawa, Canada. These events will mark the first two public events that GODAN will participate in. I encourage anyone interested in joining GODAN to speak with GODAN partners attending these events to learn more about the partnership.
GODAN partners also agreed to encourage G20 member countries to join GODAN. At the 2013 G20 Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists, attendees acknowledged the work of GODAN in the meeting communiqué. We are excited to work alongside our GODAN colleagues to support G20 member countries in becoming a GODAN partner.
GODAN is an initiative that seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritional data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. GODAN seeks to support global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide. The initiative focuses on building high-level policy and public and private institutional support for open data. The initiative encourages collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities, without duplication, and brings together all stakeholders to solve long-standing global problems.
