Thomson Reuters : New Thomson Reuters Mobile App Uses Crowdsourcing to Deliver Commodities Insight | Thomson Reuters

NEW YORK -A mobile crowdsourcing app that allows farmers to share crop data in exchange for market insight is launched today by Thomson Reuters.

The Data Share app works as a partnership platform with farmers around the world to create a transparent and better-informed marketplace. The app is designed to aggregate unbiased, raw data to generate more accurate crop forecasting and supply chain evaluation, helping the farmers to make more informed decisions.

Commodities markets are driven primarily by the dynamics of supply and demand, which ultimately affect price volatility. The more detail traders have around these dynamics, the more confidence they can have in building trading, hedging or procurement strategies. However, acquiring this data is difficult as it is both time-consuming and expensive. Recognizing what crops are being grown, the quality of crops and potential size of harvest requires on-the-ground resource and an understanding of crop technology, management, disease and infestation, and differences in soil quality. Coupled with the constantly changing weather conditions, the agriculture market requires time-sensitive analysis that is crucial to building a credible picture of the overall market.

Thomson Reuters new Data Share app was created for use by farmers and producers to contribute proprietary and primary location-based data around the crops they are growing (acreage and yield). This granular level of information builds an incredibly detailed view of supply of various crops, which can then be analysed and shared as forecasts to customers operating in the financial markets via Thomson Reuters flagship desktop, Eikon. In exchange for this data, farmers are provided with high-level insight from a trusted source into the comparatively opaque markets in which they operate, helping them to better market their products and plan their planting based on reliable and trusted data that is gathered in an ethical and transparent manner.

'The goal of Data Share is to create well-informed markets with greater transparency,' said Jeff Haas, global head of agriculture, food & beverage, Thomson Reuters, 'for example, sharing information on global crop conditions, supply chain disruptions, pricing and other logistics of the business that will help both analysts and farmers. One of the most exciting things about Data Share is that it is a fully flexible app that can be adapted to use across other industries. This app is designed to provide a trusted and reliable crowdsourcing model for data aggregation. We are committed to providing our customers with the information, insight and analysis they need to make better informed decisions about the markets.'

Thomson Reuters Eikon is a powerful and intuitive next-generation solution for consuming real-time and historical data, enabling financial markets transactions and connecting with the financial markets community. Its award-winning news, analytics and data visualization tools help its users make more efficient trading and investment decisions across asset classes and instruments including commodities, derivatives, equities, fixed income and foreign exchange. Eikon is an open platform, customizable to the individual needs of a financial professional or institution.

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