Obtaining more knowledge is a value. Knowing more about nutrients in the soil, health and growth of crops, pollution and (nitrogen) emissions, helps to manage a farm or horticulture business.

This is the value that expresses reliance on traditions and well-known routines, habits, relationships, knowledge and crafts. Conservatism resists change sometimes because it hasn’t proven itself to be better than tradition, sometimes because of (emotional) attachment to well-known ways, or because of an unwillingness to lose one’s present comfortable situation.

Farm and horticulture businesses produce food in a way which is burdensome for the environment. Reducing that burden helps to realize more environmental sustainability. This eventually keeps the soil healthy and allows to produce more and healthier food, but also helps to foster societal acceptance of the ways food is produced.

Craftmanship refers to knowledge and skills, which an experienced farmer possesses. It is not only expressed in language or in a book, but also in the way in which a farmer or horticulturalist responds to what the soil, crops of animals need. A farmer or horticulturalist with craftsmanship can see and interpret the signs and subsequently know what to do.

This value refers to the capacity to govern one’s self, or one’s farm or horticulture business with reason. Since profit margins are small, a bad decision might cost farmers/growers their income. Losing a harvest would make it hard to make ends meet. Therefore, farmers take decisions prudently, avoiding (too) large risks. Technologies may either subject them to new risks or enhance their capacity to respond to risks well.

The product provides knowledge and information which enables users to defend their own interests in negotiation with others, such as clients or the government.

Collaboration with others helps to share knowledge and information or materials and manpower. It helps to improve business and makes it possible to purchase a product that is unaffordable on one’s own.

Twofolds: (1) Protect the DT from misuse and unauthorized or unintended access by competitors, hackers or a cyberattack.

And (2) end-users feeling safe in participating in an ecosystem.

This value refers to the information shared about how food producers behave, how their businesses operate or about how digital twin services work. Transparency could relate to information provided by food producers to the government or to consumers about what they do to reduce CO2 and nitrogen emissions, how much pesticides or antibiotics they use or how many animals are diseased and die on average in a year

Trust can refer to the ‘reliability’ of the information provided by the DT. But trust can also refer to relationships between people who do not let each other down and who respect the demands, principles or norms that are applicable in a specific society. Digital twins can play a role in fostering trust, for example when it helps food producers to show that they respect social norms. This may foster trust in them of citizens or the government.

The digital twin protects (personal) data from misuse and does not reveal information on what stakeholders consider their private life or business secrets to outsiders such as competitors or the government.

Freedom means that one’s decisions are not manipulated, coerced or hindered by other people or by technologies. Freedom also means that one’s capacity to choose has been strengthened, by knowledge about new possibilities or because new collaborations bring new options for action.

Knowledge and information need to be provided by a neutral party, who does not manipulate or coerce farmers or horticulturalists towards buying certain products or making particular choices. A digital twin is like an advisor. When advisors are employed by a company, the advice they give to a farmer or horticulturalist may serve the interests of a company. Similarly, it is important to know who controls the advice that the digital twin provides. If the digital twin is managed by a company, one might question the disinterested nature of the advice obtained. A digital twin should be disinterested, meaning that it should serve the interests of the farmer.