Challenges of implementing data spaces for data sharing in the agricultural sector

The agricultural sector is increasingly adopting advanced digital data technologies. However, the complexity and cost of data-driven solutions often limit their adoption, particularly in heterogeneous agricultural contexts. Data spaces have emerged as a promising approach for secure and sovereign data exchange. Currently, research on data spaces in the agriculture sector focuses on general applicability, yet it lacks a clear understanding of the challenges involved. This paper addresses this gap by conducting a systematic literature review to identify those challenges. We identified and grouped challenges into seven categories: (1) Business and Financial, (2) Legal, (3) Maturity, (4) Trust and Sovereignty, (5) Infrastructure, (6) Data, and (7) Design challenges. Notably, Business and Financial challenges are tightly coupled to the agricultural domain, while the remaining categories reflect general challenges related to data spaces. These findings provide a structured overview and enable informed decision-making for the adoption of data spaces in agriculture.