Montse Perez Castro Perez. Curated Borrowed Data Sketch 2022

Borrowed Data 1 – https://ourworldindata.org/

Our World in Data is an open-access online platform that publishes “research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems”. For my project, OWiD has been useful in terms of global information about palm oil, but also more general data about food, agriculture, and climate change.

• Where is palm oil mostly produced, and consumed? What are the main industries involved in the use of palm oil?
• What crops (and oilseeds in particular) are considered to have the greatest “environmental impact”? How are they measuring “environmental impact”? what other datasets are involved? Where are these crops produced and consumed? What are the main industries involved in the commercialization of these crops?
• What food commodities are considered the least “sustainable” and under which parameters/datasets? Where are these food commodities produced and consumed?

Borrowed Data 2 - https://www.femexpalma.com.mx/

FEMEXPALMA is the Mexican Federation of Oil Palm Growers. On their website, they publish annual reports with data about the sector, as well as public statements and news about the industry. They recently started a magazine about palm oil in Mexico.

• Where is palm oil mostly produced in Mexico and by whom? Who are the main producers? Who are the main industry actors involved in the supply chain in Mexico? Where is palm oil going – is it for domestic or international consumption? How much of the palm oil that is used in Mexico is produced domestically? How much is imported and from where? What are the main trends in the market?
• What visions of sustainability are expressed by FEMEXPALMA? What "sustainability" projects do FEMEXPALMA support and with whom? What types of knowledge/technology are produced/circulated in/through FEMEXPALMA? What other actors are involved in the enactment of sustainability with FEMEXPALMA?
• What organizations are part of FEMEXPALMA? How and when was FEMEXPALMA created?

Borrowed Data 3 – https://datamexico.org/

DataMexico is a data platform created by the Secretary of Economy and Datawheel. The Platform is at a beta stage. The plan is that it will contain datasets about commerce, production, education, and demographics, at a national level with spatial analysis at a regional and municipal scale. The platform is free, public, and open-source. For my research, DataMexico is useful to analyze data about the food and palm oil industry in Mexico and to compare it with the data from the private sector.

• How relevant is food/palm oil in the Mexican economy? How much is the revenue? What are the main sub-industries? How much of the capital is domestic or international (where)? How is the commercial exchange characterized (who buys/sells)? How much of the manufactured food products are exported – and to where?
• How many workers are in the food industry/palm oil chain in Mexico, and where? How is employment in the food industry characterized (salary, gender, age)?
• How is sustainability, "social" and "environmental" impact considered in the database?