New Online Tool Simplifies Farm Data Sharing Contracts

It is now easier for farm businesses and those who collect, manage and share their data to access an industry best-practice contract for data sharing – thanks to a new digital tool.

The online Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) Tool is free to use and has been developed in partnership with Food Agility CRC, tier one legal firm Minter Ellison, Federation University and the Australian Research Data Commons.

Food Agility Data Policy Manager Gabi Ceregra said data use and sharing is important for improving the productivity of farming, but producers need assurance about how their data is collected and used.

“There are multiple data sharing agreements out there, not all of which cover the essential aspects of data sharing, nor provide fair terms to farm businesses sharing their data. Just like we have standard residential tenancy contracts, an industry standard data sharing agreement to protect farm businesses provides assurance and protection,” said Ms Ceregra.

The DSA Tool digitises the hard-copy Data Sharing Agreement Template that was developed in the project, making it easier for users to customise data sharing contracts.

“It’s designed for contracts with only a few parties, for example a farm business and a research institute, a farm business and a processor, or a farm business and another farm business,” said Ms Ceregra. “The tool can be used to inform any other data sharing contracts such as software terms and conditions, or non-farm business contracts between collaborators or project partners.”

Hamish Holewa, Director, Planet Research Data Commons, ARDC, said, “The release of the DSA Tool is an enabler for data sharing that will support research and innovation in Australia’s agriculture sector”.

The DSA Tool has been 3 years in the making, with feedback received from across the agricultural industry. It’s also aligned with the National Farmers’ Federation’s Australian Farm Data Code (the Code) to provide data protections for farmers.

The DSA Tool is accompanied by a certification program against the Code that aims to create trust and improve transparency when providers meet all the criteria of the Code. The project partners are also providing training to the food and agricultural industries about the Code and certification process. This training educates food producers about the value of their data, best practices for data management, and the benefits of the certification process.

By fostering greater transparency between providers and food producers, this project empowers farmers and food producers to securely and confidently share their data.

The DSA Tool was delivered through the Data Sharing Initiative project which received investment from the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) through its Food Security Data Challenges program. 

More information is available on the Food Agility website and the online tool is hosted by Federation University.

This article is a version of a media release from Food Agility CRC. 

The ARDC is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.