Data Sharing Initiative

The Challenge

Farmers and food producers play a crucial role in Australia’s food security. In addition to growing and manufacturing food for consumption, farms generate valuable data. This includes information about:

• the farm’s operations (e.g. data from tools and machinery)
• environmental conditions (e.g. climate and soil)
• other farm characteristics (e.g. transactions and GPS coordinates).

Providers of services, technology and/or equipment, including businesses and research organisations, often seek to use and analyse the data to improve farm yields and outcomes, or to identify potential system-wide improvements. 

However, data sharing practices need to be improved to encourage trust between farmers and providers, and ensure that the data is shared in a safe and secure way. The goal of this initiative is to enable food producers to safely and confidently adopt new technologies, participate in research, and share their data, for the benefit of improving the efficiency and quality of agriculture production.

The Response

We have supported our partner, Federation University, to create a digital, customisable data sharing agreement (DSA) template, based on the data sharing template created by the Food Agility CRC, incorporating best practices for data sharing and management between farmers and providers. 

This is accompanied by a certification program that intends to create trust and improve transparency when providers meet all the criteria of the Australian Farm Data Code, developed by the National Farmers’ Federation.

In addition to the data sharing agreement template, our partners are providing training to the food and agricultural industries about the Data 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.

Who Will Benefit

• Agricultural industry
• Exporters
• Researchers 
• Industry

Our Partners

• Federation University
• Food Agility CRC
• National Farmers’ Federation

Target Outcomes

The key outcomes for this project are:

• the development of a digital, customisable data sharing agreement template, and accompanying user guide, to improve data sharing practices between food producers and providers.
• training materials and a certification against the Australian Farm Data Code, developed by the National Farmers’ Federation, to improve transparency and encourage data sharing.

Key Resources

• Access the data sharing template created by the Food Agility CRC.
• Read the National Farmers’ Federation Australian Farm Data Code. 
• Watch a video on the Farm Data Code and data sharing agreement on the ARDC YouTube channel.
• Read the media release from the National Farmers’ Federation.
• Watch a webinar on the Farm Data Code and provider certification scheme.
• Listen to the podcasts on Agtechfinder and the Digital Village Show.
• Read online articles from the Food Agility CRC, the Federation University Newsroom, and Farmers Weekly.
• View the conference proceedings from the FutureAg 2024 conference.
• View the list of products and services certified against the Farm Data Code.