NFF, Food Agility collaborating to raise the bar on farm data management

Monday 30 May: National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) are collaborating to raise industry standards for sharing and securing agricultural data.

The organisations are jointly investing in a suite of complementary initiatives that aim to build trust and transparency for farmers who share their data and to accelerate agricultural innovation.

This includes a refresh of the NFF’s Farm Data Code, a new accreditation mechanism to support the Code, and wide release of Food Agility’s Data Sharing Agreement Template.

Speaking ahead of the Digital Agrifood Summit, being held in Wagga Wagga on 1-2 June, both organisations said the farm sector’s data management practices would dictate its success in the digital age.

NFF CEO, Tony Mahar, said working cooperatively with like-minded organisations and sharing data was vital in achieving the ambition for agriculture to be a $100 billion industry.

“Innovation is fuelled by data. By sharing data, farmers will get access to new tools and insights that drive productivity and profitability,” Mr Mahar said.

“But farmers need confidence that their sensitive commercial and research data is being managed appropriately. They need to know how their data is being used, who it is being shared with and how it is being protected and they need some control in that process.”

Food Agility CEO, Richard Norton, said the NFF’s Farm Data Code would underpin Food Agility’s initiatives in this area.

“We need to see the Farm Data Code embedded into the fabric of the agricultural innovation system and deliver practical initiatives that give farmers confidence to share data and service providers the tools they need to meet global gold standards,” Mr Norton said.

Mr Mahar committed to working together where the NFF would this year deliver:

• A refresh of the Farm Data Code, incorporating lessons learned since its release in 2020.
• A data sharing accreditation program that gives service providers the stamp of approval for meeting the standards set out in the Farm Data Code.

Mr Norton committed to working together and this year Food Agility delivering:

• Wide release of the Data Sharing Agreement Template, which incorporates global best practice in legal agreements to share data. The agreement is currently being piloted in Food Agility projects, including with John Deere and AACo. It is also working with TerraCipher, which is digitising the agreement on its AgriTrakka data sharing platform in a way that will allow farmers to define and customise their own data sharing arrangements.

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Media Contacts:
Megan Tudehope 0450 452 733 or megan.tudehope@foodagility.com
Chris Komorek 0405 255 905 or chris.komorek@foodagility.com
Charles Thomas 0437 962 209 or CThomas@nff.org.au

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