Deere’s data collab with Food Agility CRC

John Deere Australia and New Zealand have announced a new collaboration with the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) to help drive the use and management of agricultural data across the industry. The collaboration will see John Deere & Food Agility CRC work together to apply a newly-developed Data Sharing Agreement Template to data flow scenarios. This is in efforts to improve the template before it is released more widely to industry later in the year. The template was developed with the National Farmer’s Federation (NFF) and Minter Ellison and includes key considerations between farmers and service providers including data transfer, storage, disposal, and access. It also provides clarity on the roles, responsibilities, deidentification and control of data. John Deere AU/NZ precision ag manager Benji Blevin said Deere was pleased to contribute its industry expertise to the project that would help drive best practice data management in the future. “AgTech has the transformational ability to drive productivity, performance and sustainability across the ag sector, and while it continues to develop at an increasingly rapid rate, it is vital to ensure Australian producers feel confident they have control and transparency when managing their farm data,” Blevin said. “As a technology innovator, we are continuously reviewing and improving our own robust data policies and practices and we are delighted to work with Food Agility CRC on this project to empower Australian producers to collect and share their data with confidence and control.” Food Agility CRC general manager – strategic investments Dr. Mick Schaefer said the template was being piloted in other research projects. “We are stress testing the Data Sharing Agreement Template to ensure it meets the needs of farmers and service providers in a range of circumstances,” Schaefer said. Ensuring farmers have control of their data and the value attributed to it, is a goal within the NFF’s plan for agriculture to be a $100 billion industry by 2030. NFF chief executive Tony Mahar said the agreement was a practical application of the NFF’s Farm Data Code, which aimed to give farmers clarity and transparency in how their data is managed. “Every year digital tools and services are playing a bigger role on-farm,” Mahar said. “Farmers need to have confidence that the data they share is being protected. “It’s great to see Food Agility CRC applying the principles of our Farm Data Code to develop a template that will be available for broader industry.” The project started in February and is anticipated to take around four months to complete.