Australia’s agriculture sector is banding together to build a supply chain data exchange

A consortium of leading agrifood stakeholders including government, industry groups and research organisations are collaborating to build a better picture of  the nation’s agriculture supply chain through a new data-based project.

The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange (AAFDE) is being designed as an open data platform controlled by users to improve collaboration up and down the supply chain.

Chaired by former federal trade and investment minister Andrew Robb, AAFDE is being backed by some of the ag sector’s heavy hitters with an initial $4 million investment, including the Australian and WA governments, Meat & Livestock Australia, Charles Sturt University, the  Fisheries Research Development Corporation, the CSIRO, and Australian Wool Innovation.

The idea was developed by Integrity Systems Company, a subsidiary of Meat & Livestock Australia,  and KPMG.

Their vision is for AAFDE to act as a trusted and secure interconnected data highway for the exchange of vital information between organisations and systems within the agriculture and agribusiness supply chain.

Federal agriculture minister David Littleproud said Australia’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries are looking to exceed a target of exporting more than $100 billion in farmgate value by 2030.

“Market access for our products depends on trusted supply chains and trusted compliance and quality assurance data accompanying the products,” he said.

The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange has already set its initial focus in consultation with the sector. It includes reducing the burden of regulatory compliance, identifying and anticipating biosecurity risks, benchmarking performance to inform decision making, and bringing traceability to the entire value chain.

Further use cases will be considered as additional funding comes into the project.

Andrew Robb AO said data is the lifeblood of any industry.

“The Australian AgriFood Data Exchange is a nation building project that will support the growth and resilience of the Australian agrifood industry by building a secure and trusted framework for data to be shared across the sector,” he said.

“This will create transformational opportunities to innovate and supercharge Australian agriculture.”

Integrity Systems Co. CEO Dr Jane Weatherley said the data exchange was a major opportunity for the country’s food and agriculture sectors.

“We are now really delighted by the number of collaboration partners across government and industry that have come together with a shared vision to invest together to bring the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange to life,” she said

CSU COO Rick Willmott said: “By enabling agrifood industry data owners to efficiently direct and control what data they share and with whom, the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange will support users unlock value from their data, enabling fluid collaboration up and down the supply chain.”

Other supports of AAFDE include the Food & Agriculture Growth Centre, Victorian and NSW governments, Agrifutures, Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, Cotton Rural Research Development Corporation, Elders Rural, Federation University, Grower Group Alliance, and Australian Eggs, and the NSW Government

More and AAFDE and to register interest in being involved is at ozagdx.com.au