“From Anarchy to Order”, the Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework (AASF) is excited to release the latest report for the AASF Data Ecosystem, prepared by CSIRO on behalf of the National Farmers Federation and Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

As the Australian agricultural industry gears towards documenting and reporting sustainability outcomes, a key challenge in reporting is the fragmented and anarchic agricultural data environment. In response to the need for a trusted, efficient and robust system of data exchange, the Data Ecosystem Project has brought together stakeholders from across the Australian agricultural industry to develop priority use cases and prototype methods for operating and governing the AASF Data Ecosystem.

Analysis conducted by CSIRO in 2021/22 found that, within the Australian agricultural industry, there are no uniform data sharing arrangements, no standards for data interoperability and varying levels of governance capability maturity amongst data providers and users. It further found that publicly available data that might be of relevance to the AASF has varying levels of sustainability, usability, and accessibility. Discussions with the AASF Community of Practice (CoP) identified that the AASF needs to be supported with robust and logically connected mechanisms for governing data sharing activities.

The report, “Anarchy to Order” culminates two years of research and co-design activities to contain proposals and recommendations for the creation of structures to support the activities of the AASF Data Ecosystem.

Read a copy of the report, or head to publications for outcomes from the planning and discovery phases of the Data Ecosystem Project.