Australian AgriFood Data Exchange to revolutionise entire supply chain

A consortium of leading agrifood stakeholders including Government, industry and research bodies have established the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange to enable fluid collaboration up and down the whole supply chain.

With a vision to establish an open data platform controlled by users, the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange will 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.

Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia David Littleproud said the Australian Government’s investment in the AgriFood Data Exchange directly aligns with the government’s Agricultural Innovation Agenda by establishing a next generation digital platform for our data.

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

“This project is another example of how the Australian Government is backing Australia’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries to access and grow export earnings as the industry strives to meet and exceed its $100 billion farmgate value target by 2030,” he said.

Initiated by Integrity Systems Company and KPMG, and announcing the appointment of Independent Chairman, the Honourable Andrew Robb AO, the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange has received an initial $4 million funding from the federal government, Meat & Livestock Australia, Charles Sturt University, the Food and Agribusiness Growth Centre (FIAL), Fisheries Research Development Corporation, the Victorian Government, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), The Western Australian Government and Australian Wool Innovation.

Additional supporters include The New South Wales Government, Cotton Research Development Corporation, AgriFutures, Australian Eggs, Elders Rural, Federation University, Grower Group Alliance, Australian Plant Phenomics Facility and the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation.

A Steering Committee responsible for project governance has been established led by Independent Chairman, the Honourable Andrew Robb AO, and major supporters the Australian Government, Meat & Livestock Australia, Charles Sturt University and the Food & Agriculture Growth Centre (FIAL). KPMG serves as the Project Management Office.

According to Cirman of the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange, Andrew Robb, 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,” Hon Robb said.

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

Following industry consultation, prioritised use cases of the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange include 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.

An Advisory Council has also been established led by Fisheries Research Development Corporation and The Victorian Government, supported by Working Groups and an Expert Panel consisting of producers, growers, logistics providers, manufacturers, retailers, researchers, regulators and other value chain representatives that will provide insights and feedback to help guide the design of the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange.

“What became apparent throughout this process was the opportunity this presented to the whole of the Australian food and agriculture sector,” said Dr Jane Weatherley, CEO of Integrity Systems Company, a subsidiary of Meat & Livestock Australia.

“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.

“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,” said Rick Willmott, Chief Operating Officer of Charles Sturt University.

Mirjana Prica, Managing Director of the Food and Agriculture Growth Centre (FIAL) added that industry-wide data exchange is the critical infrastructure that will help the Australia’s food and beverage industry to enhance the quality and assurance of products, and provide opportunities for value differentiation against other leading agrifood exporting nations.

“Following the initiation of the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange, the next phase will see the development of a comprehensive business case inclusive of independent risk assurance processes along with the development of a data governance framework and operating model,” said Ben van Delden, Partner and Head of AgriFood Tech at KPMG Australia.

“This will be informed by an experimentation process with technology vendors across each of the prioritised use cases,” he concluded.

Source: KPMG