Australian agriculture holds a wealth of data, much of this data is collected through national research – which is often funded by industry and government. But that data often sits in separate systems, under different agreements and standards, making it hard to find, access and use together. The AADX helps unlock this data so it delivers more value back to industry.
Now, the AADX program is also addressing all of the other factors that are critical create an agile data sharing community that delivers value back to data contributors and industry. These include:
- Data collection principles, frameworks, and resources
- Data management policies
- Data standardisation, aligning to local and ISO standards
- Capacity building through training, guides, and resourcing.
The Australian Agricultural Data Exchange (AADX) is a national program that connects agricultural data so it can be shared, combined and reused. It brings together a data platform, shared standards and a community of data owners, researchers, agtech companies, industry and government.
The AADX helps producers:
- get more value from research data, some funded by producer levies
- benefit from improved agritech tools that can leverage quality, connected data
- keep control over who accesses their own data and on what terms
The AADX can help agritech companies:
- access trusted, publicly funded datasets to build into their products
- spend less time sourcing, cleaning and connecting data
- deliver more value to clients without building infrastructure themselves
The AADX can help regulators by ensuring your department is proactive to opportunities and challenges, such as new market access and biosecurity developments.
Industry organisations can use the AADX to reduce the transactional burden for producers seeking greater opportunities.
Foundation partners of the AADX are Charles Sturt University, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Meat and Livestock Australia, CSIRO, Australian Wool Innovation, with delivery and support from the Food Agility CRC.
The AADX is owned and managed by Charles Sturt University.
In August 2020, an initiative called the Australian AgriFood Data Exchange (AAFDX) was launched outlining a proposal for an Australian agricultural data exchange to be overseen by the agrifood industry. The AAFDX has since been renamed the Australian Agricultural Data Exchange (AADX) to better reflect the entire agricultural industry. Food Agility CRC was appointed in late 2023 as the new delivery partner, with Eratos selected as the core platform provider. The AADX program and platform are now being built and delivered by Charles Sturt University.
Stay up to date by subscribing for regular updates or contact us via email to find out how you can be involved – or email us on agripark@csu.edu.au
Questions about Getting Connected
Connecting to the AADX will be the best way to get the most out of your agricultural data, community and unlock potential value from across the industry.
The AADX provides the foundational layers to transport Agricultural data easily, safely, securely and within your control. This connection will give the industry boundless innovation and value-creation potential. Some potential avenues to value that have been identified include:
- Control over data access and use to create value at the Farmgate
- Reducing technical overhead and ongoing maintenance of multiple data connections
- Removing the recurring and repetitive data entry currently experienced by primary producers
- Improvements to compliance and certifications
- New vision on Australia’s biosecurity and benchmarking
- Faster time to deliver value
- A centralised, standardised platform for accessing data and modelling required for a project
- Save time to share data with collaborators
- Gain access to new useful insights by allowing my data to be accessed by systems and algorithms that transform it into decision-useful information for me
- Allow me to continue being a preferred supplier
- Gain access to new customers and markets
The AADX provides access to various algorithms and models that can be utilised within the agriculture industry. For example:
- Example Model: An algorithm that calculates the Cumulative Growing Degree Days for a growing season can be used by others to integrate into their client-focused solutions.
- Usage and Sharing: Users can run algorithms/models provided by others and also share their own, fostering a collaborative environment.
In the context of the AADX, understanding the distinction between public and private data is crucial:
- Private Data: By default, all data is considered private. This means that your data is secure and only accessible to specific parties you have explicitly granted access to. The principle is that “data is secure by default, and you are opening access to exchange with authorised parties.”
- Public Data: Data is only considered public if it is specifically stated to be so. Public data can be accessed by anyone within the AADX with or without requesting access.
Additionally, the AADX supports various types of data exchanges, including:
- Monetary Exchange: Data can be exchanged for financial compensation.
- Risk Management: Sharing data to manage and mitigate risks within the agricultural sector.
- Value Chain Trust and Confidence: Ensuring trust and confidence in the value chain by sharing verified and reliable data.
- Market Access: Facilitating market access through data sharing, enabling better decision-making and market opportunities.