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AgriDISCRETE

AgriDISCRETE explored good data governance practices in agriculture and forestry in Ireland and considered current challenges presented by data use and data sharing when digital technologies are employed in agriculture and forestry. Technical and business-oriented challenges were examined, as well as socioeconomic and ethical issues.

Tags:

  • Archive
  • Agri Tech
  • Research
AgriDISCRETE banner

Funding

‘Research Programme’, from Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM), 2019R539

Duration

24 months

Vertical alignment / Department

Agri Tech / Mobile Ecosystem and Pervasive Sensing (MEPS)

Walton Team members

Overview

The AgriDISCRETE project was led by Walton Institute at South East Technological University (SETU) and funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Ireland under the 2019 Competitive Call for Research (Project no: 2019R539).

The AgriDISCRETE project, proudly led by Walton Institute at SETU, was a 2-year project that explored good data governance practices in agriculture and forestry in Ireland. Digitalisation in agriculture and forestry through data security (AgriDISCRETE) addressed current challenges presented by data use and data sharing where digital technologies are employed in agriculture and forestry. The project considered current technical and business-oriented challenges as well as reflected on socio-economic and ethical issues that arise, and used project findings to inform the development of a multi-sided business platform approach, and created a technological proof-of-concept data exchange platform to operationalise this multi-sided business platform approach.

AgriDISCRETE looked at the multifaceted challenges related to data use, data security, data sharing and data ownership in the application of digital technologies in agricultural and forestry sectors in Ireland. Bringing together an interdisciplinary research team comprised of data scientists, business scholars, and social/behavioural scientists, the AgriDISCRETE project took a holistic approach to considering both the technical and the socio-economic and ethical challenges introduced by data usage and sharing in agriculture and forestry. Five integrated tasks facilitated the research team to map current technological challenges, identify diverse stakeholder concerns, and develop societally-acceptable technological solutions and social responses.

A series of co-design workshops were held with a wide variety of agricultural stakeholders in 2020-2021, in order to consider how social and ethical concerns with data governance and data sharing in agriculture can be addressed as technical solutions and new business models are formed. These co-designed workshops facilitated a range of stakeholders to share their opinions and concerns on the future of digitalisation in agriculture and forestry in Ireland, and to brainstorm solutions for good data governance practices for the future.

An output of these co-design workshops was the development of a farmer-friendly communications piece detailing the farm data journey. The project team worked together with agricultural stakeholders to continually refine and develop the communications piece content, in an iterative co-design process that directly involved stakeholders in the development of the material. The team members then worked with a graphic designer to produce an infographic flyer and animated video which outlines the data journey on and off the farm, with the goal of raising data awareness to empower farmers to learn more about how data is collected and shared on their farm, and to gain the most possible benefits from their farm data. These materials are available for viewing in the Project Outputs section below.

Additionally, the co-design workshop findings were utilised to inform the development of a multi-sided business platform approach, which envisions a fully operational open ecosystem within the dairy and forestry industry, adopting a participatory network concept which encourages and supports the interactions among all ecosystem participants to co-create value. A technological proof-of-concept data exchange platform was developed to operationalise the multi-sided business platform approach, which brings together the data provider and data consumer in a system of mutual exchange and multi-directional flow of information. This AgriDISCRETE proof-of-concept platform facilitates interactions between data providers and data consumers, and governance models are being designed to enable both sides to interact and extract value from each other.

Embedding a multi-actor approach, AgriDISCRETE informs good data governance practices within Irish agriculture and forestry so that the benefits of digitalisation for agriculture and forestry in Ireland can be realised in a trajectory which is responsible and societally acceptable.

Project Partners

Walton Institute at South East Technological University (SETU)

  • Kieran Sullivan, Research Engineer
  • Paul Malone, Researcher
  • Hazel Peavoy, Senior Strategic Business Partner

Teagasc

  • Áine Regan, Rural Economy & Development Programme, Mellows Campus, Athenry
  • Claire Brown, Rural Economy & Development Programme, Mellows Campus, Athenry

RIKON

  • Pat Lynch, Director and Senior Researcher
  • Laura Bailey, Applied Researcher

Implementation

AgriDISCRETE informs good data governance practices and was underpinned by a multi-actor approach (MAA). Stakeholder engagement (led by social scientists in Teagasc) was facilitated to ensure that solutions and opportunities developed reflected the values and requirements of key stakeholders (particularly farmers and forestry owners).

A mixed-methods approach, drawing on the inter-disciplinary expertise of the research team was employed. In Task 1, Teagasc completed a literature review, qualitative analyses, and co-design participatory workshops. In Task 2, RIKON gathered requirements and proposed new business and engagement models. Walton created a proof-of-concept to implement these models. In Task 3, Walton deployed user trials and identified a series of opportunities for increasing the digitalisation of Irish agriculture.

Key Objectives

  • Develop a comprehensive understanding of anticipated socio-economic and ethical impacts of increased digitalisation in agriculture and forestry in Ireland. 
  • Identify stakeholders’ perceptions of digital data management and governance in agriculture and forestry, highlighting specific areas of socio-economic or ethical concern. 
  • Facilitate stakeholders to participate in the co-creation of good data governance practices in agriculture and forestry in Ireland. 
  • Identify a comprehensive set of requirements for data sharing and re-use in agriculture and forestry.
  • Develop a set of data-driven business models
  • Design and implement a set of building block models for data sharing, governance and security supporting the data-driven business models.
  • Demonstrate in an operational environment, the proof of concept solution to serve the data-driven business models. 

Key Results

Conferences

  • Good data governance in digital agriculture: implications for agricultural advisors and educators – conference presentation at the 25th European Seminar on Extension & Education: watch presentation video here
  • The evolution to a data value chain: a business modelling perspective – conference presentation at the Irish Academy of Management Conference 2021
  • A holistic approach for researcher-led on-farm experiments: the AgriDISCRETE experience – conference presentation at the Farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation Conference: watch presentation video here

Further Resources