Media Announcement Telstra Food Agility CSU New Partnership. Image Telstra

Telstra is set to road test a new integrated agtech data platform at the Global Digital Farm in Wagga Wagga, in a partnership announced between Telstra, Food Agility CRC and Charles Sturt University.

The ‘Farm Data Services’ platform aims to overcome one of the biggest hurdles in modern, data-driven agriculture – how to securely manage and integrate data from multiple technologies across the farm.

Enabled through Telstra’s Data Hub, the Farm Data Services platform provides a highly scalable and secure data sharing platform to integrate, standardise and, with permission of the data owner, distribute data sets from existing agtech deployments.

The proof of concept will demonstrate the value a platform can provide farmers, agritechs, institutions and researchers, connecting applications across a farm to simplify permissioned sharing of data and creating a single point to access permissioned data for analysis and research.

It will be trialled this year at the Global Digital Farm at Charles Sturt’s Wagga Wagga campus, which is managed in partnership with Food Agility as a test bed for agrifood research and technology. The road test will aggregate data sources from three agtech providers to enable Charles Sturt research while also creating an application to drive efficient fertiliser application on the Global Digital Farm.

Telstra industry executive and group owner – agribusiness, supply chain and retail Jon Young Flores said the first wave of digital agriculture had delivered an explosion of data that has left many farmers overwhelmed and concerned about how their data was being used.

“This next phase of digital agriculture is about a farmer-centric approach to security, integration and demonstrating the return on investment. The Farm Data Services platform puts farmers in the driver’s seat, giving them control over the flow, access and monetisation of their data. Ultimately we are seeking to prove the value permissioned data sharing can provide to stakeholders across the farmer value chain.” Young Flores said.

Food Agility CEO, Richard Norton, said the Global Digital Farm was unique in Australia and the perfect place to road test Telstra’s Farm Data Services Platform before scaling nationally.

“The Global Digital Farm is a real-world testing environment, where the 1600-hectare commercial farming operation works in tandem with scientists and technologists,” Norton said.

Charles Sturt vice chancellor, professor Renee Leon PSM, said the partnership with Telstra was cementing the university’s reputation as the Australian epicentre of data-driven agrifood innovation.

“Home to the Global Digital Farm and AgriPark, the Wagga Wagga campus more closely connects the people who grow food to the innovation ecosystem, so we can get new knowledge and technologies into the hands of farmers faster,” Leon said.

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