The big data debate: where does Australia stand?

'Big data' is a term often thrown around in the world of online marketing, to mean large volumes of statistics and information which are collected and translated into business insights.

In recent times, big data is emerging as a valuable tool in the agricultural industry to take the guesswork out of decision-making on farms.

There are now various ways to capture on-farm data, ranging from animal sensors to drone imagery; and from weather stations to soil moisture probes. If analysed and stored properly, big data can offer significant productivity gains for farmers. But the question is, how?

A team of Australian experts, led by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, seeks to answer this very question.

The P2D project

The government-funded Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture project enlisted the help of researchers from six organisations - including three universities, CSIRO Data 61, the Australian Farm Institute and the Data to Decisions CRC.

The project aims to establish the best ways to remove current barriers to big data use and encourage Australian farmers to capitalise on digital technology.

"Our agricultural industry has been a major adopter of technology over the last decade and as a result, we have become a data-intensive business where information is collected and evaluated in different ways and by different sources," says Project Management Committee Chairman, Mick Keogh.

“The challenge for the individual producer is to extract integrated data - from historical to current - when they need it, to make the decisions that will increase profitability and deliver the best profits.

"The challenge for the industry is to determine and establish the right policies, frameworks, systems and platforms to enable data access and increase producer confidence.

"A study of international best practice, through three intense case studies, will form part of the research. However, the input of Australian producers will be essential to ensure that we develop a framework to suit our own environment."

Look to the West

While the local agricultural industry is just starting to grasp the importance of collecting, storing and sharing information, producers overseas are already miles ahead in the big data game, according to the Australian Farm Institute General Manager of Research, Richard Heath.

"By looking at case studies in the United States, we can see how big data is being used to improve outcomes in all kinds of areas, from variety selection to chemical application and negotiating the right price for farm inputs," he says.

"Some of the platforms we looked at were reporting input cost savings of up to 50 per cent for farmers," Heath says.

"Others are reducing the time and uncertainty involved in meeting compliance requirements in heavily regulated industries, by integrating farm and machinery data with stewardship programs."

Based on America’s recent experiences, Heath says Australia might soon see the emergence of farm data cooperatives that operate independently to machinery or chemical companies.

"A key benefit for growers is more control over how farm data is used," he says.

"These cooperatives offer a central data repository with protections around access and privacy and, in some cases, help to negotiate with organisations who want the data."

Big data pioneer

Some major ag-corporations are already riding the big data wave by offering a range of services that aid in data collection and sharing.

One of them is John Deere, which introduced its Farmsight precision farming program in 2011. It is essentially a suite of products that integrates wireless communications and advanced precision farming technology to connect equipment, owners, operators and dealers to provide new levels of productivity and sustainable farm management.

It records data such as machine use and crop yield, and allows easy sharing of collected data between farmers and their dealers for machinery servicing purposes; or with their agribusiness advisers for business decision making.

John Deere is constantly upgrading and refining its precision farming offerings to help farmers make use of big data as much as possible.

What's holding us back?

Although big data is a highly tradeable commodity, there appears to be scepticism across the Australian farming industry on this very topic. The term is often associated with the loss of sovereignty and lack of data privacy, hence causing many farmers to keep their data to themselves.

But according to Australian Farm Institute's Richard Heath, this could be to the farmers' detriment.

"Big data use is going to be critical to profits in agriculture in the future and Australia can’t afford to get left behind," he says.

Agricultural soil policy specialist and big data advocate, Andrea Koch, agrees that the Australian agricultural industry needs to quickly deal with the privacy and security issues associated with big data, so the farming sector can get on with exploiting the opportunities.

"A good first step is for farmers to start thinking about their farm data as an asset that they currently leverage behind the farm gate and also earn a return for them past the farm gate," Koch told farmmachinerysales.com.au.

"There will be increasing opportunities for that post farm gate leverage to occur. It’s important for farmers to realise that they can have the upper hand in that equation as the data starts with them, even though this is often not the position that equipment suppliers take in purchase agreements and contracts."

Earlier this year, CSIRO conducted a series of workshops as part of the Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture research project, to help farmers understand their current and future data needs. The research team is also asking for producers to participate in a phone survey to aid in its research that will run until May 2018.

Find out more or participate in the project by visiting farminstitute.org.au/P2Dproject