Investment

Over the past 30 years, GRDC and its research partners have spent significant resources on research, development and extension (RD&E) investments that have generated valuable RD&E data. RD&E data is a strategic resource that holds considerable value for creating enduring profitability for Australian grain growers. The Australian grains industry competitiveness in the digital economy can leverage on the value of RD&E data.
Although data is now recognised as an asset, the data that was generated through the past investments is hard to find and has often been lost. The value that data assets can provide through future research impact, commercialisation or avoiding duplication of important datasets is being lost to the industry.

To make the data generated through GRDC co-investments findable, GRDC is undertaking an in-house foundational piece of work in developing a GRDC Data Catalogue, which will ensure that data created under GRDC and its co-investors is not only findable, but accessible and reusable. This will drive a major step change in our business, generating additional value for Australian grain growers.

To make the highly valuable data sets from past and current investments findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), GRDC is initially investing in a Data Partnerships Initiative with some of its significant research partners to collectively establish a community of practice in data management in the grains industry. The research partners include Agriculture Victoria (Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Victoria), Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Western Australia) (DPIRD), New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI), Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF), South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), University of Adelaide, Curtin University, Murdoch University, University of Queensland, University of Sydney, University of Western Australia, and Federation University.

The Data Partnerships Initiative investment has two streams of activity:

The next phase of the Data Partnerships Initiative will engage with the rest of GRDC's research partners and researchers in the implementation of the GRDC RD&E Data Capture and Storage - Guidelines for Research Partners (pdf). It will likely see a broad approach to support the diverse cross-section of research organisations and researchers that interact with GRDC to uplift their data management skills, i.e., making RD&E data FAIR.

Read more: GRDC Research, Development and Extension Data.