Dear GODAN Partner,
Dr. Chris Baker from the New Bunswick
University and Senior Data Scientist, and machine learning expert Dr.
Brett Drury are conducting research on the adoption of AgriSemantics
for food security. As part of this research they have developed a
questionnaire and need the input of subjects who – like many of GODAN’s
partners – work with agricultural data.
Please share the link with your networks, and with anyone you know may be interested in taking part: https://forms.gle/SsiKE2WF8si31aFK7
The results will form part of an upcoming publication on the topic. Find out more below.
Introduction
Agrisemantics allows the meaning of
specific concepts in agricultural data to be clearly defined and
understood by organisations who consume or produce data in the
agricultural supply chain. This can be achieved with publicly available
resources such as taxonomies, ontologies and thesauri which when created
for agriculture are collectively referred to as Agrisemantics. These
resources have been available for at least the last twenty years. The
adoption of these resources by the agricultural sector has been limited
and at best uneven in quality or performance. This study is designed to
understand why the adoption of Agrisemantics is stymied.
Project Aims
The main aim of this project is to gain an
understanding of the commonalities of adoption of Agrisemantics of all
communities. From these common themes we wish to identify the drivers
and roadblocks to the adoption of AgriSemantics in private industry as
well as possible blindspots in the current development of publicly
available resources. A secondary aim of this study is to publicise
Agrisemantics to decision makers. The current COVID crisis has exposed
the fragility of Agricultural Supply Chains. Agrisemantics facilities
interoperability and has the potential to distribute the risk by
allowing the ad-hoc integration of small suppliers into larger supply
chain systems. This distribution of risk removes single points of
failure in Supply Chains which are created by small numbers of large
suppliers. However many decision makers are unaware of this. It is hoped
that this study will raise awareness how Agrisemantics can benefit
Agricultural companies.
Methodology
The research methodology uses in person interviews and a questionnaire to elicit opinions about:
- The adoption of AgriSemantics in private industry and the public sector
- The flaws in current AgriSemantic public resources.
- How does funding impede or enable AgriSemantic projects
- Is there any incentive for knowledge transfer from publicly funded projects to private industry.
- Is there any pressure from government agencies to force private industry to adopt standards.
- The measurable benefit of semantics resources and technologies to
the targeted goals of researchers and business decision makers.
The interview process is a free form
interview where the interviewee expresses their opinion about the core
themes as well issues that they think is important.
The study is interested with interviewing people with the following profiles:
- Individuals who approve funding for AgriSemantic projects
- Individuals who have served on committees that set funding criteria for Agriculture
- Innovation projects
- Technical people who work with data integration on day to day basis
- Project Managers
- CEOs of AgriBusiness Companies
- NGOs who produce publicly available semantic resources
- Academics
- Technical professionals serving on committees tasked with the development of standards supporting interoperability.
- Agribusiness entrepreneurs
- Supply chain professionals
Study Outputs
The study aims to produce a high quality
policy paper which seeks to influence all levels of the Agrisemantic,
and Agricultural communities, and put Agrisemantics front and centre in
the current debate about food security and stability of the food supply
chain.