Building the Next Generation of Agricultural Data Sharing

Delegates from eleven APEC member economies almost started from scratch as they ventured into a path that is presently unusual but practical in the field of agricultural sciences—data sharing. With the current commodified nature of imparting agricultural research results and data set at least in Asia and its neighboring nations, the intention of sharing ideas, data and other relevant resources in an open and welcoming manner is such a huge leap.

The APEC Symposium on Agricultural Science Data Sharing and Service was held December 7-9, 2017 in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, China and its effect brings great hope for socio-cultural and socio-economic improvement, especially on rural societies benefitting from agriculture. This convergence tackled about the technicalities and practicalities of establishing platforms or databases where researchers and other generators of information could collaborate for their research data. There were also testimonies from current practitioners stating data sharing progress in the field of biological science and geology to inspire stakeholders in agriculture. Science Data Publication Infrastructure and Data Sharing Policy in Developing countries, a fundamental activity APEC countries could further explore in the long run, were discussed as well.

Representatives from APEC countries were given the opportunity to express how their countries are moving forward in this sense. People have their own stories to tell but it all boils down to the idea that amidst development, societies are currently challenged by how agricultural research can be effectively communicated, materialized, and operationalized such that more inclusive outputs are delivered to beneficiaries and targeted audience, without compromising intellectual property rights and copyright issues of the research initiators and contributors. Some countries like the Philippines have its booming agricultural research industry but are constrained by valid issues (e.g. sharing of data under the discretion of funding agencies, and or private research funders, or threats on data security like ‘credit grabbing’ or mis-utilization of datasets). Nevertheless, there is still a way to improve this situation by levelling-up discourses on these, fostering inter-country research initiatives, and by enabling governments to allocate funds for more agricultural research, towards common good and betterment of countries involved.

On top of these, there’s a significant number of fresh faces (called youth) who actively shared their know-how and perspectives. The Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), and other youth representatives made remarks on agricultural data sharing in the context of their home countries. Representatives from Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Philippines stood up and expressed their views on this matter, which indicates their interest and enthusiasm to be one in the movement. This time, the youth are more realistic and rational than simply ideal. For one, they were able to recognize Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) and Information and Communciations Technology (ITC) initiatives as pivotal players in agricultural science data sharing. Moreover, they reported how they were able to establish local institutional partnerships as their fair share.

When one delegate explicitly asked, “Why neither of the nations incorporated the role of the youth in Agricultural Science Data Sharing and Service?”, a valid concern was raised. Right enough, we can never put the youth out of the picture because of what they could contribute at present. Youth are lustering with ideas giving novel outputs towards data sharing. For example, the youth are more capable of programming, information technology, data management, web design and the likes which allow them to create freshly-baked Applications (Apps) for agricultural information, networking and related purposes. Technology amuses them, and giving them the right opportunity to maximize their role in this context would bring more potential solutions to minute-to-macro problems concerning agriculture.

As one of the major outputs of the event, the APEC Agricultural Data Union has been built. It is an APEC-wide network meant to It is truly compelling that the youth has also accepted the challenge to be initiators of this milestone.

Organizing such events while paving a way to establish a common policy on agricultural data sharing is a very interesting development in the APEC region. With the strengthened effort and interest of young and young-at-heart people alike, clamor to focus on the merits of the emerging field of agricultural science data sharing and service is not impossible to take flight, full blown. May this huge leap be sustained and be enriched throughout APEC and its partner countries! This is, indeed, a smart start to building the next generation of agricultural data sharing.

Photo Credits: Justin Paolo Interno, Safiul Azam, Sunshine Therese Alcantara, and

Agricultural Information Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences