A new project is creating comic-box-style contracts to enhance clarity, transparency and equity for farmers exchanging data.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by Professor Camilla Andersen, from The University of Western Australia’s Law School, have been engaged to deliver farmer-centred contracting practices for a project led by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) and funded by the Western Australian government.
Through a three-year program of work the initiative aims to enhance the clarity, transparency and equity of data sharing through DPIRD’s novel data exchange platform Extrata and other commercial platforms.
Professor Andersen has extensive experience with industry-research collaboration in comic book contracting, ranging from medical genomics to banking, on everything from employment contracts to product disclosure statements.
“This project responds to farmer demand for non-corporate alternatives to dominant agri-tech business models,” Professor Andersen said.
“The initiative aims to give farmers confidence and control when signing up to data sharing licence contracts or agreements for a range of purposes.”
Other key members of the team include Professor Sharon Purchase, from UWA’s Business School, whose work focuses on consumer value and trust.
She has expertise in research design and business relationship practices within agribusiness and will examine how contract transparency delivers benefits to those engaging in data sharing.
Professor Julia Powles, from UWA’s Tech and Policy Lab, is a leading expert on data governance with a focus on responding to the consolidation of tech power and will also contribute her expertise as a consultant overseeing other researchers in the field.
She joins the project from the University of California in Los Angeles, where she serves as Executive Director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy, in addition to her role as Senior Honorary Research Fellow at UWA Graduate School of Education and Adjunct Professor at Sydney Law School.
Professor Leanne Wiseman, an ARC Future Fellow and Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Griffith University, is recognised for her research addressing how IP hinders or enables access to new digital technologies and the data they collect.
Professor Wiseman is interested in the legal dimensions of the adoption and uptake of digital technologies and access to data and information in agricultural industries, with a focus on examining the role of IP within the international Right to Repair.
DPIRD project lead Darren Gibbon said the department would be working closely with UWA on the study to help transform how farmers understand data-sharing and licensing.
“By swapping dense legal text for straightforward, pictorial contracts, we’re seeking to cut confusion, boost transparency and accessibility and empower farmers to make informed, confident decisions about their data,” Mr Gibbon said.
Image above: Professor Sharon Purchase, Darren Gibbon and Professor Camilla Andersen.