TSC Data Landscape Mapping in Agricultural Supply Chains – Project Report

The goal of this project was to facilitate the flow of farm-level data to food companies, and ultimately retailers, that utilize TSC KPIs by improving data systems connectivity in the agricultural sector. To this end, TSC identified several objectives related to the project goal:

Improve visibility into existing systems and technologies to better understand the data collected on-farm, how those systems and technologies are connected to sustainability reporting platforms, and the mechanisms for collecting and reporting data through ag supply chains;

- Strengthen communication to downstream suppliers about sustainability programs that require farm data, including communication about the value proposition related to data collection for farm and supply chain management; and

- Economize data management time by streamlining reporting systems and identifying opportunities for creating additional tools to support data collection and reporting.

To meet these objectives, TSC and project participants engaged in five key activities:

1. Developed a systems landscape map that identifies the key systems and platforms currently in place to collect and manage on-farm data;

2. Conducted case study interviews to better understand how farm management software and sustainability data collection and reporting platforms function, where system connectivity and compatibility already exist, and where and how it can be improved;

3. Compiled data elements documentation that identifies the data input requirements across five farm sustainability metrics tools and how those tools can be used to respond to TSC KPIs;•

4. Built an Application Programming Interface (API) that automates the process of translating data from select farm sustainability metrics tools into five TSC KPIs;

5. Developed a spreadsheet-based respondent tool to simplify the process of aggregating farm-level data when reporting into TSC KPI’s Fertilizer Application KPI.