The AgBioData Research Coordination Network: Ensuring FAIR agricultural data through community-based standards.

Abstract

With the increasing volume of data generated in agriculture, developing guidelines for appropriate data sharing and management is essential. Founded in 2015, the AgBioData Consortium aims to identify the current major issues in data curation and management and ensure more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data. In 2021 we received funding from the National Science Foundation for a Research Coordination Network grant, whose main goals are: (1) make recommendations and implementation plans for FAIR data in agriculture; (2) expand the AgBioData network by recruiting key stakeholders in agricultural research; (3) provide educational material to train researchers on FAIR data sharing; and (4) develop a roadmap for a sustainable genomic, genetic and breeding (GGB) Database Ecosystem. We have started by launching nine working groups covering different aspects of data management in agriculture and recruitment. We also plan new groups focused on sharing and archiving new types of data, such as those generated with high-throughput phenotyping platforms. As plant phenomics becomes a major part of agriculture, we foresee opportunities to collectively identify best data management practices in current and future phenomics repositories to ensure that phenomics data is FAIR from the start. We are welcoming new members with expertise in the field. If you are interested in joining, please visit our website (https://www.agbiodata.org).