The UN Standard
The AgriFoodData architecture is the reference implementation of the ITU/FAO Reference Architecture for Data-Driven Applications in Agriculture, adopted by ITU Study Group 20 in July 2024. It was developed by the ITU Focus Group on AI and IoT for Digital Agriculture (FG-AI4A) in partnership with the FAO.
Why this matters
- It is a globally agreed reference, not a single vendor's blueprint.
- It promotes interoperability without displacement — existing FMIS, sensor stacks and AI services keep working; they only need to honour the integration boundaries.
- It is publicly documented, so any party — vendor, government, research lab — can implement against it.
Core principles
- Data sovereignty — farmers retain control over their operational data.
- Interoperability — standardised contracts at the integration boundaries.
- Scalability — handles growing data volumes and a growing service catalogue.
- Standardisation — common interfaces and data models across systems.
- Security & privacy — robust protection for sensitive farm data.
- Modularity — components can be developed and updated independently.
- Sustainability — supports data-driven decisions with environmental impact in view.
- Inclusivity — accessible to farmers of all sizes and technical capabilities.
What the architecture defines
The architecture specifies six conceptual building blocks and four OpenAPI interfaces around one canonical object — the digital farm twin.
| # | Block | What it defines |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Roles | Actor roles — farmers, services, sensors, machinery, certification, developers |
| 02 | System | Core components — digital farm twin, registry, IAM, app store, dashboard |
| 03 | Data | Data models — JSON-LD and Web of Things vocabularies |
| 04 | API | Interfaces — data, service, scheduling, clearing-house connectors |
| 05 | Services | Service registry — REST API and SDK-based deployment |
| 06 | Spaces | Data spaces — Gaia-X and IDSA, controlled exchange, no islands |
See Concepts → Architecture Overview for the full breakdown and the integration-layer diagram.