Conventions & Standards
GOAT Conventions & Standards Working Group
The open ag tech community builds tools with shared values but too often without shared language. Conventions and standards are the infrastructure that enables tools, datasets, and platforms to communicate across organizations and geographies. The GOAT Conventions & Standards Working Group exists to inventory that infrastructure, make it accessible, and support the community in putting it to use.
The development of this working group is Float-funded, fiscally sponsored by Our Sci, with contributing partners including Tech Matters, Point Blue, Open Food Network, IDEMS, Entidad.io, and Purdue Axi Lab.
What We’re Building
Three interconnected resources anchor this work:
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Featured Standards — Case examples from practitioners showing where conventions and standards created real interoperability and where the absence of them created friction
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Where to Begin — A practical guide for developers and data stewards entering the conventions and standards landscape for the first time
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Ecosystem Inventory — A searchable, community-maintained inventory of conventions, standards, ontologies, and related specifications in use across open ag tech (embedded below)
Who This Is For
This working group serves open ag tech workers including developers, product managers, data stewards, farm advisors, and researchers who build or maintain tools where data exchange across organizational boundaries matters.
Get Involved
Two ways to contribute now: submit a standard or convention (coming soon) to the ecosystem inventory, or volunteer to review a case example (coming soon) as a potential adopter. Both are open to all.