The DFC Standard is a data-interoperability standard working in the short food systems space, our name derives from the original (French) project implementing our standard: the Data Food Consortium.
This standard facilitates data-interoperability between platforms used by producers in short food systems. The end user is able to manage their own data on every DFC compliant platform. For example, when products are sold on one platform, the stock for the same products can be automatically adjusted on every other platforms the producer is selling on. The producer can update all of their data like product information on all DFC platforms, from only one platform.
To make this possible, all the platforms must follow an agreed standard. That is the role of the DFC: provide on open standard to define the way platforms work together. Our standard is itself based on other open standards like RDF, JSON-LD, Linked Data Platform (LDP), and OpenID Connect (OIDC).
The DFC Standard requires that the data exposed by the platforms is always data of an authenticated user, who is either the data owner or has explicit consent of the data owner to view/manage data on their behalf.
- Who is it for?
The DFC Standard is provided for Producers in Short Supply Chains, and is intended for implementation by platforms that support that user community. We are particularly aligned with the Elements of Agroecology.
- I have a short food chain project. Can I work with you?
To work with the DFC Standard, you’ll need to utilize an aligned platform, with a localized implementation. For more details of national or regional projects that are implementing the DFC Standard, check out our Implementations Page.
- I’m a developer. Can I help out?
Yes! We welcome community contributions. Give us a shout in the #tech-discussions channel on our slack space, or start a conversation on our GitHub.
- I have a website or platform for short food chains. Can I integrate with you?
Definitely. This website gives a clear roadmap for integrating with the DFC standard. Some local projects have funding to support platforms to integrate, you’ll need to contact your local project to discuss that.