Privacy Policy

The Discover Regenerative Portal is hosted and maintained by the Open Food Web Foundation Limited (“Open Food Network”, “we”, “us” or “our”), along with the underlying Open Food Network software (see Terms of Service and Privacy Policy).  We understand that your privacy and the protection of your data are important to you. We have created this Privacy Policy to help you understand how and when we collect, use, and share your information when you use the Discover Regenerative Portal. Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before using the Discover Regenerative Portal

1. What data does Discover Regenerative collect? 

Attachment 1: Discover Regenerative Portal Data Map – April 2024 outlines the data that is collected for Producers who have profiles on the Discover Regenerative service. 

For all Users of the Discover Regenerative Portal, we will collect and store your email address and type of contact when you contact Producers using the built in Contact form.

Depending on which Open Food Network services you engage with, we may collect additional  kinds of personal information and data as per the Open Food Network Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Your data (email, name and type of contact i.e. B2B Buyer, Producer, Industry) will also be collected by email marketing tool, Mailchimp, if you sign up to our associated newsletters. See Sections 3 and 4.

1. Personal Information 

Personal Information describes any information that can be used to identify you and is defined under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

(a)  whether the information or opinion is true or not; and

(b)  whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not. 

This includes:

• Contact information (name, address, phone number, email address) 
• Business information (name, address) 
• Photos 
• Internet Protocol (IP) address 
• Farm Location
• Contact form information (sender & receiver email addresses, type of contact: B2B Buyer, Household, General)

2. Sensitive Information

A subset of Personal Information is Sensitive Information and is defined under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as:

(a)  information or an opinion about an individual’s:

(i)  racial or ethnic origin; or

(ii)  political opinions; or

(iii)  membership of a political association; or

(iv)  religious beliefs or affiliations; or 

(v)  philosophical beliefs; or

(vi)  membership of a professional or trade association; or 

(vii)  membership of a trade union; or 

(viii)  sexual orientation or practices; or 

(ix)  criminal record;

         that is also personal information; or

(b)  health information about an individual (Note: See also Health Information as defined by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth); or

(c)  genetic information about an individual that is not otherwise health information; or 

(d)  biometric information that is to be used for the purpose of automated biometric verification or biometric identification; or

(e)  biometric templates.

We do not intend to or anticipate collection of any sensitive information.

3. Indigenous Data

Personal Information concerning an Indigenous person constitutes Indigenous Data and may also contain ICIP, including:

• Individual (name, age, contact details, cultural name, community group);
• Collective (ICIP, cultural knowledge).

4. Content Data

Content Data that we collect may constitute:

• Farm Data
• Structured Data

5. Usage data 

We collect usage data (i.e., general statistics about users, traffic patterns, and how users respond to various site features) to improve the quality of services we provide to you. 

If you do not provide us with certain personal information, we may not be able to provide you with access to the Discover Regenerative services, or may not be able to respond to queries you send us. 

2. How do we use your personal information and data? 

Open Food Network may use personal information and data in Discover Regenerative or from the Mailchimp subscriber mailing list to find candidates to participate in our research projects. Participation requires a separate consent and any data collected is held on a separate database. 

There are three primary ways that we use your personal information and data: 

• To administer, improve and promote the services we provide. 
• To conduct academic research on regenerative food systems. 
• To generate insights about the financial, environmental, and social benefits or impacts of your decisions. 

We may also use your personal information and data for: 

• Responding to your queries otherwise communicating with you in accordance with our terms of service. 
• Informing you about products, services, events or other matters that we consider may be of interest to you. 
• Any other purpose that you are made aware of and consent to at the time of collection of your personal information . 
• Purposes required at law. 

3. What data do we share with third parties? 

Unless we have your consent, Open Food Network will not rent or sell your personal information or any data collected through the Discover Regenerative  website or services to anyone. We will only share your personal information or data to third parties that we engage in order to provide you with Open Food Network services, and tools to help with our internal workflows. In the case of sensitive information, we may share your personal information for secondary purposes that you would reasonably expect and that are directly related to the primary purpose of collection. Current third parties engaged are listed here, and they may hold your personal information and data. Some data shared with these types of third parties is not de-identified. 

While we endeavour to use values-aligned services with high-quality data and privacy controls, Open Food Network does not have control over or liability for how your data may be used by these third parties – it is the responsibility of the User to make an assessment of their terms and services and privacy policy. If we identify a need to share your personal information and/or any other data with other types of third parties (including for research we deem valuable to the sector), we will ensure that all third parties are internally reviewed to meet our ethics and security standards and that only de-identified data is shared.

For producers listed on the Discover Regenerative Portal, you acknowledge that Structured Data will be compiled and stored by us. De-identified Structured Data pertaining to you or your activity may be used by us, or in research or advocacy we deem of value to the sector. If/on rare occasions where we may make structured data and/or made available for use by third parties, we will do so under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license, with attribution given to Open Food Foundation. In this case, we will notify Users of the Service via email of how the Structured data is being used and retain a list on our website. We will not make Indigenous Data available to third parties under a Creative Commons license without the prior written consent of the relevant Indigenous data holder/s.

Otherwise, only with consent, as part of de-identified Structured data for research or advocacy purposes, or if/as required by law.

4. How do we use cookies? 

Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites. We may use cookies that are necessary for delivering and improving our services to you. We do not sell your data. We might in the future use some of your data to build new commons services that could be useful for the ecosystem. 

If you are interacting with our online services you are giving us consent to store the cookies that are essential for the functioning of our website and associated services. 

Please refer to your browser’s help menu to learn how to manage your cookies. If you disable or opt out of certain cookies, the Open Food Network Services may not work as intended. 

5. Where do we store your personal information and data? 

Your Open Food Network data is stored in Australian data centres. Where we collaborate with other organisations, or use external service providers, data may be stored overseas. For example, we use N8N to manage integrations which processes data in the Netherlands (but doesn’t store it). We use tools like Airtable, Notion, Google Sheets, Metabase etc to process and analyse information which might include farm data, or types of contact (B2B Buyer, Household, General) made via email to listed producers on Discover Regenerative These tools may store data overseas. All data centres follow industry best practices including high security standards. Refer to our current list of third parties here.

6. How do we protect your personal information and data? 

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information and Content (including all data types) from misuse, loss, interference and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We follow industry best practices to secure user data, limit access to relevant members of the Open Food Network team, and train those team members to ensure they understand the sensitive nature of user data. All Open Food Network employees agree to our Confidentiality & Intellectual Property guidelines as part of their employment contract. However, we cannot guarantee that data transmitted over the internet will always be secure. Though we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure the security of any information you transmit while using Open Food Network services online.

7. What other potential risks are involved with using Open Food Network services? 

Open Food Network has made every reasonable effort to ensure our services are secure and provide as accurate as possible information. We recognise that usage of Open Food Network services such as Discover Regenerative carries risks to you and your business, and may contain inaccuracies of content and security risks. The risks associated with these include interruption or delay of services, loss, damage, corruption or recovery of data, or breach of data or system security that may result from using Open Food Network services. We do not accept liability for these risks. As a User listed on Discover Regenerative, you are responsible for creating a strong account password and carefully managing your personal link to the Discover Regenerative application form (i.e. do not store anywhere and access ONLY from within your Open Food Network account) to minimise risk of data breach.

In the cases of known impending risks (such as known dates of loss of services) we will make every effort to forewarn you as a user so you can take necessary precautions to mitigate the risk (e.g. to back-up your data).
In the unlikely instance of your data being breached, Open Food Network will notify you as soon as a data breach has been identified.

8. How long will we retain your personal information and data? 

We aim to retain your personal information and data for as long as reasonably necessary to provide you with the Discover Regenerative services and any other purpose you consent to at the time of collection. 

9. What are your rights with respect to your personal information and data? 

You may access the personal information and data we hold about you and to update and/or correct it.. If you wish to access your personal information and data, please contact us in writing via hello@regenerative.org.au

Open Food Network will not charge any fee for your access request but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your personal information. 

With reference to Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance, your rights and the principles we seek to uphold with respect to any ICIP and Indigenous Data on our Service can be viewed by accessing: 

• Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples;
• the Maiam nayri Wingara Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles; and
• the Research Data Alliance International Indigenous Data Sovereignty Interest Group’s CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. 

Please contact us at hello@regenerative.org.au if you would like a copy of these principles emailed or posted directly to you.

In order to protect your personal information and data, we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information. 

If you believe that we have breached privacy laws you are entitled to make a complaint by contacting us at hello@regenerative.org.auu. We will use all reasonable efforts to resolve your complaint within 30 days and provide an explanation for our decision in 

writing. If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can contact us to discuss or lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner using the contact details located at oaic.gov.au. 

10. How do we make changes to the Privacy Policy? 

Although most changes are likely to be minor, Open Food Network may occasionally change its Privacy Policy relating to Discover Regenerative. We will notify listed producers  with two weeks notice of any changes to our Privacy Policy, and again once changes are effective with the revised version accessible via www.regenerative.org.au  . 

11. When will we contact you? 

We will occasionally contact you via email or phone to announce new Open Food Network or Discover Regenerative services, explain any changes, invite you to special events, or tell you about research projects that data is helping make possible. 

We might also contact you occasionally to ask for your feedback about the Discover Regenerative Portal, or to obtain your consent for particular uses of your data. Your participation in any such request is entirely optional and will not affect your use of Open Food Network services. You can choose the kinds of communications you wish to receive and you can opt out of these communications at any time. 

12. Further information 

With respect to all Privacy Policy enquiries, please email us at 

hello@regenerative.org.au


Updated: April 2024