Metadata Exchange without pain: the AGRIS AP to harvest and exchange quality metadata

This paper focuses on the AGRIS Application Profile (AGRIS AP), a standard created specifically to enhance description, exchange and subsequent retrieval of agricultural Document-Like Information Objects (DLIOs). The AGRIS AP provides a minimum interoperability layer through which agricultural information can be described and exchanged. The standard, developed in light of the new AGRIS vision, offers the flexibility to enhance the quality of description of agricultural information resources. The paper discusses the advantages of the AGRIS AP as opposed to the current standards by pointing out its strengths, its possible applications and how it will be further developed in the future.