WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of farm organizations and agriculture technology providers (ATPs) has announced an agreement on data privacy and security principles. The agreement will encourage the use and development of innovative, technology-driven tools and services to boost productivity, efficiency and profitability of agriculture.
The coalition supporting the principles includes the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), American Soybean Assoc., Beck’s Hybrids, Dow AgroSciences LLC, DuPont Pioneer, Deere & Co., National Assoc. of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers, Assoc., National Farmers Union, Raven Industries, The Climate Corp.-A Division of Monsanto and USA Rice Federation.
"These principles address farmers’ concerns in the countryside over data privacy," said Matt Erickson, economist at AFBF. "These principles were put in place not to lose sight of the benefits of this precision technology to farmers and the agriculture industry as a whole."
One item covered was education; making sure stakeholders within the supply chain between farmers and industry become educated on precision technologies and what they can do, said Erickson, who has a family farm in Brookston, Ind. The ownership principle was put in place to say that farmers own the data generated from their farms.
"But ownership is a much more dynamic thing," Erickson said. "It may say the farmer owns the data, but a farmer may be a tenant; they may be someone that rents 300 acres of corn."
The group believes it is the farmer who owns the account with the ATP, or company who owns the data, Erickson explained. Farmers own the data in their account.
Liability and security safeguards are a big concern with farmers, and that is another of the principles, he said.
"If a data breach is going to happen, making sure that farmers are aware and ATPs are communicating with them on how to react, how to respond, what they should do, what’s the next step?
"When I go out and speak to farmers, I think their biggest concern is transparency and consistency (another principle in the agreement). ATPs must notify farmers about the purposes for which they collect and use farm data."
Anthony Osborne, vice president of marketing for The Climate Corp., also said when it entered the field more than a year ago, the feedback it received from customers made it obvious producers wanted to know where the data they provided to Climate was going and how it was being used.
"Last January, after the acquisition of Climate, we published a privacy philosophy and commitment to the industry," Osborne said. "It started with: Farmers own their data. The data they provide us, is their data. That should drive everything we do from a data standpoint."
The Climate Corp. was new; it published the commitment because of what it heard from customers, Osborne said. As other companies came into the business, this became a heightened issue with growers.
"That’s when we were asked by the Farm Bureau to participate in some industry sessions," Osborne said. "We were pleased to see the industry align on some key strategic things with the leadership of Farm Bureau."
Erickson and Osborne agreed this is not the end of the discussions. As the technology continues to evolve, so must standards that will protect the interest of farmers. "What is in the best interest of farmers in the long term is in the best interest for us," Osborne added.
