Posted April 11, 2014
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) held a meeting on Thursday on how to protect farm data privacy after several members voiced concerns about contracts, according to a Reuters article available here. Wisconsin Ag Connection and the St. Louis Business Journal also reported on the story.
After the meeting, AFBF said it had more work to do to find a consensus on setting standards for farm data privacy.
The meeting was attended by executives from John Deere, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, and other farm products companies.
Areas of concern included who will drive the common standard for data produced on farms, as corporations are “rolling out products and service that combine analysis of everything from the row spacing a farmer might use to plant his corn, to the soil conditions of various spots in a field and local weather patterns.”
Universal guidelines and licensing would make data services contracts easier to understand and common technical standards would allow interoperability for equipment of different brands.
“There were a lot of questions answered and a lot more questions asked,” said Martin Barbre, president of the National Corn Growers Association and one of about 35 meeting participants. “We’re going to continue this dialogue and hopefully have more definitive answers in the future.”
“The meeting was a clear indication of the opportunities that the proper management of data holds for agriculture across the board,” said Monsanto spokeswoman Christy Toedbusch.
During the meeting, disagreement surfaced over which data security and privacy standards platforms should be the template for the industry. Monsanto’s Climate Corporation helped to launch the Open Ag Data Alliance, but John Deere has not joined that group. John Deere currently chairs the board of a different standards group called AgGateway.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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