Posted February 4, 2014
Monsanto Co. recently stated its support for industry-wide standards for managing farm data, according to an article by the Wall Street Journal available here.
Monsanto acquired Climate Corp., a data analytics company, in October for nearly $1 billion. Seed and chemical companies like Monsanto, DuPont Co. and Dow Chemical Co. are developing data-mining services that “analyze information collected by farmers and their machinery and provide recommendations around seeding fields and spraying chemicals.”
Farmers have raised concerns about the prospect of “sharing intimate details of their operations with the companies.” Monsanto, however, wants to assure farmers that they will be protected, according to an AgProfessional article available here.
Climate Corp. CEO, David Friedberg, said, “We want to immediately and transparently address some farmers’ concerns about data use and privacy, while advancing the conversation about industry standards that support farmers’ needs.”
The company states that it is committed to several guiding principles available here, including: farmers own the data they create, the company will provide basic data service free of charge, and the company will enable farms to share their data across other platforms at no cost.
The Climate Corp. is also forming an Open Agriculture Data Alliance (OADA) of providers and farmers “to act as an independent body that will ensure that different platforms share common interoperability, common data formats, and security and privacy standards.”
“As data science is applied to agriculture, The Climate Corporation understands and respects our need to earn the trust of our farmer customers,” said Monsanto President and Chief Operating Officer Brett Begemann.
For more information on biotechnology, please visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
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