Big Data may be ag boon, but confidentiality is a hurdle

Big Data offers the opportunity for farmers to “instantaneously collect data about almost every facet of their cropping operations from planting through harvest,” says Feedstuffs. The information can improve yields while reducing production costs by using seed, fertilizer and pesticides more efficiently. Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst told a House Agriculture subcommittee that the technology is attractive but producers want assurance of confidentiality or, at a minimum, to know how the information will be used and who else has access to it. In many cases, vendors collect the data and provide suggestions on land and crop management. Associate professor Shannon Ferrell, of Oklahoma State University, said Congress should clearly and narrowly define when the government can demand data from producers and when the government would release it.

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