A dozen farm groups and agribusinesses agreed on a 10 principles for data privacy and security in the emerging field of agricultural Big Data. The agreement follows months of discussions. “The principles promise to greatly accelerate the move to the next generation of agricultural data technology, which includes in-cab displays, mobile devices and wireless-enabled precision agriculture that has already begun to boost farm productivity across the United States,” said the American Farm Bureau Federation, one of the groups that wrote the ground rules.
They include an assurance that technology companies will not use farm data to speculate illegally in commodity markets. Other guidelines say farmers own the information generated on their land, that farmers can retrieve their data from technology companies, that companies will disclose if they share farm data with others, and companies will protect the privacy of the data.