Today’s AI-equipped machines are pushing yields to new heights, but at what cost to a farmer’s privacy? As machines capture millions of data points in real time, it begs the question: What happens to all that data?
“If somebody knows the yields you’ve been getting and that information leaks out, that can have a direct impact on farm operations,” said Ben Craker, a south-central Wisconsin farmer and president of Ag Data Coalition, a nonprofit that seeks to offer secure options for farmers to protect data.
Craker’s data privacy expertise stems from a decades-long career in the ag tech industry and from tilling his family’s 300-acre farm, which produces corn, beans, hay, wheat and sheep farm.
He said most farm equipment data contracts are long and complex, and have little state or federal regulatory oversight. On new and newer equipment, collection is usually automatically enabled when farmers turn the key.
Built on trust
While it behooves many ag machinery brands to maintain a trusting relationship with their farmer-customers (and most do), Todd Janzen, an agricultural lawyer who specializes in farm data rights, calls it an honor system.
“What [companies] do behind the scenes is up to them. If they want to do honest business or do something nefarious, they can make that call. There is no data police out there,” said Janzen, an administrator at Ag Data Transparent. The group issues certifications to an ag tech companies if they are adhering to proper rules for protecting farmers’ data. It’s like a “Good Housekeeping Seal” but for farm data privacy.
Once collected, ag data is used in various ways including targeted sales. In 2022, for example, Corteva pivoted its now-defunct AI-driven data brand Granular Agronomy from a farmer-facing software-as-service model to an internal sales engine. At the time, Corteva CEO Chuck Magro highlighted “the ability to get farmer data” as a benefit.
On-farm data can also provide commodity traders with early market intelligence, offering “enormous value” to “short markets, making hedges,” Janzen said.
Without legal oversight, Craker said individual terms determine who can access and use data, if it can be sold and who ultimately owns it. Farmers don’t have much negotiation leverage. He described data agreements as “all or nothing,” comparing them to cellphone contracts: “You can agree to whatever Apple said, or you can’t use your phone.”
Delete your information?
Many ag tech companies certify with Ag Data Transparent to voluntarily disclose data usage and ownership, building in the ability for farmers to delete their information if they choose, among other stipulations. Legal recourse can be found through contract breaches. Ultimately, however, Craker said farmers should build trust with their local dealers. Handshakes still hold water.
“Having that relationship with the local agronomist, or whoever you’re working with to know, ‘Yeah, I trust that guy. I don’t think they’re going to take my information and go somewhere else with it. They’re just going to provide the service,’” Craker said.
Even so, it’s oftentimes impossible to use today’s technology without relinquishing at least some privacy rights. Laws clearly delineating what kind of data can be collected and how it can be used would be helpful, Janzen said. Also useful would be requirements to anonymize data, disclose internal company use, define ownership and require explicit farmer consent to share information with third parties.
Until that happens, the benefits of modern technology might outweigh privacy concerns. But for those who are worried about it, there aren’t many options besides unplugging.
“Since we’re a smaller farm, we don’t have any of the machines that are connected,” Craker said. “We have capabilities to do variable rate and track yield, but none of our [machines] are connected. We haven’t had to cross that bridge yet.”