Ontario Farmer: Always Read the Data Contract

Matt McIntosh of the Ontario Farmer writes:

Farmers are increasingly trying to improve productivity and profitability with farm management software systems. Those systems generate vast quantities of data about the farms on which they’re used, however, who owns and has rights to that data is unclear.

This ambiguity makes many people nervous — and rightfully so. According to ag-data experts, ownership ambiguity can have real-world consequences at the farm level.

“There are companies out there that say, ‘yes, you own the data,’ but when you read the agreements you find out that they have an unlimited license […] They own it from the standpoint that they can do whatever they want with it,” says Todd Janzen, an American agricultural attorney and the administrator for the Ag Data Transparent project, a United States non-profit effort to bring transparency to contracts between farmers and technology providers.

Continue Reading: Always read the data contract