Ag Data Transparent Updates Certification Questions
Transparency, simplicity and trust are essential to the relationship between farmers and their ag technology providers. To continue helping these relationships develop, Ag Data Transparent (ADT) has updated the questions a tech provider must answer to be considered for ADT certification. Founded in 2014 to build confidence regarding use of ag data across North America, ADT audits companies' ag data contracts, awarding its seal to those who comply with the organization’s Core Principles. With ag data technology advancing, it is important ADT certification questions mature as well.
“Our updated questions are an evolution in clarifying how an operation’s information will be used. The clearer the relationship can be between the tech provider and the farmer, the better the collaboration can be long term regarding data and its use,” says Britt Raybould, President of the Ag Data Transparency (ADT) Board, Immediate Past President of the National Potato Council and Chief Financial Officer at Raybould Brothers Farms.
From clarity on aggregating data to the topic of selling information, the revised questions help ADT interpret a company’s practices. To become ADT certified, ag tech companies must answer the following 11 questions:
Who is the tech provider? What products, platform, or services within the tech company are certifying as Ag Data Transparent? Who are the primary users of the product, platform, or services?
What categories of data does the data platform collect?
Do the tech company’s agreements with the user address ownership of user data?
Does the tech company allow the user to opt out of inclusion in anonymized and aggregated datasets that are accessible by other users?
Does the tech company require outside contractors that have access to user data to follow the tech company’s data policies?
Does the tech company obtain a user’s consent before sharing user data with third parties?
By signing up, does the user give the tech company the right to sell aggregated data to third parties without obtaining further consent?
Does the tech company maintain an original copy of user data that can be retrieved or deleted upon a user’s request?
Will the tech company notify the user if a breach of data security causes disclosure of the user’s data to an outside party?
Will the tech company notify the user when data agreements are changed and summarize how the agreements were changed?
Do the tech company’s data agreements address what happens to user data if the tech provider is sold to another company?
For more details on the updated questions, link here. To learn more about certifying and supporting Ag Data Transparent as well as see information about certified companies, please visit the Ag Data Transparent website.
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