Carbon Data Concerns - ADT Sets The Tone

Carbon Data Concerns - ADT Sets the Tone

Back in 2016 when Ag Data Transparent (ADT) was formed, farmers were entering the digital age. Smartphones, in-cab tech upgrades and multiple tech providers were offering products to generate data. Our ADT organization helped farmers start navigating complicated data-use contracts, and today we are on a new frontier of complexity.

“The arrival of carbon contracts has farmers again wondering how and where their data will be used,” said Todd Janzen, ADT administrator. “These contracts are a new use for an operation’s data that was not anticipated just five years ago.”

Farmer-led organizations agree that data is again a hot topic, and ADT certification can help. “Carbon markets were one of biggest topics at Commodity Classic this year, with farmers talking about the data aspects of buying and trading credits,” said Ariel Wiegard, Director of Government Affairs for the American Soybean Association and ADT Board Vice President.  “This need to share data has refreshed concerns over how it is being used. ADT-certified companies can take some of that worry away with the transparency this certification provides.”

Shelby Myers, economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation and ADT secretary/treasurer, agrees. “There is great value in ADT for farmers and the companies they work with as part of renewed push on data use agreements,” she says. “ADT was our answer to bring transparency to farmers back when data use was first on farmer’s radar.  ADT serves a purpose to ‘set the tone’ for data use and clarify expectations between farmers and companies.”

Self-regulation is a key point of discussion as agriculture looks at data use. Britt Raybould, CFO at Raybould Brothers Farm and ADT Board president, makes the point that ADT-certified organizations are willing to be in the process of self-regulation and set precedent. "“The ADT process strengthens engagement and provides a proactive system vs. a one-size fits all approach that might come with government regulation,” Raybould says. “Having our own proactive system is a head start that shows our industry is working together.”

To learn more about becoming ADT- certified, interested organizations can link here.