Survey Highlights Farmers’ Belief in Data Ownership and Collaborative Data Use

As agriculture becomes increasingly digital, it is important to keep a finger on the pulse of farmer sentiment regarding how agricultural data is used. Earlier this year,  NASA Acres teamed up with Farm Journal’s Trust in Food Initiative, with input from ADT, to survey farmers on a variety of aspects of ag data collection and use. More than 1,000 farmers provided their perspectives.

While comprehensive survey findings will be released after analysis is complete, several themes come through clearly. Following are highlights that point to the need for transparency, simplicity, and trust in the use of ag data.  

●   Farmers Own Their Own Data:  Farmers overwhelmingly believe they own their ag data. However, they are less confident in their understanding of  other aspects of their ag data, especially regarding who has access to it and how it is currently stored. 

●   Farmers Welcome Help in Data Use: Farmers would welcome help in using their ag data better, but only a third of them know who to ask.      

●   Data Privacy is a Concern: Farmers have concerns around data privacy (including being unable to retain control over their data once it is shared) and their data potentially being misused or even used against them.

The survey also explored who farmers trust the most, what types of data they believe are the most sensitive along with other topics such as types of data collected and access to reliable internet. The insight gained from the survey will be helpful in a variety of ways for all the organizations involved, including helping guide NASA Acres’ efforts to benefit all of agriculture.  

NASA Acres is a Consortium of leading researchers, farmers, ranchers, and other agrifood system experts. The Consortium creates innovative methods, tools, and insights to tackle the most critical challenges in U.S. agriculture, by integrating satellite imagery with agricultural data.

“To fully realize the benefits of satellite data in agriculture, active farmer participation is essential,” shared Dr. Alyssa Whitcraft, Executive Director at NASA Acres. “The quality of the data and tools that we create is limited by  the quality of ag data available  to train and validate our models .” 

The Consortium has adapted ADT’s Core Principles for Agriculture Data Use to account for the unique circumstances that satellite data and collaborations with the public sector entail.  Results from this survey have been crucial in developing NASA Acres’ Core Principles  and the accompanying Model Agriculture Data Use Agreements – user-friendly templates designed to establish collaborative agreements between researchers, technologists, and farmers. 

“This survey is significant as it is the most current piece of research into the mindset of the American farmer when it comes to ag data use,” says Todd Janzen, ADT Administrator. “ADT is grateful to have been included in this project and looks forward to using the findings to help our members and the industry continue building trust to advance agriculture.”  

Survey results will be shared by NASA Acres and Farm Journal in the coming months.