One of the most
valuable commodities cultivated by farmers today is the information their
tractors, harvesters and aerial drones collect.
For farmers, this
data can be used to improve efficiency, simplify paperwork and potentially
generate additional dollars to help supplement farm income. It will also enable
continued food safety and affordability, innovative land and water stewardship
and responsiveness to ever-changing consumer demands.
It is no surprise
that like the “digital bread crumbs” we leave behind when we shop, bank, share
and search online, farm data is highly sought after. Universities need it to
perform better research, manufacturers need it to build better farm equipment
and input providers need it to produce cutting-edge seed and crop-boosting
technologies. This means determining ownership of this important resource is
among the most important questions that must be addressed as we enter this new
era of data-driven agriculture.
So who owns the data? Is it the farmer who collects it? Is it
the equipment manufacturer that makes data collection possible? Or
is it the farm service provider who knows how to analyze the data and make it
useful?
Most
parties now agree that ownership lies with the farmer. After all, generating the data wouldn’t be
possible without the farmer’s hard work, and it wouldn’t have any value without
the farmer’s need to work better and faster.
Now comes the
question: How do farmers protect and utilize this valuable information?
Currently, few
farmers are able to use their data even though
most are collecting it every day. It’s
not that farmers are technologically inferior.
Nearly all were using global positioning technology for navigation before
the rest of us had ever heard of GPS. No, the challenge for farmers is making
sure that the data is properly synced, stored and transmitted in a controlled
and economical way that doesn’t take too much time and is easy for approved,
trusted advisors to access.
A new approach to overcoming this obstacle will be taken this week.
The Agricultural
Data Coalition, or ADC, will be laser focused on designing, creating and
managing a central repository where farmers can store their information and
oversee how it is accessed.
Think of it like
bank. Today, farmers are doing little
more than stashing money under their mattresses when it comes to data. We all know that is neither safe nor convenient.
The ADC will
create a bank where farmers can instead securely deposit their data. Growers then, through the equivalent of an
online banking system, can share their data with an insurance agent, or a
researcher, or a farm manager, or a government regulator or whoever else they
deem appropriate.
Just like an ATM
or banking card, the ADC will work towards seamless data transmission between
all parties in a uniform way. That
reduces IT costs for the businesses dealing with the data and frees them up to
invest in innovation instead of integration.
Best of all, the
whole ADC system is founded on the belief that farmers should be the primary
beneficiaries of this new-found commodity.
Even if a grower isn’t yet sure what to do with their data, it still
becomes advantageous to deposit it into the bank and effectively accumulate
savings that can be used at a later date.
Building this
national network won’t happen overnight and a lot of work and coordination
remains. But with farmers in control of
their own destinies, the future of agriculture looks very bright, and we will
all continue to benefit from the strength of modern American farmers.
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com