San Diego, California, USA
January 12, 2015
Source: American Farm Bureau Federation
An agriculture technology expert addressed how farmers can make a profit from their farm’s data, at a workshop at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 96th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show.
The increasing attention to farmer data rights over the past several years shows no signs of slowing down.
Jason Tatge, current president, CEO and co-founder of FarMobile, sees huge potential for farmers to dictate the sale of their data to large agricultural companies. According to Tatge, farmers currently lack the necessary protection of their data. “Without a safeguard, data could manipulate margins,” he explained. “Our goal is to get the revenue stream back to the growers.”
He expects his company, FarMobile, to be the first of many to step in and mediate this process. FarMobile provides farmers with a device that can be plugged into a tractor to gather data on land and machinery including fuel economy, speed, direction and products being applied. The information is then directed to an electronic file that can be accessed at the farmer’s discretion.
Once this data is in the system, FarMobile facilitates opportunities between farmers and agricultural companies by allowing large companies to make offers to purchase the farmer’s
data, should they desire to make a profit rather than utilize it for personal use. According to Tatge, this is the main way farmers can start to turn a profit on their data.
This new use of data rights will put control back into the hands of farmers.
“Farmer data rights are the Wild West,” Tatge said. “FarMobile wants to be the place for neutrality.”
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